Column: Who does Dacia do something for?

There were a lot of budget brands. If you are looking for an affordable new car in the 80s or 90s, you will be happy to find brands such as Fiat, Skoda, Seat, Daihatsu or Daewoo. Yes, even French brands have announced low prices for their compact family cars. Unfortunately, this is a thing of the past because today you have to suppress the emerging stomach cramps when you look at the prices of, for example, a Seat Ibiza or a Skoda Fabia. You're already paying at least 20,660 euros for the latter, and even for a Lilliputian like the Fiat 500, you already have to pay 16,000 par.

€7,500 for a new car (in 2005)

In 2005, the Renault group turned the automotive world upside down by relaunching the original Romanian brand Dacia with the Logan Berlin, which, as we remember, cost 7,500 euros. Thanks to the bonus, this amount dropped to €6,250 (as the announcement at the time shows below). For this amount of money, even the comparable Skoda Felicia would have to sink into disgrace. Granted, the Logan wasn't going to win any beauty awards, nor was it particularly impressive with its equipment (there simply wasn't any). No, it was a boring-looking sedan with seating for five people and a decent-sized suitcase. That's it. But you bought a new, meaningless car with a 3-year warranty and, above all, with proven technology. Dacia still uses this success formula today.

A touch of design perhaps?

Today, Dacia's approach has smartly evolved as they have found designers with good taste who have given the brand a face. And why not, producing a beautiful car ultimately costs the same as an ugly car. Speaking of this topic; Dacia also chooses to produce in lower-wage countries such as Romania and Morocco, still using the tried and tested technologies of parent company Renault. Don't expect any technical or first features from Dacia. You get just the basics here, nothing more and nothing less. But at a lower price, of course, no discount is offered.

Could it be something more? no.

Take the Dacia Sandero (the car we eventually ordered for grandma); It's listed at €11,990 and comes with contemporary design and adequate safety equipment. You also get some convenience items like an on-board computer, cruise control, automatic headlights, and an adjustable steering wheel. There's only manual air conditioning, but you can add that as an option for a reasonable €720. Total price: €12,710 for a new, solid family car. Who imitates him?

Will the answer come from China?

To answer the previous question: Nobody. Skoda and Fiat have long outgrown their budget status and we won't even talk about the French brands. It is truly incomprehensible that no brand has filled the gap in which Dacia has achieved such success. 21,000 order forms were signed in Belgium in 2023 (good for ninth place in the sales chart) and thus 563,000 sales across Europe. Wouldn't you expect the Volkswagen Group, for example, to redirect the somewhat ill-fated Seat brand in order to gain share? Can't Stellantis think of a budget brand? In April, it was considered for a while whether the Datsun name could be used for this purpose, without any further follow-up. Or will we, once again, wait for the Chinese brands to launch an attack (MG is already getting close today with its gasoline-powered models)? However, there is enough market potential for a few additional players. The consumer can only benefit from it.