Dacia is priming a sub-£16,000 city car as one of four new EVs it will launch between now and 2030 – and the urban runabout has now been spotted testing for the first time.

The new model is twinned with the Renault Twingo, and the close ties between the two models are evident. Like its retro sibling, the Dacia has a raked C-pillar, curved roofline and rounded rear windows, plus similar surfacing around its wheel arches.

Yet significant differences are also evident: it loses the Twingo’s signature rounded front light design for a thin gloss-black panel, like that on the Spring. At the rear, it does not have the Twingo’s lozenge-style window shroud, and the brake lights are notably higher-set than those on the Twingo.

The new Dacia city car will be revealed later this year, ahead of a public debut at the Paris motor show in October. It has been developed in just 16 months.

Although it is positioned similarly to the Spring, it will not immediately replace that model. Speaking to Autocar, Dacia product boss Patrice Lévy-Bencheton said “they are still quite different” – it will be slightly larger and wider, and its design takes greater influence from Dacia’s SUVs.

While Dacia has yet to give firm technical details of the car, it is likely to closely match the Twingo, with a 27.5kWh battery giving a range of just over 160 miles. Notably, Dacia has confirmed the model will be priced from less than €18,000 (£15,600), undercutting the sub-£20,000 Twingo and making it one of the cheapest EVs on sale.

Three more Dacia EVs in next four years

Dacia has committed to the launch of three further electric vehicles over the next four years, although it has not yet given full details of them. One, however, will be the electric version of the next-generation Sandero, which, the company has confirmed, will adopt a “multi-energy powertrain range”. 

As previously reported by Autocar, it will use Renault’s CMF-B platform, which allows for pure-combustion, hybrid and electric powertrains.

The Sandero will “remain the value-for-money benchmark in its segment”, said Dacia. It was for years the cheapest car on sale in the UK.

As well as increasing its EV line-up, Dacia will continue to expand its hybrid offerings. While around a quarter of Dacias currently sold feature a hybrid powertrain, the goal is for that to reach two-thirds in the future.

The Striker and Bigster will be key to growing sales in the larger and more profitable C-segment. That market currently accounts for around one fifth of the brand’s sales, but the aim is for the combination of the two vehicles to increase that share to one third in the coming years.

More broadly, Dacia will continue to lean on what it calls a “unique business model”, drawing on a “disciplined” design-to-cost strategy that, helped by the use of shared group platforms and a lean distribution system, gives it a cost advantage of 15% compared with rivals, it says.

Dacia is also aiming to further strengthen its customer loyalty. It claims that more than 70% of owners stick with the brand when buying a new vehicle, with a further 10% switching to Renault.