#Column #Dacia
There used to be plenty of budget brands. If you were looking for an affordable new car in the 80s or 90s, you would be happy to find brands such as Fiat, Skoda, Seat, Daihatsu or Daewoo. Yes, even the French brands advertised small prices for their compact family cars. Unfortunately, that is a thing of the past because today you have to suppress emerging stomach cramps when you look at the prices of, say, a Seat Ibiza or a Skoda Fabia. You already pay at least € 20,660 for the latter and even for a Lilliputian like the Fiat 500 you already have to cough up 16,000 barkies.
€7,500 for a new car (in 2005)
In 2005, the Renault group turned the car world upside down by relaunching the originally Romanian brand Dacia with the Logan Berline that cost, remember, €7,500. Thanks to a premium, that amount even dropped to €6,250 (as the advertisement from that time below makes clear). For that amount of money, even the comparable Skoda Felicia had to sink in shame. Admittedly, the Logan would not win any beauty prizes and it was also not particularly impressive with its equipment (there was simply no equipment). No, it was a boringly styled sedan with seating for five and a decent-sized suitcase. That’s it. But you did buy a new no-nonsense car with a 3-year warranty and, above all, with proven technology. And Dacia still uses that success formula today.
A touch of design perhaps?
Today, Dacia’s approach has evolved smartly as they have even 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 which; Dacia also consciously chooses to produce in low-wage countries such as Romania and Morocco and they still use the tried and tested technologies of parent company Renault. Don’t expect any technical highlights or firsts from Dacia. You only get the essentials here, no more, no less. But at a bottom price on which of course no discount is given.
Could it be something more? No.
Take the Dacia Sandero (the car we ultimately ordered for grandma); it is listed for €11,990 and comes with a contemporary design and sufficient safety equipment. You even get some comfort items such as an on-board computer, cruise control, automatic headlights and an adjustable steering wheel. Only manual air conditioning is missing, 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: no one. 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 where Dacia is so successful. 21,000 order forms were signed in Belgium in 2023 (good for 9th place in the sales chart) and by extension 563,000 sales throughout Europe. Wouldn’t you expect that the Volkswagen Group, for example, would reorient the somewhat errant Seat brand in order to gain a share? And can’t Stellantis think of a budget brand? At Nissan it was considered for a while whether the Datsun name could be used for this purpose, without any further follow-up. Or are we, again, going to wait until the Chinese brands launch an offensive (MG is already coming pretty close today with their petrol models)? In any case, there is enough market potential for a few additional players. The consumer can only benefit from it.
