‘Enough and no more’ is an appealing mantra that almost nobody truly follows. Why else would you aspire to own a particular brand of shoe, shop in a different supermarket chain or use a certain type of phone? But it is a mantra we can all apply to some aspects of our lives, as Dacia’s surging success shows.
Drivers who want little more than they need just can’t get enough of its stridently value-focused cars: last year, it broke into the top three for retail sales in Europe, on a 6.2% share. Registrations hit 537,095, led by the Dacia Sandero (226,825) and the Dacia Duster (186,001). Behind them, the Spring Electric (27,876) didn’t go on sale until the autumn, while the Dokker (44,684), Logan (27,136) and Lodgy (24,526) weren’t sold in all markets.
Join the debate
Add your comment
To me, Dacia's success is a clear indicator that there are a lot of pragmatic consumers still out there who don't want to pay for cr@p that doesn't serve any purpose (seriously, apart from small children, who gives a sh*t if you can choose from 50 different colours of interior footwell lighting?)
It annoys me when brands like this get associated with the driver lacking funds. I'd much rather drive one of these and stick the cash saved into my pension pot so there's less risk of having to scrape by in retirement. Perhaps we'll see a return to pragmatism once inflation really starts to bite and keys to PCP "mass premium" German brands - that the drivers couldn't really afford - start being surrendered...
I dont want an EV yet, and i dont care about safety features on my car, so the reasons who not a Dacia are easily sorted. Sadly they dont wake anything appealing either (I know thats not the point, but a Sandero based on a previous RenaultSport Clio isnt a terrible idea is it?).
But they are priced right and these days cheap doesnt mean badly made or unreliable, its just means less expensive plastics, and less electronics. I think car prices (even Dacia) have gone up far more than is reasonable, but when the car is cheap, those rises are still less. And that why Dacia's sell
What it also shows is NCAP is becoming more and more irrelevant. The car I drive has five stars but some of the safety systems are only available as options. I didn't order those options on my car and if you look at many of the used cars around, others didn't order them either, so how is it more safe?
Folk saying the Dacia is less safe. Well is it? It's marked down because it doesn't have things like active pedestrian safety. Well that's not affecting me or my passengers and with all due respect to NCAP how can a VW Polo and say a BMW x5 be awarded the same for pedestrian safety? If I were a pedestrian and I was going to be knocked down, I'd choose to be hit by a 2 star Sandero rather than a 5 star Range Rover any day of the week.
- the tests themselves are quite good and scientific; if they say RR has better pedestrian protection, it's very likely that it has
- pedestrian protection may affect you more then you think; if you hit a pedestrian and it's your fault, it certainly makes a difference between breaking her legs and killing her, even for you, in terms of the sentence against you :)