Dacia is renewing its entire line-up in time for the planned UK launch in late 2012. The new Duster SUV, driven by CAR Online this month, is only one of a collection of new models that will be ready in time for the British launch.
‘The new Logan will be ready in time for the 2012 UK market launch,’ said Renault and Dacia’s global marketing chief, Stephen Norman. ‘The new Logan will be an amazing car; we are not going to move the Logan upmarket. It will be a very, very cheap car for what it delivers.’
That means a two or three model range at launch: the new Duster 4×4, the Logan saloon and crossover estate/MPV, and probably the new Sandero hatchback too.
The Logan was the first budget Dacia model to be launched in 2004; using a cheap ‘n’ cheerful hand-me-down platform inherited from old Clios and other group cast-offs, the B0 platform had all unnecessary fripperies stripped out and its development cost had already been largely amortised. The 2012 version is understood to be a development of that car.
Bet they’re going to nudge the price up from €5000 though?
Apparently not. ‘The Mk2 Logan will be a €5000 again,’ Norman told CAR, and he said he saw no reason why that wouldn’t be the case in the UK market too. Mind you, the weakness of sterling means that there’s nearly price parity with the euro – removing some of the wow factor from the Logan’s initial launch price.
Could the Dacia brand expand into new niches? ‘For sure,’ said Norman. ‘We will make anything if we can make it cheaply enough to make an operational profit away from the Renault brand.’
A new Golf-sized hatchback is likely, but Norman ruled out a Laguna sized model. ‘We don’t think there’s a place in the segment above for Dacia.’