By FREDA LEWIS-STEMPEL, MOTORING REPORTER
Budget car maker Dacia will become the first manufacturer to have two electric city cars on sale at the same time when its latest model arrives shortly.
The news comes as the market continues to be starved of small affordable cars, both with electric and petrol powertrains as makers continue to focus attention on larger SUV models.
However, the Romanian car maker has confirmed that its new entry-level 'A-segment' EV will be available to buy alongside its Spring EV - currently the cheapest electric vehicle in the UK - to give it the broadest city car line-up in Britain.
The new Dacia - which will be closely based on Renault's forthcoming Twingo EV - will be priced at just £15,000 (€18,000). This is likely to make it £995 less expensive than the recently updated Spring EV.
It will be built alongside its parent company's Twingo in Slovenia, meaning it won't be subject to heavy EU import tariffs like the Chinese-produced Spring.
Dacia product chief Patrice Lévy-Bencheton told Autocar that the Spring and the forthcoming city EV can co-exist because 'they are still quite different' even though they are both A-segment EVs.
Here's what we do know so far about the cheap Romanian EV.
Dacia's £15,000 city EV arriving this year (sketched above) will go on sale alongside the Dacia Spring EV, making Dacia the only brand to have two A-segment EVs out at the same time
Before last year's departure become CEO at the luxury Kering Group - which owns famous fashion houses including Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, and Alexander McQuee - former Renault Group boss Luca de Meo promised buyers that the Dacia city car would be delivered in 2026.
Mr de Meo told press: 'I defy any competitor in the world to do that, including the Chinese when they come to Europe.'
The production time - faster than even the Twingo its based on - is down to Dacia being able to piggyback off the same platform.
Renault Twingo prices will start from around £17,000 without grants and incentives and is a retro inspired EV.
Dacia's new EV will share the same AmpR platform from the Renault Group which means it can be produced in just 16 months
The Twingo is set to be just 3.8 metres long and 1.7 metres wide, making it one of the smallest passenger cars in Britain when it emerges in the coming months.
And the new Dacia EV will share the same measurements, which is a fraction shorter.
But unlike the Twingo with its retro look inspired by the old nameplate, Dacia's EV will take after its 4x4-style SUVs such as the Duster and Bigster.
It will be sold alongside the Spring - at least for a while
The Spring has been refreshed for 2026 to keep it competitive with a smaller battery but the same range and greater efficiency, faster charging speeds, more bhp and better equipment and trims.
So it might seem odd to have to competing cars on sale at the same time, but Dacia's VP of sales and marketing Frank Marotte told Autocar that the two EVs will be sold 'at different prices with different designs - and we'll figure out what the customer will buy'.
He also pointed out that keeping the car updated helps keep its position in the market.
While the Spring is made in Wuhan, China and only adapted slightly for the European market, the new Dacia EV will be made specifically for European customers.
And because of this it's likely it will take features from the Twingo including a the seven-inch digital driver's display and 10-inch multimedia hub.
