UK deliveries of the Spring will begin in October, with its sub-£18,000 price tag undercutting the £26,000 BYD Dolphin and the upcoming Citroën ë-C3, which will be roughly £23,000.
Q&A with Christophe Combre, Dacia Spring product leader
Will it always be feasible to build the Spring in China?
“We are in the near future [going to build it in China]. We have no doubt about that. In the history of Spring, it started from an existing vehicle, which was already made in China. So for us, it made a lot of sense to take it from there, in this ecosystem, because the suppliers are already there.”
Are you looking to expand the Spring’s target market?
“Our customer targets are completely in line with the existing Spring. It’s mostly people in Europe, in their fifties, looking for a second car because they need something practical for commuting and everyday business they have to attend. Most of the time, it’s a second car or maybe sometimes even a third car.
“We are actively pursuing to renew the needs of those customers and also to try to appeal to younger customers, who are no longer necessarily looking for a traditional means of mobility.”
Does the Spring’s success give you confidence in Dacia’s electric future?
“We are still studying that for the time being. This is the only electric car we have, and we are working on the electrification of the range, with HEVs [hybrids], for instance, coming on other models. We keep on thinking, but today this is our [only electric model].”
