The Romanian automaker under French patronage gets the Spring from overseas, but now the little EV won't be mistaken for anything else other than a Dacia – its looks are now aligned with the Sandero, Logan, Jogger, and especially the all-new third-generation Duster SUV.
Dacia, a Romanian brand belonging to France's Renault Group since 1999, has come a long way since its days as a remnant of the Communist era – today, even when Renault's deliveries are on a negative trend, nothing can stop Dacia's rise in sales across Europe. For example, in January 2024, the Renault Group was third across the continent but slipped a little (-2.1%) – whereas Dacia rose by 7.7% compared to the same period of 2023.
Of course, it's only natural – Dacia has a new corporate image that makes it one of the freshest automakers in the region. It also launched the third generation of the popular Duster SUV, and its Sandero series remains one of the best-selling nameplates across the Old Continent. We can easily project that Dacia will continue to ascension this year because, alongside the all-new crossover, they recently updated the rest of the lineup (Sandero, Logan, Stepway, Jogger) aligned to the new GSR II safety regulations and also got a ton of new features.
However, there was one glaring exception – the little Dacia Spring all-electric city car, a rebadged import version of the Renault City K-ZE – was missing in action. No worries, the company had bigger plans for it, and now we know all the juicy details. It should become more appealing than ever, thanks mainly to its fresh exterior styling and interior upgrades – it's not just cheap anymore; it's also a funky EV. Naturally, the design aligns with the new styling philosophy – and this is the second facelift since its launch on the European markets in 2021.
It also received a more powerful 65-horsepower engine last year for the Spring Extreme version, and now the city car looks more like a tiny crossover sibling of the Duster SUV rather than a regular hatchback with lots of plastic body cladding and squared wheel arches. The cabin welcomes future buyers with an all-new dashboard that finally makes everyone forget the cheap EV looked like something from the 1990s or older. There's a seven-inch digital instrument cluster and a 10-inch central touchscreen, cheerful colors, and redesigned details all over the place – including on the steering wheel.
It's also easy to notice the new gear selector, and the cockpit is now quite akin to a rugged CUV, too. Other than that, Dacia promises that its little Spring EV is "more convenient than ever, with the best loading capacity in its segment and many nifty features," retains the same "best value for money" across Europe, and is just as efficient as ever thanks to the 65-hp engine, with a fuel economy of 14.6 kWh/100 km on the mixed WLTP cycle.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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