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Dacia Has Different Strategy for Emissions Reduction, Will Keep Costs Down

Dacia launched its first electric vehicle last year, but the Renault subsidiary is far from becoming an all-electric brand. Instead, it will continue to offer conventional internal-combustion engined models for as long as possible without risking fines from the European Union. Its owners at Renault plan to go all-electric in Europe by 2030.
2021 Dacia Spring 42 photos
Photo: Dacia
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Without any hybrids in its range, you might wonder if Dacia will be able to sell enough units of its affordable EV, the Spring, to offset the CO2 emissions of the rest of the vehicles it sells. Well, the brand has an entirely different strategy here, and we must admit that it sounds clever. If it works out, it has the potential to change a few things in the industry.

As Dacia's CEO, Denis Le Vot, told the Brits at Autocar, the marque will reduce the CO2 emissions of its models by reducing their weight. Do not expect them to start offering carbon fiber reinforced plastic parts or anything like that, but rather ditching all elements that are not considered essential.

Dacia's first electric model, the Spring, was criticized for its behavior when it was tested by the EuroNCAP. Other Dacia models failed to reach five stars on the old EuroNCAP test scenario, and its models may not get that many stars until customers demand it.

For example, air conditioning is considered essential, so Dacia offers it. But, as the company's CEO explained, electric seats with many adjustments are not, so Dacia does not even bother to offer them. Moreover, the company focuses on designing the parts it uses to be as light as possible, and the seats are one of those elements.

At this point, we should point out that we have driven many Dacia vehicles over the years, and their seats are not as fancy as you might find in other mass-market manufacturers' offerings, but they are enough for day-to-day use. The company does not market itself as low-cost anymore, but focuses on what is described as "smart buy," which is the marque's philosophy for a few years now.

The latest production car launched by Dacia, the Jogger, is described to be almost 20 percent lighter than its rivals, at least in its base form. In that configuration, the vehicle weighs 1,200 kilograms (ca. 2,645 lbs.), and Dacia's CEO explained that this allows the company to fit the car with a smaller engine, which has ten percent less CO2 emissions than its rivals.
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Editor's note: For illustation purposes, the photo gallery shows the Dacia Spring, which is the marque's first all-electric model.

About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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