Photo: Ticarat Alexandru-Calin
You may have heard about it from Top Gear. There was a time when James May said “Great News!” and everyone knew that something about the Dacia Sandero followed suit. However, the car that put the low-cost automaker on the map is a little older than the cutesy hatchback that starts at 7,870 euros in its home market.
Enter the Dacia 1300, a rebadged Renault 12 that was originally built from CKD kits with parts from France. Full-on production kicked off in Mioveni later on, and one way or another, the now-classic 1300 was built until 2004 in great numbers.
The final car – namely the 1,959,730th example of the breed – didn’t spell the end of the Franco-Romanian collaboration because Dacia has been owned by Renault since September 1999. The thing is, have you ever wondered how the 1300 would look today as the next level over the Logan entry-level sedan? 3D designer Ticarat Alexandru-Calin surely did, and this brings us to the Dacia Sentry “Dark Edition.”
“My target was to re-establish and design a successor for this forgotten legend,” he said, and “the briefing for this project was to envision the next Dacia sedan fit for the upcoming decade.” Ticarat also mentions on his artist page that we’re in the presence of a “sporty five-seater sedan powered by electric energy.”
Let’s make a quick recap. The successor of the 1300 would need to be fit for a family of five, feature forward-looking design, be appealing to cost-oriented customers in the European Union, and drop internal combustion for an e-motor or more. The Sentry with the “Dark Edition” treatment certainly ticks all of those boxes, starting with the aggressive front fascia and the coupe-like sloping roof.
5,040 millimeters (198 inches) long and 1,907 millimeters (75 inches) wide, the Sentry also wows with the forged-composite and military-grade aluminum wheels that feature illuminated rim components. To be more precise, those yellow things on the outer lip. The thing is, Dacia isn’t going to revive the 1300 anytime soon.
A car of this size and techy goodies such as virtual mirrors would be too expensive for the Dacia brand, hence the automaker’s decision to go electric in a different fashion. Remember the Spring EV concept from March 2020? Not only is it shorter than the Sandero subcompact hatchback, but the series-production version is certain to borrow a few bits and pieces from the Renault City K-ZE that’s sold in China.
The e-crossover is likely to start at less than 20,000 euros when it goes on sale in 2021 across the European Union, rivaling the likes of the Volkswagen e-up! and the other two small EVs from the Volkswagen Group. Extract from that price up to 6,000 euros in government grants for plug-in vehicles, and the all-new Dacia Spring EV may soon be crowned as the cheapest electric vehicle in the Old Continent.
The final car – namely the 1,959,730th example of the breed – didn’t spell the end of the Franco-Romanian collaboration because Dacia has been owned by Renault since September 1999. The thing is, have you ever wondered how the 1300 would look today as the next level over the Logan entry-level sedan? 3D designer Ticarat Alexandru-Calin surely did, and this brings us to the Dacia Sentry “Dark Edition.”
“My target was to re-establish and design a successor for this forgotten legend,” he said, and “the briefing for this project was to envision the next Dacia sedan fit for the upcoming decade.” Ticarat also mentions on his artist page that we’re in the presence of a “sporty five-seater sedan powered by electric energy.”
Let’s make a quick recap. The successor of the 1300 would need to be fit for a family of five, feature forward-looking design, be appealing to cost-oriented customers in the European Union, and drop internal combustion for an e-motor or more. The Sentry with the “Dark Edition” treatment certainly ticks all of those boxes, starting with the aggressive front fascia and the coupe-like sloping roof.
5,040 millimeters (198 inches) long and 1,907 millimeters (75 inches) wide, the Sentry also wows with the forged-composite and military-grade aluminum wheels that feature illuminated rim components. To be more precise, those yellow things on the outer lip. The thing is, Dacia isn’t going to revive the 1300 anytime soon.
A car of this size and techy goodies such as virtual mirrors would be too expensive for the Dacia brand, hence the automaker’s decision to go electric in a different fashion. Remember the Spring EV concept from March 2020? Not only is it shorter than the Sandero subcompact hatchback, but the series-production version is certain to borrow a few bits and pieces from the Renault City K-ZE that’s sold in China.
The e-crossover is likely to start at less than 20,000 euros when it goes on sale in 2021 across the European Union, rivaling the likes of the Volkswagen e-up! and the other two small EVs from the Volkswagen Group. Extract from that price up to 6,000 euros in government grants for plug-in vehicles, and the all-new Dacia Spring EV may soon be crowned as the cheapest electric vehicle in the Old Continent.
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