“We will have Sandero and Logan facelift models in Paris in September,” said Laurens van den Acker, Renault group design chief.
The two models will get a mid-cycle restyling, while the new Duster will be a leap. Dacia does not have enough models to be able to come up with something new every year, van den Acker said.
Dacia did not showcase any new models at the Geneva Motor Show but showed a Logan MCV sporting the new Easy-R automated manual transmission and a new color for Duster.
Dacia did not have something new for the Geneva show because each brand has it own product cycle and Dacia is now in the part of the cycle without any new model. It will have something new next year, Renault’s design chief added.
Dacia’s growth slowed down in Europe to a 5.1% rate last year, when it sold almost 383,000 units on a market that grew by almost 10%. Its ticket to a return to strong growth in Europe is the second generation of the Duster SUV, due next year. The first Duster generation launched in 2010.
Renault will present the new Duster next year, which will look much better than the current model but will not have a seven-seat version because the carmaker has the Lodgy model to address that particular requirement, the Renault official said.
The number of Dacia models may decrease over the next few years because of the segments of the auto market rising fast are the crossover and SUV segments, while family cars are witnessing significant decline. Dacia has four models on the later segment, the Logan MCV, the five and seven-seat Lodgy, Dokker and Dokker Van for freight transport, compared with only two before, the Logan MCV and Logan Van.
There are eight Dacia models at the moment and some of them are doing very well, while some are not performing as expected, Laurens van den Acker said.
Dacia’s best-selling model in Europe in 2015 was Sandero, almost 148,000 units delivered, up from 138,000 in 2014, followed by Duster, almost 126,000 units.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)