Dacia has announced that its affordable replacement for the Spring will be called, well, the Spring.
Wow, that's a dramatic development…
Actually, it's more complex than it seems at first, because the new Spring will, in fact, be called the New Spring, as, for a time in some markets, it will be sold alongside the old Spring. However, the badge on the back - as we can see from the image Dacia has released - will just say Spring.
Click here to read our Dacia Spring reviews.
What do we know about the new Spring?
Well, all Dacia is saying for the moment, officially, is that the New Spring: "keeps the essentials: a 100 per cent electric powertrain, four real seats and a proper boot.”
That doesn't tell us much…
No, but happily, we know more. We know that the new Spring, or New Spring, will use the same platform as the brilliant little Renault Twingo, which means you'll get a 27.5kWh battery, using the more affordable (and rugged) lithium-iron phosphate chemistry (LFP), and that should give a range of around 260km on one charge. Unlike the old Spring, this one will be built in Europe, not China.
Click here to read our Renault Twingo reviews.
Is the new Spring just a re-badged Twingo, then?
No, it's much more distinctive than that. As you can see from the image above, while the Twingo is all retro-90s curves and rounded shapes, the Spring will be rather more square-shouldered and will look a bit like a shrunk-down version of the Dacia Duster. It looks as if it will be cheaper than the Twingo, too, to the tune of around €2,000 in Europe, although we'll have to wait and see how that price shakes out in Irish terms.
Speaking of which, the new Spring should be a better competitor for the likes of the Hyundai Inster, and given that the old Spring has found more than 210,000 buyers across Europe, expect this new one to be a big success.
Does Dacia have other electric car plans?
Yup, although we don't have much detail on those yet. An all-electric version of the next-generation Sandero is more or less confirmed, with Dacia saying that the next generation of that compact hatch moves to a 'multi-energy solution.' Beyond that, we know that the brand is planning two more electric models, one of which could be a variant of the incoming Striker compact estate, and the other potentially an electric Duster or Bigster.