All this feeds into Dacia’s laser focus on price. “Offering affordability, whatever the size, whatever the [customer] need, that’s Dacia’s mission,” said Frank Marotte, vice-president of sales and marketing.
“In the family car segment, we see a vast number of customers who are stuck with existing vehicles because they cannot afford to renew. And what we see with Bigster is that we fit a gap where nobody else is, with a car that is roughly 10,000 Euros [£8,800] less expensive than [rivals].”
Marotte added that Dacia has been closely studying the mid-size car market, known as the C-segment, to find untapped demand. “If we come with something different in the C-hatch or the C-wagon, if it fits a need that has been created by other manufacturers moving away from customers, then we have to be there.”
It’s all part of a long-term goal for Dacia to sell one million vehicles a year, a huge jump over last year’s 676,340 volume. The target is for 20 per cent of sales to come from the C-segment, with higher prices boosting revenues. “We’re sticking to the objective to grow,” CEO Katrin Adt told Auto Express. “We’re bringing new cars in the C-segment but also in the A-segment, trying to broaden our offer.”
What will power the Dacia Striker?
Dacia has built up a 50,000-strong order bank for the Bigster SUV, and next year will also yield the successor to the Spring electric car in the A-segment (city cars). Don’t expect the Striker to get pure electric power, although Adt confirmed that “on every car there will be hybrid”.
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