Europe needs a cheap vehicle to fire-up the electric revolution and maybe the Dacia Spring is it.
To date, all the major car brands seem to have been peddling EVs that only the rich can afford. Take up was swift for a while but, once everyone with deep pockets had purchased their electric vehicle of choice, sales came to a grinding halt.
Enter the Dacia Spring. Made in China for Renault’s value brand Dacia, it starts at just £14,995 ($19,100) after tax and is currently Europe’s cheapest EV. It's scarcely a lightning bolt as it has a top speed of 78mph (and a range of 190 miles in town), but the price will surely tempt lots of buyers.
Sales of EVs in Europe have stalled and that is bad news for the industry’s huge sales targets set by the European Union. EVs might win a market share of around 20 percent this year but have to accelerate to around 80 percent in 2030 and 100 percent by 2035.
EV success requires a mass market driven by buyer enthusiasm not tax-payer-funded subsidies from European governments, says Forbes. European manufacturers talk glibly of their plans to make lots of “affordable” EVs but with current starting prices averaging around €30,000 ($31,500), next year’s crop of entrants like the Citroen C-zero, Fiat Panda, and the Renault Twingo electric in 2026 are unlikely to penetrate the sub-€20,000 ($21,000) barrier.
In China there is a huge market for very cheap EVs. Some costing less than $10,000 are designed as no-frills utility machines, best for local commuting, school runs, and shopping. They have no pretensions for high-speed, long-distance cruising. This is what Europe requires.