Renault will sell two cheap SUVs in Australia

The price of new cars has skyrocketed but an established brand is planning to introduce a range of cheaper models in Australia.

Europe’s most successful value-for-money car maker, is completely unknown in Australia and it’ll stay that way after its new generation of small SUVs go on sale here.

They will wear Renault badges when they arrive, probably in 2025.

Dacia is the name of the mystery manufacturer.

The Romanian company was founded in 1966, during the country’s post-WWII Communist era that came to a bloody end in late 1989.

Under licence, it produced the Renault 12 for many years.

Dacia vehicles will head to Australia wearing Renault badges.

Over time the Romanians developed variants the French had never dreamt of, such as a diesel 4WD double-cab ute.

In 1999 Dacia was sold by the Romanian government to Renault Group. Since then it has grown and flourished, offering older Renault technology at super low prices.

The Dacia Duster is a small SUV.

The Dacia Sandero, similar in size to a Toyota Yaris or VW Polo, is reportedly Europe’s best-selling car to private buyers so far this year.

It’s not hard to understand why the Sandero is a such a success. Prices start at the equivalent of $18,000, putting it between half and two-thirds the price of competitors. The same goes for all the brand’s other products.

But the little hatchback isn’t the model that’s caught the eye of Ateco, the distributor of Renault in Australia.

An all-new version of Dacia’s popular Duster small SUV, currently priced from about $25,500 in Europe, goes into production in late 2024.

They have stripped out interiors that prioritise value over all the bells and whistle

It’ll be followed a year later by a larger SUV that will look a lot like the Bigster concept revealed in 2021. The odd name makes sense; it’ll be the biggest Dacia ever.

“These new-generation product are excellent and well-suited to the Australian outdoor lifestyle,” said Glen Sealey of Ateco. “Therefore we have our hand up.”

“Dacia has no plan to launch in Australia,” he explained. In other right-hand drive markets outside of Europe, including India and South Africa, Dacias wear Renault badges. “We would follow the same path”.

Ateco has had success distributing budget brands in Australia over the years. It was a distributor for Kia before the company set up a local office and also represented Suzuki for a time.

It currently distributes the LDV brand.

The 2024 Duster would be similar in size to the current model, Dacia CEO Denis Le Vot said, while its design would have the “same spirit”.

The production Bigster will have a little different flavour. “More the highway car; bigger, more spacious and less rough and tough.” It’ll be similar in size to Toyota’s big-selling RAV4.

A larger SUV is also slated to come that’ll take its cues from the Bigster concept.

The two SUVs planned for Australia will reflect Dacia’s ongoing image makeover, including a redesigned logo. The brand won’t change its low-cost and no-frills philosophy, but wants to add some eco-cool to its image.

“Our job is to make choices, so we choose for the client,” said Le Vot. “We don’t offer everything. We just keep what is essential.”

This means no electric seats, no chrome and no leather. Some versions are sold with no infotainment screen, only a smartphone mount. “Why do we pay for a screen when we don’t need it?,” Le Vot asked.

Le Vot believes the internal-combustion engine will be around for another decade, maybe more. “Dacia will come to be in a way, if I may say, the champion of the ICE,” he predicted.

“We have l-o-o-o-ng time between now and 2035,” he said.

“There is a need for renewal of the fleet of cars, and at the price of electric vehicles today not everyone can afford that.”