Renault UK has abandoned plans to launch the Dacia Sandero budget hatchback at next month’s London Motor Show.The company says that demand for left-hand drive Dacias is still so high that the start of right-hand drive production has been put back. Nearly 100 Renault dealers were poised to sign-up to sell the Romanian-built model, which will be badged ‘Dacia by Renault’ in the UK. The marketing plan was to price the Sandero from just £7500 – despite its supermini-plus dimensions.Dealers have been told that the Sandero’s market launch has been postponed by 12 months until late 2009. The company’s preview event for dealers has been cancelled – and the UK media launch has also been axed.The delay is bad news for Renault’s hard-pressed dealers. Sales of the new Laguna have disappointed in the UK, and the brand has registered a 13.5 per cent decline in sales in the year to the end of May.Renault bosses in the UK are frustrated by the delay – the Dacia brand is intended to rival Chevrolet, Kia and Hyundai. Frustrations have been compounded by the fact a small Dacia SUV will be launched in other countries by the end of next year.
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Re: Dacia’s UK launch delayed
The current models I have seen on the road in France look reasonable (no worse than a Berlingo did when it was new)
However if the selling price is creeping up and Renault dealers are losing customers is there not the risk that a utilitarian vehicle which is designed to be cheap to maintain will be sold and serviced at an inflated price.
The previous UK Dacias made sense because they were good but outdated designs sold and serviced at lower prices than contemporary Renaults.
If the value for money element is not passed through to the customer than the whole scheme will flop. I hope an assessment of this is done during the delay.
Re: Dacia’s UK launch delayed
Re: Dacia’s UK launch delayed
To begin with "Nearly 100 Renault dealers were poised to sign-up to build the Romanian-built model"???
£7500 looks a lot of money for what is, just looked you could get a diesel C4 with 6,700 miles on the clock.
The prices for Dacia are way off mark, on the French website they start at 7,800 euros and at the moment cars are generally less expensive in the UK if you compare like with like, shame we ain't got any money though, guess we are going to start having to manufacture stuff, and convert the converted factories back into factories.