Spied: Renault’s £6.5k supermini

Renault is set to launch its budget brand Dacia in the UK market in early 2009, and Autocar’s got an exclusive spyshot of the car it’ll be offering us Brits: this is the Dacia Sandero. The Sandero is a full-sized, four-metre supermini that will be available for the price of a city car. It’ll be built in Romania alongside the rest of the Europe-only Dacia Logan range, sold in selected Renault showrooms, and priced from £6500. Think of it as a Fiesta-sized hatchback yours for £1000 less than the cheapest Ford Ka: this car is to become Renault’s new value-for-money champion.This is the first spy picture of the Sandero we’ve seen. It was taken near Dacia’s Mioveni plant, and shows a car that’s very similar to Renault’s Brazilian-built Sandero but for its new, Dacia grille.The Sandero is based on the same mechanicals that underpin the Logan saloon, estate and van. Its official launch will be at next month’s Geneva motor show, but it won’t go on sale here in early 2009.There’s also a seven-seat version of the estate car available to Europeans which won’t make it to the UK, but the Logan estate could join our range later, as could a Dacia-branded small 4x4 – kind of 21st century Lada Niva.