Honest. Unpretentious. Down to earth. Simple. When Dacia executives describe the new-look Duster, the terminology is different to that used by most car firms these days. Which is really quite refreshing.
Let’s face it: you’re probably not overwhelmed by the refreshed Duster design. It looks like… a Dacia Duster. And that's really the point. There’s no attempt to introduce radical new design features. There’s no attempt to move the brand upmarket.
But this is a straightforward, affordable SUV designed to appeal to buyers seeking a straightforward, affordable SUV. Brilliant.
What’s interesting is hearing Groupe Renault execs talk about what Dacia’s success now means to Renault.
As Groupe Renault design chief Laurens van der Acke said at an event to launch the restyled Dacia Duster: “Dacia helped us to push Renault in a more emotional direction: Renault has become more Latin, more emotional. Renault’s history is a little more humble than where we’ve pushed the brand to now and I’m sure if we didn’t have Dacia, a part of the company would be saying: ‘Captur is great, but we used to have affordable cars, we need that as well.'
“We can do a Dacia Duster and a Renault Captur, a Renault Clio and a Dacia Sandero. We can say we’ll do that for Dacia, and for the sexy cars, we’ll do that for Renault.”
Join the debate
Add your comment
Emotional? Latin?
Neither Romania nor France are Latin. Why can't these suits ever bring themselves to accept that the overwhelming mass of ordinary people buy cars because they are affordable and practical and if they had more money they wouldn't throw even a backward glance Dacia's way. Or Renault's, frankly.
I agree with your point. You
I agree with your point. You are right about the reason of bying Dacia.
So, buy a Dacia(as ordinary people do) and with saved money buy a history book to understand where you are wrong, because you call yourself Byzantine and say that “Neither Romania nor France are Latin”.
The push to move upmarket is
The push to move upmarket is what's destroying European car makers! The hope that a 'premium image' (unachievable!) will help in fatter margins and bigger profits.
Instead what they need to do is stop over engineering as if everyone wants a car that can be used as a track-day tool and focus on lightness, cutting costs, reduce complications, hence lower manufacturing costs. From next to anonimity Dacia sold 26,000 cars in 2016 and will do a lot more this year!
Skoda...
er no....
Its what Volvo used to be ( 240, 340 etc) before they went upmarket and Skoda then over Volvo's place.
I hope VAG don't wreck Skoda and shift them into VW territory and lose the Skoda character.
Killing off the Yeti is a big mistake IMHO.