Dacia wins with private customers

Dacia is on its way to becoming the most popular car brand for private customers. "In 2023, we achieved a market share of 8.3 percent among end customers in Europe," says Xavier Martinet, Head of Marketing and Sales for the brand. In 2022, it was still 7.6 percent. This makes the Romanian Renault subsidiary the second most popular car brand among private customers. In the previous year, the brand was still in third place. However, because Dacia is holding back with fleet and corporate customers, its overall market share is 4.3 percent.

Dacia sold 562,890 vehicles in Europe, 17.4 percent more than in the previous year, and thus grew faster than the market. In the overall passenger car market, Dacia is therefore among the top ten in Europe.

In 2024, Martinet expects growth "in line with the overall market". This is because several model changes are due this year. The third generation of the Dacia Duster SUV will roll into dealerships in the second half of the year, while the battery-electric Dacia Spring will be thoroughly overhauled and given a new shape. The Bigster, an SUV in the C-segment, larger than the Duster, is also in the starting blocks. It will arrive in 2025.

Sales Director Martinet is confident that the new models will give the brand a growth boost next year. Also in Germany, the most important market for Dacia. Here, the brand has secured a firm place among private car buyers with its affordable prices and is in fifth place, behind the domestic manufacturers VW, Mercedes, BMW and Audi. 75 percent of German Dacia buyers are private customers, while more than two thirds of new cars here are bought by companies and fleet operators.

The development of the brand shows how price-sensitive customers have become in times of inflation. Although Dacia models such as the Sandero small car and the Jogger compact estate have also become more expensive in recent years, the cars in Romania are the most affordable in their respective segments.

"The Sandero has been the best-selling car to end customers in Europe since 2017," says Martinet. At 11,300 euros, it is also the cheapest new car. So does Dacia need to be afraid of cheap cars from China? "No more than other brands," says the sales director, "they will drive us to continue to do our best in the future." Dacia itself produces in China: the electric Spring is delivered to Europe from there. This is not expected to change in the short term.

After all, the brand is in no hurry to go electric anyway. Dacia and its parent company Renault are managed as "complementary brands", says Martinet: "Renault is leading the EV offensive." Group CEO Luca de Meo has announced an electric entry-level model, the R5. It is to be presented at the Geneva Motor Show in February.

The Renault R5 is expected to cost around 25,000 euros. It is expected that Dacia will then reduce the price of the Spring. It is currently listed at 22,750 euros, but is being offered in a special promotion with a 10,000 euro electric bonus. This is also because the German government has surprisingly stopped subsidizing electric cars. The Spring is currently the cheapest electric car on the German market. And it should stay that way.

With 61,803 sales, sales of the Dacia Spring have risen by 26.4 percent worldwide compared to 2022. The busiest Dacia in 2023 was again the Sandero with 269,899 sales (up 17.6 percent). 200,633 Duster were sold worldwide - an increase of 1.7 percent despite the announced model change. The Jogger sold 94,095 units, an increase of 65.6 percent. (aum)