CarBrandLogos archive · Dacia · 2021

DaciaSpring

Dacia's smallest crossover, built on Renault's India-engineered budget architecture.

The story

A defining chapter in Dacia history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Dacia Spring, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

The Spring sits at the very bottom of the Dacia range, and its roots run through Renault's CMF-A programme — the ultra-low-cost A-segment platform developed in India and built out into a family of small crossover-styled hatchbacks assembled in Chennai, São José dos Pinhais and later Envigado. Serge Cosenza led the design, which puts SUV cues — raised ride height, cladding, a squared-off nose — on a car of city-car footprint.

Dongfeng Aeolus EX1 002 · Jengtingchen · CC BY-SA 4.0

Design and engineering

In its home markets the family runs 799 cc and 999 cc three-cylinder petrol engines with five-speed manual or automated-manual gearboxes. For Europe, Dacia sold the Spring as a battery-electric car, which made it one of the cheapest new EVs available on the continent and gave Dacia an entry in a class most manufacturers had abandoned as unprofitable. It is a small, light, deliberately basic machine, and its appeal rests almost entirely on price.

Dacia Spring IAA 2021 1X7A0146 · Alexander Migl · CC BY-SA 4.0

Technical specification