How far will Dacia’s success stop? With its cheap cars, even if they also suffered from inflation, the Romanian manufacturer records record sales. The brand also unveiled its new strategy for the coming years a few months ago, with a new logo, a new concept car, as well as a new, less “cheap” signature, playing on the side in the open airat a crossroads with a manufacturer like Jeep, for example.

Why not, especially since if these models go to the high-end market and remain affordable, there’s no reason to sell them out, or vice versa. Dacia even intends to go further and attract new customers across Europe, pushed away from other brands by car price inflation.

Recipe Dacia

Dacias are made in Romania and Morocco, in factories that work in three shifts with low-paid labor. To develop your models, the manufacturer uses parts already developed by Renaultand his models are the bare essentials with a minimum of options.

Dacia also sells mainly to individuals, this channel is considered the most profitable. All this thus gives a very recipe “reduced inventory and distribution”, – explained the boss of the brand, Denis Le Vot, in an interview with AFP. Proof of this success, the brand now represents a quarter of Renault group registrations.

In 2022, its turnover increased by more than 20%, and this is a “substantial contribution to group profitability”This was announced on Thursday by the financial director of Renault, Thierry Piton. Its operating profitability exceeds 10% against 5.6% in the group.

In 2022, Dacia reached almost 9% market share in France, growing by 4.5% in one year in a market that is nevertheless very slow. Dacia is also one of the few generic brands to grow in Europe in 2022 (+13.8%), approaching the level of sales of Toyota and Kia.

Attract new customers

With the arrival of a new boss of the Renault group in 2020 in the person of Luca de Meo, Dacia also wants to improve the image of the brand.

“The German top manager who no longer wants to spend €45,000 to replace his car should turn his head to us”, is launched by Denis Le Vot. The brand already sells most of the best finishes for its models. “We are moving from inexpensive to better value for money”– says the host.

The Duster will be facelifted in 2024 and should give the brand even more momentum, while another bigger and sleeker SUV, the Bigster, is coming soon and should act as a spoiler to entice customers. premium access.