In an interview with Britain’s Autocar, Laurens van den Ackersaid that the discontinuing of Renault badged Dacia models such as the Sandero, Logan, Lodgy and Dokker in markets outside Europe, will allow for more “individual” design methods while at the same time allowing Renault offerings to better distinguish themselves.
“My goal is to have a unique global Renault line-up. Cars that are Renault derivatives of Dacias, I want that to stop. I can’t argue with the business sense to do it, because Renaults were expensive for some markets and Dacias were relatively modern cars that were reliable and affordable, so we rebadged them,” van den Acker said.
“It helped us gain a foot in those markets. But now we start to sell more cars in markets such as Russia, we will start to differentiate. We’ll try to be clever. I’m pushing Renault to be very Latin and sensual, and Dacia to be Germanic and robust. This strategy is working great for us”.
Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the Russian market Arkana in September, van Acker confirmed that while future Dacia models will continue to make use of Renault sourced underpinnings, the practice of selling the same model under two badges will be halted, the exception being the Duster that will become a Renault regardless of the market it is sold in.
His comments also confirms a report back in June that the Duster, which not only shares its B0 platform with the Arkana but also the Kaptur marketed in Russia and India, will indeed be the last model to carry both Dacia and Renault badges.
It will therefore mean that the next generation of Dacias could very be sold under the Mioveni based automaker’s designation in South Africa instead of using the Renault nomenclature, which will see it officially return after a less than impressive pre-Renault product run nearly two decades ago.
