Currently reading: Dacia Spring city EV finally confirmed for UK sales in 2024
Budget electric supermini to get more 'modern' look as it goes on sale in the UK

The Dacia Spring – Europe's cheapest electric car – will go on sale in the UK in summer 2024, arriving with significant design and technology upgrades to help it fend off competition from newer European-designed EVs.

Confirmation of the car's UK launch comes around two years since it arrived in Europe, and following several strong hints from Dacia bosses that a UK roll-out was planned. 

Precise details will follow closer to its arrival, but unlike the Citroen Ami it will be offered in right-hand drive,  and be priced from well under £20,000 to claim the title of the UK's most affordable electric car. The Ami is priced from £8095 (or £118 per month), but is technically a quadricycle; currently the lowest-priced electric car here is the Smart EQ Fortwo, at £23,320. 

Prices for the Spring start at €17,300 in France, translating to £14,760 - but no doubt the final price for UK customers will be slightly higher. 

The Spring will not be sold in the UK in its current form, instead being introduced as the car is given an extensive mid-life facelift to boost its appeal and bring it up to date with the rest of the Dacia line-up. 

Based on the Chinese-made Renault Kwid K-ZE, the four-seat city car is “lacking a bit of modernity”, according to Dacia design boss David Durand, and it “needs to be reconsidered to express more of this electric trend”.

Durand told Autocar the updated Spring won’t stray too far from the ethos of the current car, which has sold 120,000 units in Europe since its 2021 launch - 93% of those buyers were new to the EV market.

“The general recipe of the Spring is a good one,” he said, as “you have a lot of [bumps] with other cars when you park. ‘City’ doesn’t mean safe environment.” 

He added: “We noticed that a lot of people in the far suburbs or even in the countryside have a Spring as a second car. It doesn’t mean that the Spring is going off road, but it’s not really a centre/urban car.” 

As a result, it is highly likely to remain a baby SUV with upright proportions and plastic protective body cladding but be brought closer in line with Dacia’s full-sized line-up by gaining new light signatures, wheel designs, colour options and trim elements. 

Dacia spring dashboard

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An interior refresh is also on the cards as well, with new technological features and materials among the possibilities. The brand told Autocar it will get a similar jump in quality as the Sandero did from its last to its current generation.

It is unclear if there will be any changes to the Spring’s 44bhp drivetrain or 28.6kWh battery, but Dacia CEO Denis Le Vot said “if we did [the Spring] again, I would cut the battery in half” because the average Spring in Europe covers just 10 miles per day.

Full details of the refresh will be published next year, Dacia said in a statement. 

The firm's sales vice-president, Xavier Martinet, said: "With UK sales surging year-on-year and many British car buyers having a recognised appetite for the brand, it is now the right time to introduce a pure electric vehicle. Spring has democratised electric vehicle ownership in Europe, offering people the chance to enjoy sustainable driving without the often-associated price premium.

"I’m confident that Spring will we be as popular in the UK as it has proved throughout the rest of Europe."

Felix Page

Felix Page
Title: News and features editor

Felix is Autocar's news editor, responsible for leading the brand's agenda-shaping coverage across all facets of the global automotive industry - both in print and online.

He has interviewed the most powerful and widely respected people in motoring, covered the reveals and launches of today's most important cars, and broken some of the biggest automotive stories of the last few years. 

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Will86 6 July 2023

Keen to see what the mid life refresh entails - the newest Dacias look quite smart. However, I hope they don't cut the battery in half. Sture the average Spring might only do 10 miles a day, but maybe at the weekend owners might like to go a little further. The point of a reasonable sized battery is to give owners flexibility and choice. 

Overdrive 6 July 2023

'Based on the Chinese made Renault Kwid K-ZE'.....sooner or later this growing dependency on China and Chinese companies will bite the European makers on the ass, and it will be a bite they might not recover from.

Will86 6 July 2023

Totally agree. Given all the political concern about reliance on China I hope car makers are looking carefully at their supply chain. 

Lexusv8 6 July 2023

Again the UK being ddeprived of another car, because we need RH drive ! Even though we purchase more cars than other countries in EU . Hopefully Dacia will suffer financially, because it refuses to add it's new EV into the UK market place  !!!!