Dacia Sandero

Dacia Sandero is the first foreign model in the top ten best selling cars in France in July. The top is dominated by the French models and only Dacia and Volkswagen have managed to get in this top. The Peugeot 207 is ranked first in sales, followed by the Renault Clio and the Renault Megane 3. In fourth place comes the new Citroen C3 and the fifth is still owned by Renault, this time with Scenic 3.

Dacia Sandero comes in sixth place with 4952 units sold in July in France. In seventh place comes also a Renault, the Twingo 2, which sold 4942 units. Peugeot is back in this ranking in the 8th place with 308 model. Volkswagen has reached the Top 10 in July with the Polo model, which sold 4.800 units in France in the preceding month.

Renault is the most popular car manufacturer in France in July, with 4 models in the top 10 best selling cars, followed by Peugeot with three models and by Citroen and Volkswagen with two models.

A new record for the Dacia factory in Mioveni was registered today: the 300.000 Sandero unit was manufactured today, a new success for the Romanian car manufacturer who enjoys a strong European recognition.

The 300.000 Sandero unit is powered by an 1.6 liter petrol engine that develops 90 HP, has a platinum gray color and will be delivered to a customer in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Launched in 2008 at he Geneva Motor Show, the Sandero is currently the best selling model of the Dacia range, especially in the Western European market. In the first six months of 2010 Dacia sold 95.756 Sandero units, with over 10.000 units more than the same period last year.

Besides the Mioveni factory, the Sandero is assembled under the Dacia brand at the Casablanca factory in Morocco. Another four factories in the world (Brazil, Colombia, Russia and South Africa) are producing Sandero under the Renault brand.

The success of Dacia on the France market is becoming obvious, the Romanian brand market share reaching 5% in June, double then the same period last year. If in the first six months last year were registered 23.866 of Dacia cars, this year the number of registrations grew to 61.250 of Dacia cars.

Bernard Cambier, the Renault’s sales director, said the launch of Duster has generated an unprecedented flow in the last 20 years, and that Dacia is currently doing better than Fiat and Toyota. Cambier also says that if things continue in the current direction, Sandero might become the best selling car by individuals in France.

The Lithuanian journalist Vitoldas Milius managed to cover a route of 16.000 km in just 11 days and 16 hours at the wheel of a Dacia Sandero Stepway. The adventure of the Lithuanian began in the Portuguese town of Cabo da Roca and ended in Vladivostok, a city located in south-east of the Russian Federation.

Milius Vitoldas succeeded to drive more that 1000 km per day, in difficult weather conditions and on roads that test the qualities of the Romanian model. The Lithuanian journalist chose a Dacia Sandero Stepway with an 1.6 liters MPI engine and 90 HP. The car has not been modified for this trip, except for replacing the tires before crossing Siberia. In these 11 days and 16 hours, Vitoldas Milius crossed eight countries: Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and the Russian Federation.

"This trip was very interesting but I still need time to realize my success. A part of the trip took place across Europe, which can hardly impress me, but crossing Russia is a unique thing. Now I find it nothing scary about Russia. I heard a lot of stories from other people and, more or less, I knew what to expect" said Vitoldas Milius about his adventure. 

The Romanian car manufacturer, Dacia, has amazed the automotive world in the last period by launching successive models at an unbeatable price like Logan, Sandero and most recently Duster; therefore, there are more and more specialists who try to identify the next steps of Dacia. The designers of the French auto portal Caradisiac, using a special software, have imagined a potential convertible version of Dacia Sandero, called Dacia Sandero Cabrio.

"Nothing seems to stop Dacia on their way to the expanding their range. Therefore, why not imagine that, someday, Dacia could produce a convertible based on Sandero?" said the specialists from Caradisiac.

For now, the French hypothesis seems unattainable but who thought a few years ago that Dacia will enter the SUV market and in 2010 it launched Dacia Duster, the cheapest model in the class.

Dacia Sandero Cabrio will have competitors like Citroen C3 Pluriel, Renault Wind or Opel Tigra, with prices from 15.000 to 18.000 euros. Therefore, if you apply the success recipe of Dacia,the Sandero Cabrio will have a price of 11.000 euros according to the  Caradisiac editors.

Cabriolet based on Sandero

- Two doors, for places

- Petrol engine: 1.2 liters with 75 HP and 1.6 liters MPi with 90 HP

- Diesel engines : 1.5 liters dCi with 70 HP and 1.5 liters dCi with 85 HP

- Length x width x height (en meters) : 4,29 x 1,74 x 1,50

- Launch date: 2014

- Manufactured in Romania

- Price : starting 11.000 euros

Source: Caradisiac

Dacia has more individual customers in France and the market share in this segment for the Romanian car manufacturer increases to 9.2% in May.

From the 10.258 Dacia cars sold in France in May, 9.716 were purchased by individuals. Dacia Sandero was again the star of the month for Dacia with 6883 units sold that ranks the Sandero in second place after Renault Clio with 7.649 units and before Renault 207 with 5730 units.

The market share of Dacia for individuals in France will grow in the next period, the reason being the launch of the new Romanian SUV, the Duster. In the first month after the launch, Dacia customers bought 1398 Duster units, a result that puts the Romanian SUV model on the 22-position of the top-selling models.

Dacia launched in Romania the limited edition called Black Line of Sandero, Logan and Logan MCV. Among the additional facilities you can find on these models are leather steering wheel, radio CD with MP3 player and steering wheel controls (Renault style), a special upholstery and gray chrome dashboard.

Dacia Black Line models will have the same engines that the classic versions of Sandero, Logan and Logan MCV have. The prices start from 8.950 euros for Black Line Sandero with an engine of 1.4 liters and 75 HP,  8.200 euros for Logan Black Line with an engine of 1.4 liters and 75 HP and 10.600 euros for Logan MCV Black Line with an 1.6 liters engine and 90 HP.

Dacia Sandero is the second model as number of units sold in France in March, at only 163 units of the winner, Peugeot 207 (Dacia sold 14.468 Sandero units and Peugeot sold 14.661 units of 207). Moreover, if we consider only the sales to the individuals, Dacia Sandero  takes the first place in sales: 14.236 units sold (98% of total registrations) versus 10.437 units a Peugeot 207 (71% of total registrations).

The top sales in March in France is completed by Renault Clio (3rd place with 12.814 units sold), Renault Twingo (4th place with 11.153 units sold) and Citroen C3 who benefited the launch of the new generation (5th place with 8.716 units sold).

Renault announced the launch on the french market of a version of Sandero on bioethanol produced at Dacia factory in Pitesti, in order to expand the offer of vehicles running on alternative fuels.

Sandero on bioethanol will be available starting at 10.200 euros, all taxes included, for the Laureate version and 11.300 euros for the Prestige version.

The Sandero version on bioethanol is produced at the Pitesti factory and contains more than 5% reused plastic and 95% of the vehicle my be recycled. 

The registration of new Dacia cars in France in the first two months grew by 118% compared to the same period of 2009, to 14.761 cars according to the French Cars Manufacturers Association.

Dacia Duster will be launched today at 14.45 in the Geneva Motor Show. Here are the first pictures from Geneva.

Source: Automarket 

More pictures and news from Geneva on www.daciaduster.org