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New Delhi: Back in the day, when Renault bought the Dacia, a carmaker from Romania, it was scoffed at by most in the car industry. However, over these last two decades, it has flourished with the Sandero becoming Europe’s best-selling car overall in 2024 and has been one of the most popular models amongst retail customers since 2017. Last year, it sold 310,000 units.
The Dacia Sandero, in fact, is often recognised as Top Gear and Grand Tour’s host James May’s favourite car and the one he has owned. In terms of rivalry, it is almost limited to a handful, and Dacia isn’t just letting the Sandero just stay like it is. Both Sandero and its pseudo-rugged Stepaway cousin are set to get a mid-cycle facelift.
The design tweaks are going well into their sedan, Logan and the Jogger wagon. All four models are coming with redesigned headlights with an upgraded grille, made to give the illusion of a single piece. Dacia have given it LED taillights, having added a pixel effect. Further, it gets new alloys and hubcaps for the cheaper variants that ride on steel wheels.
It gets the usual features on the inside, like the 10-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Sandero, Sandero Stepway, Jogger and Logan come with a new induction charging pad, automatic headlights and even multiple-view camera and power-folding mirrors. A lot of these features cost a little extra of course.
To keep itself more suitable to EU regulations, it comes with safety features like the driver attention alert and automatic emergency braking with detection for vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists and motorbikes.
The biggest change is, of course, that Dacia have given both Sandero Stepway and Jogger hybrid power with a 1.8-litre petrol engine coming with two electric motors, a 1.4-kWh battery pack and automatic transmission getting two gears for the engine and two for the electric motor. Combined it makes 155 bhp and 170 Nm of torque. While the Jogger can be ordered as a hybrid right away, the Stepway, coming as the first hybrid in the Sandero range, will be around the fourth quarter of next year.
There will be a more affordable version with all four getting the 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbo engine that will run on LPG as well. All in all, it is clear that Dacia is preparing to go electric or at least semi-electric.
