The Dacia Spring has had something of an unusual relationship with the Irish market. When it arrived here towards the end of 2024, its headline attraction was obvious, this was one of the cheapest new electric cars you could buy! The problem was that the EV market was changing quickly. The Hyundai Inster arrived shortly afterwards offering considerably more range, space and sophistication for relatively little additional outlay, while the subsequent arrival of models such as the BYD Dolphin Surf further increased competition at the affordable end of the market. With that said, only a small number of Springs ultimately ever made it onto Irish roads. Now Dacia is having another go, and having attended the unveiling of the all-new Spring in Paris, we can safely say this is a very different proposition!
In fact, forget almost everything you know about the outgoing car. The only thing the new model really shares with its predecessor is the Spring name. This is an entirely new second-generation model, sitting on Renault Group’s new RG-EV small-car platform and, importantly, it will now be manufactured in Europe at Novo Mesto in Slovenia. It also looks substantially more grown-up in the metal. The new Spring is 15cm longer and, more significantly, 18cm wider than before, giving it a much stronger stance. At 3.85 metres long it remains a genuinely compact city car, but Dacia has managed to extract an impressive amount of interior space from those dimensions.
Boot capacity now stands at 337 litres, expanding to 1,283 litres with the rear seats folded, while an optional 18-litre storage compartment beneath the bonnet provides somewhere useful to keep charging cables. Inside represents another major step forward. A 7-inch digital instrument display is standard, while higher-specification Journey versions gain a 10.1-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, connected navigation and a reversing camera. Dacia hasn’t fallen into the trap of chasing huge batteries and headline-grabbing range figures either. The Spring remains very much an entry point into electric motoring. Its 27.5kWh LFP battery provides up to 250km of WLTP range, while the new 80hp electric motor produces 175Nm and gets the Spring from 0 to 100km/h in 12.1 seconds. Hardly hot hatch territory, but a significant improvement for a car primarily intended for urban and suburban driving.
Of particular relevance to Ireland is charging. European versions come with a 6.6kW AC charger as standard, with an optional fast-charge pack adding 11kW AC and 50kW DC capability. We were told at the unveiling that Irish specification should broadly mirror the European cars, but importantly, the fast-charge pack is expected to be standard here. That means a 15 to 80 per cent DC charge can be completed in around 28 minutes. Efficiency remains central to the Spring philosophy also. At just 1,212kg, Dacia claims energy consumption of only 12.7kWh/100km, an exceptionally low figure for an electric car. Perhaps the most important number, however, will be the price! Dacia says the entire European Spring range will cost below €20,000 before national EV incentives are applied. Irish pricing has yet to be confirmed, but indications in Paris suggest Dacia intends to keep the Spring firmly in sub €20,000 territory here too. That could make things very interesting!
The original Spring’s low price wasn’t quite enough to compensate for its compromises once newer rivals arrived. This time around, Dacia appears to have recognised that affordable doesn’t have to mean overly basic. The new Spring is bigger, considerably better looking, more practical, more powerful and more technologically relevant, yet remains refreshingly simple in its approach. After seeing the new Dacia Spring up close in Paris, our first impressions suggest this is the version Ireland probably should have received in the first place. The new Spring will make its first public appearance in Ireland at the Nevo EV Show at RDS Simmonscourt on 7 and 8 November, giving Irish drivers their first opportunity to see the latest-generation electric city car in person. We expect the new Spring to arrive in Ireland in 2027, and we look forward to bringing you a closer look including our first driving impressions, when we get behind the wheel!
