GENEVA: Dacia Has New Models, Like Them on Facebook!

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Romanian automaker Dacia is crafting limited-edition versions of its most popular models and wants its online fans to name them.

To mark the initiative, Dacia brought its first such model — the Swiss market-bound Duster Essential — to show off at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show.

Creature comforts like power windows and doors, alloy wheels, Bluetooth connectivity and a new specialty body color (which even covers the bumpers!) are what sets these versions apart from their entry-level brethren. It also puts greater distance between the brand and its crude Eastern Bloc origins.

In a shout-out to its 3,000,000 Facebook fans — a figure heavily touted by the clearly pleased-as-punch company — Dacia will solicit model name ideas from its online community in select countries.

The Renault-owned automaker has seen sales volume grow rapidly in recent years as European consumers snap up its “no frills” vehicles in the face of dodgy economic conditions. Having set a sales record last year, Dacia must be wanting to put some gloss on its offerings, now that they have become so well known.

The company chose Geneva to emphasize another convenience it’s inserting in its products — a five-speed automated transmission, which is now available in diesel models after being launched last fall.

Always one to keep an eye on costs, Dacia’s Easy-R automated manual transmission is designed to undercut the price of a conventional automatic while appealing to a growing number of Europeans who are “going American” and kicking the stick shift to the curb.

The Easy-R incorporates a crawl mode for stop-and-go traffic and a hill hold feature for making life easier when you’re navigating the Carpathians.

Who wouldn’t like that … on Facebook?

[Images: Renault Group]



Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • BoogerROTN BoogerROTN on Mar 01, 2016

    Looks like a Pathfinder and a Rogue that...GOT...IT...ON. If you know what I mean.

    • See 2 previous
    • Gtem Gtem on Mar 02, 2016

      @wmba I highly doubt that, but would be curious to be proven wrong. The Duster is based on the Renault-Nissan "B" platform, which is what things like the Logan, Sandero, Nissan Cube, Nissan Note are all based around. The Rogue is probably more related to Nissan's old Sentra/Altima bits, if I had to guess.

  • Ko1 Ko1 on Mar 01, 2016

    "I choose Vigo. The Scourge of Carpathia, the Sorrow of Moldavia." I'll need a Sony Walkman, a NES Advantage joystick, some loudspeakers, a well known national monument and several hundred gallons of audio-reactive ectoplasm.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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