Renault’s budget brand Dacia courted controversial headlines earlier this year when they received a series of low star safety ratings, but in a new interview the company’s CEO is adamant that they won’t be bullied into introducing safety features drivers rarely use.
The Dacia Sandero Logan only received two star safety ratings from Euro NCAP earlier this year, to add to even worse one-star ratings for the Spring and Jogger. But potential buyers should not be put off, analysts explain that it’s only a lack of the very latest active and intelligent safety systems are keeping the scores low. Euro NCAP’s own report said: "crash protection is respectable, with performance that would make the car a four-star performer if it were not for its shortcomings elsewhere." And the Euro NCAP General Secretary summed it up when he said: “Clearly, Dacia have found their market and they’re sticking to it, but a two-star rating shows little ambition, even for a low-cost product.”
In a robust response to industry criticism, Dacia CEO Denis Le Vot said that his company wouldn’t add expensive technology to their cars for the sake of it, explaining to Top Gear magazine: “Lots of people deactivate the lane keep assist. You do that because you're a human being and you assess the situation so you deactivate the technology. What we do is we don't sell it to you. We know that people deactivate lane keep assist, so why would we sell it?"
Dacia offer some of the most affordable cars in the UK, with the seven-seater Jogger available for prices below £15k. The Romanian company are the third best selling brand in Europe in 2022, and remain steadfast in their budget model, with a commitment to continue developing combustion engines, so long as legislation allows.