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Dacia is rethinking the future of electric vehicles with the reveal of its Hipster Concept, a new vision for accessible and essential mobility. The concept car addresses the industry trend of increasingly larger and more expensive vehicles by focusing on a lightweight, practical, and affordable design tailored to the everyday needs of drivers.
Key Highlights
- An ultra-compact vehicle measuring only three meters in length while offering four seats and a versatile boot.
- Aims to halve the carbon footprint over its lifecycle compared to the best electric vehicles currently available.
- Features an adjustable boot with a capacity ranging from 70 to 500 liters.
- Introduces innovative, cost-effective design elements like
Starkle®recycled materials and a customizableYouClip®interior accessory system. - Weighs 20 percent less than the Dacia Spring, enhancing efficiency and reducing material consumption.
A New Vision for Electric Cars
In an automotive landscape pushing for “more and more,” Dacia has challenged itself to reinvent the people’s car for the electric era. The brand studied the real-world needs of drivers to design a vehicle focused purely on the essentials. The goal behind the Hipster Concept is to make electric mobility accessible to a wider audience that currently finds market prices prohibitive.
Romain Gauvin, Head of Advanced Design and Exterior Design at Dacia, explained the project’s significance. “This is the most Dacia-esque project that I have ever worked on,” he stated. “It has the same societal impact as the Logan did 20 years ago, and it involves inventing something that does not exist today.”
Efficient and Practical by Design
The Dacia Hipster Concept is engineered to be an agile, practical, and economical companion for daily life. Its ultra-compact format, measuring just 3 meters long, 1.53 meters high, and 1.55 meters wide, offers a unique proposition in the current market. Despite its small footprint, it provides four proper seats and an adjustable boot.
A key element of its design is a significant weight reduction. The concept is 20 percent lighter than the Dacia Spring, a result of Dacia’s ‘Eco-Smart’ approach. This reduction in mass means fewer raw materials are needed for manufacturing and less energy is consumed during use. The vehicle is designed for everyday life, with sufficient range for daily journeys that would require recharging just twice a week, meeting the needs of the 94% of French motorists who travel less than 24 miles per day.
A Simple and Functional Exterior
The exterior design of the Dacia Hipster Concept prioritizes simplicity and robustness. The vehicle features a blocky shape with wheels at the four corners and no front or rear overhang. Its horizontal front end incorporates sleek headlights, giving it a serious yet friendly appearance.
Functionality is central to the rear design, where a two-part tailgate covers the vehicle’s entire width for practical boot access. The rear lights are innovatively positioned behind the tailgate window, eliminating the need for a separate glass panel. The design uses a single body color with only three painted parts. Durability is enhanced by side protection made from Starkle®, a material partly derived from recycled plastic, and front and rear skids dyed in the mass. In a unique design choice, the exterior door handles have been replaced by a lighter and less expensive strap.
An Interior Maximizing Space
The interior of the Dacia Hipster Concept is optimized to provide exceptional space within its compact dimensions. Very vertical windows and a windscreen maximize the available room, while a glazed front roof section enhances the feeling of spaciousness.
Four adults can sit comfortably, with a seating position for the driver and front passenger identical to that of the Dacia Sandero. The simplified seats feature a visible frame and a technical mesh fabric, and the front seats merge to form a welcoming bench. The rear seat folds to expand the boot capacity from 70 liters to 500 liters.
The dashboard is equipped with Dacia’s YouClip® native system, with 11 anchor points for a range of customizable accessories. Following the brand’s Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) philosophy, a smartphone docking station allows the user’s phone to act as a multimedia screen, audio system, and digital key.
About Dacia
Born in 1968 and relaunched by Renault Group in 2004, Dacia has always offered the best value-for-money cars by redefining the essentials. Its models, including the Sandero, Duster, Jogger, and Spring, have become references in the market. Dacia is present in 44 countries and has sold more than 9 million vehicles since 2004. The brand launched in the UK in January 2013, where it has sold over 260,000 vehicles to date.
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