The new Dacia Bigster SUV is available to pre-order now for less money than a Volkswagen Golf.
The Romanian firm’s largest model yet starts at just £24,995 – nearly £3000 less than the cheapest Golf and far below the list price of many of its closest rivals.
The Nissan Qashqai, for example, starts at £30,135, the Ford Kuga at £33,395 and the Skoda Kodiaq at £38,720.
The Bigster is priced closer to the likes of the smaller Vauxhall Frontera, MG ZS and Omoda 5.
The headline-baiting entry price is for Expression trim, which includes 17in alloy wheels, a 10.1in touchscreen, dual-zone air con, a multi-view camera and front and rear parking sensors.
Mid-rung Journey trim bumps the list price up to £26,245 for its larger 19in wheels, electric tailgate and bespoke interior upholstery, while Extreme comes in at £26,494 with its panoramic sunroof, modular roof bars, washable microfibre upholstery and rubber floor mats.
Both Journey and Extreme trims provide a heated steering wheel, heated front seats, wireless phone chargers, adaptive high-beam headlights, electric door mirrors, rear privacy glass and the option of a contrasting black roof.
The Bigster is available with a choice of three powertrains: the pure-petrol TCe 130, mild-hybrid petrol TCe 140 and Hybrid 155.
Prices top out at £29,495 for the Hybrid 155 Extreme, keeping the entire range under £30,000.
Speaking to Autocar ahead of the Bigster’s price list going public, Dacia CEO Denis Le Vot explained the rationale behind pricing the Bigster so attractively.
“If you take the C-segment SUV market today in Europe, these cars are trading now for €35,000-36,000 as an average real price paid by the client, and it was below €30,000 five years ago,” he said.
“So starting in 2025, you’re going to have 2.5 million people every year coming to the dealership to replace their C-SUV and being offered the new 2025 version for €35,000, €36,000, €37,000… And these guys were buying it for €29,000 or €28,000 five years ago, so there’s going to be a disappointment.
“So if we take just a slice of this: bingo! And I’m very confident that there will be enough people to consider the Bigster.”
To make room for the Bigster to start running down the line at Dacia’s plant in Mioveni, Romania, Dacia has moved production of the Sandero hatchback and Jogger MPV to a Renault facility in Morocco and opened up some capacity to build some Dusters in Turkey.
