Dacia is preparing to put its bold Hipster microcar concept into production in China next year as a rival to the upcoming Fiat Multiplina, Autocar can reveal - and it is targeting a sub-£10,000 starting price.
Dacia revealed the Hipster last year as a vision of a tiny, four-seat electric city car to sit under the new Spring. It was designed hypothetically to comply with the same L7e quadricycle regulations as the Silence S04 and Fiat's retro-styled, four-seat take on the formula, being launched next year.
Dacia previously suggested it would consider building the Hipster if it were able to do so profitably and there was sufficient demand, and hasn't yet confirmed plans to start production, with CEO Katrin Adt telling Autocar only to "stay tuned" when asked for an update recently.
But now a source close to the project has revealed that the Hipster will enter production in 2027, at the Chinese factory where the outgoing, first-generation Spring was built, and land in the UK at around £9500.
Denis Le Vot, who stepped down as Dacia CEO in September 2025, shortly before the Hipster's debut, originally envisaged the car as the natural successor to the Spring and planned to launch it in late 2026 with a target price of £11,200.
However, despite Le Vot's opposition, then Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo decided in late 2024 that the next-generation Spring would instead be based on the reborn Renault Twingo and built in Slovenia.
That decision followed the collapse of negotiations with Volkswagen over plans to develop the forthcoming ID 1 on the French firm's compact EV platform.
Le Vot's departure and the appointment of Fabrice Cambolive changed the direction of the Hipster project. In autumn 2025, the new chief growth officer for Renault and Dacia instructed Dacia's teams to revise the product brief.
Cambolive's requirements included studying a two-seat version complying with the lighter L6 quadricycle category, alongside the four-seat L7e model, and significantly lowering the target price.
China has demonstrated considerable expertise in developing low-priced microcars in the 'A0' segment. The Renault Group has first-hand experience of this through the eGT New Energy Automotive plant in Shiyan, which has been left without production since manufacturing of the Spring ended there in July 2026.
