Dacia has, for the first time, shown off its new Sandero, Sandero Stepway, and Logan saloon. Currently, the Irish market only gets the Logan as a compact estate, not a four-door notchback saloon, and it's not certain yet whether this version will come to Ireland.
New, more modern, chassis
The cars will be built on the latest iteration of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance CMF-B platform, which also underpins the current versions of the Renault Clio and Nissan Micra. That should, all by itself, bring a major round of improvements and upgrades to the Sandero family, not least in terms of dynamics, safety and connectivity.
The design, although sticking reasonably closely to the template set down by the current Duster, is also much-changed, with a more steeply-raked windscreen, a lower roof and a wider suspension track.
Stepway gets slightly different styling
Once again, the Stepway model is the quasi-SUV of the Sandero range, with a raised ride height and some stick-on 4x4 styling. Once, we would have safely predicted that the four-door saloon might be the best-selling version in Ireland, but these day's it's much more likely to be the Stepway, which just goes to show that even Dacia buyers don't deploy that much common sense at purchase time. This time around the Stepway is a little more distinct from the standard Sandero, thanks to a more muscular bonnet design.
6.5-million sales since 2004
Dacia has, since Renault took it over in 2004, gone from making a single model (the original Logan saloon) to making cars that have found 6.5-million homes around the world. Since its launch in Ireland, the Dacia range has been a consistent strong seller here, too. We'll find out more technical details of the lineup at the end of September, and would expect to find new 1.0-litre petrol engines, and possibly a hybrid model, on the menu.