Dacia Hipster reinvents “people’s car” with sub-800kg kerb weight and £15k price tag
Dacia has unveiled its Hipster, a four-seat city car concept aimed at bringing down the price of EVs and fitting in with the proposed European ‘E-car’ category.
Adopting a blocky, utilitarian design, the Hipster measures just 1.55 metres wide, 1.5 metres high, and three metres long, making it shorter than any car on sale today. The four-seat Dacia Hipster also has a boot that expands from 70 to 500 litres with the rear seats folded.
Like its larger sibling, the Dacia Spring, the Dacia Hipster was created to make switching from petrol or diesel to an electric car affordable and could become a European equivalent of the famous Japanese Kei Cars. Any production version of the Hipster is expected to fall under the European ‘E-car‘ category currently under consideration by the European Commission.
Should it make it to production, the Dacia Hipster will weigh in at less than 800kg thanks to a minimalist manufacturing strategy sought by the Romanian carmaker as it looks to halve its total-lifecycle carbon footprint. Moreover, the Hipster strips away any non-essential add-ons by featuring sliding glass windows, and even eschewing a key in favour of an app to unlock it.
The Hipster’s bare-bones nature seeks to address the issue of rising vehicle costs, which Dacia claims have risen by 77% from 2010 to 2024. In place of an infotainment touchscreen, the Dacia Hipster comes with a smartphone mount instead to align with Dacia’s cost-saving ‘bring your own device’ ethos. It also promises to do away with costly ADAS systems.
Inside, there are also 11 of Dacia’s ‘YouClip’ accessory mounts capable of holding Bluetooth speakers, cup holders, armrests, and additional lighting.
Dacia hasn’t yet announced any technical details about the Hipster, it said that by bringing the weight of the car down, it will be able to maximise its range. According to Autocar, it claimed that the Hipster would need charging twice a week in line with the fact that the bulk of motorists drive less than 24 miles per-day.
Romain Gauvin, Dacia’s head of advanced and exterior design said that the Hipster “involves inventing something that does not exist today”.
The future of the Dacia Hipster depends on whether the E-car category will be officially confirmed. European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said in her State of the Union address that the European Union “will propose to work with industry on a new small affordable cars initiative”, giving hope for a category that sits between basic quadricycles such as the Citroen Ami and Mobilize Duo and larger, more expensive cars such as the Dacia Spring, and Leapmotor T03.
The E-car initative came after Stellantis chairman, John Elkann, and former Renault Group chief executive, Luca de Meo, suggested a car class that is cheaper to build, emits fewer lifecycle emission, and has lower safety regulations than existing offerings.
