DACIA JOGGER

Crowd-pleasing value brand times to perfection the introduction of its Sandero-based sever-seater as the cost-of-living crisis bites

- PIERS WARD

It’s all about timing. Some car manufacturers and the models they produce can be absolutely on the zeitgeist. The Nissan Qashqai, for instance, or the first Volvo XC90. They define genres and shape the automotive landscape for years to come. And then there are others who never seem to get it right, like Renault, with its Koleos. The French firm had two stabs at the pie, failing both times. Take it from us, Renault, that’s a name to retire for good.

Then we come to Dacia. On the one hand, it couldn’t be more on-trend, offering the sort of value-for-money motoring that has been bang-on for years, and never more so than since the financial crash and the seemingly never-ending economic rollercoaster that we’ve all been on ever since.

But here’s where it gets weird, because the brand is also defiantly anti-‘the moment’, too. We all know that it has had, er, let’s call them ‘issues’ with Euro NCAP crash testing, and it hasn’t exactly been swift to jump on the EV bandwagon, taking a long time to commit to the Spring Electric coming to the UK (although high-placed sources tell us that it almost certainly will).

Given all those safety and environmental headwinds, it’s surprising that Dacia is still perceived to be a ‘lovable’ brand, even if the green agenda is now being ironed out with future hybrid and electric models. But then it does simple, value motoring well and there’s a certain appeal about a brand that sticks rigidly to its brief.

With sales as they are, who can blame Dacia? And those sales are only likely to get better with this latest offering, the all-new Jogger.