Dacia’s boss wants to move upmarket, but without a big shift in prices

“Let me put it to you this way – everyone knows what the Duster is. It’s a perfectly defined car; it costs around €20,000, it’s very sturdy, maybe a bit rough and tough. What we’re not trying to do here is to offer another, bigger Duster. What we are exactly doing is putting a new car in the middle of the table, in front of the C-segment buyers. That’s three million people.”

Denis Le Vot is one of the most straight-talking corporate executives you will meet. Born in Landivisiau in Brittany, he has been in charge of the Dacia brand since 2020. He has masterminded its massive recent successes, which have seen the compact Sandero hatchback unseat the mighty Tesla Model Y as Europe’s best-selling car last year. He’s someone who won’t equivocate about a question – he’ll either give you the answer or just flat-out tell you he’s not going to do so. Such honesty and openness are often too rare in this world.

While Le Vot has scored notable success with Dacia, he’s now taking on a big challenge – trying to take a brand known for its bargain-basement pricing and offering it to the most middle-class buyers of all, those purchasing so-called...
[Short citation of 8% of the original article]