ROME – In Europe there were those who had turned up their noses when the Dacia brand appeared, with its outlet pricing policy. Then the Romanian house came under the Renault umbrella and no one had anything to complain about, especially after the successes of models such as Duster, Sandero, Lodgy. But, beyond Europe, there were those who looked with a certain interest and attention to the Dacia case, in particular to the East, in China.
Would you buy this electric car for 7,900 euros?
by Paolo Rossi
The Dongfeng group, which can boast relationships with Kia, Stellantis, Honda, Renault, has promoted Dacia’s philosophical choices, so much so that it … copied them. Here then is Dongfeng E1, an SUV that is essentially an electric Dacia Duster. But in addition to the copy / paste, which obviously is only of inspiration and not of total realization, there is also the price policy. Offered for sale on the Alibaba website for a similar amount of money, which can be negotiated among other things.
Even Romanians felt their hearts leap when they saw the photos of a car halfway between the Duster and the Sandero, concluding that only in China could they think of doing such a thing. On the other hand, for about ten years we have been talking about Asian clones of European cars: however, the imitations had always concerned luxury cars, never a popular market segment.
This Dongfeng is a radical change, an effective entrance. For some, an entry into the tackle slipped. We will see the developments.
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