In the United Kingdom, the Dacia Spring “Cargo” is considered a utility vehicle: it has no rear seats, replaced here by a perfectly flat floor.
In the United Kingdom, there is a category of car that has always been very popular: that of “panel vans”, understand, passenger cars with sealed rear doors and sheet-metal windows!
Small cars transformed into vans
Before Peugeot and Citroën released their Partner and Berlingo in 1996, utility vehicles were traditionally either large panel vans or small cars to which large Cargo spaces were added at the rear. You know our best ambassadors in this area: the Citroen C15 and Renault Express, based on the Visa and R5. We could also cite the Simca VF2, Fiat Fiorino, SEAT Inca and Ford Courier from those years. In the United Kingdom, despite the arrival of “combispaces” at the end of the 1990s, we remained very attached to these small models, light, economical and practical for everyday use. In the past, the Austin Maestro, Morris Marina, Austin Mini and other Triumph Herald and Vauxhall Kadett had all been available in van versions, so the British continued to offer such a configuration for many years. At the dawn of the 2010s, we still found Vauxhall Astra and Ford Focus with only two doors and two seats! Even if this market has gradually run out of steam, the British are still fond of utility city cars, like our “company” Clio or Corsa!
The Dacia Spring becomes utility
Precisely, it is from the United Kingdom that this curious Dacia Spring “utility” comes to us, which the brand launches exclusively there. The rear seat has been removed in favor of an (almost) flat floor, to maximize useful volume. Thus divided, this Spring claims a 1,085 liter trunknot bad at all for a model only 3.70m long! For the rest, and faithful to its utility vocation, this Spring Cargo (its official name in the UK) is quite basic: white paint, black plastic door handles and bumpers13-inch plastic wheel covers, no roof bars. Standard equipment includes GPS, front and rear parking sensors, a 10-inch touchscreen, a reversing camera and a V2L bi-directional charger for connecting electrical devices. For the rest, she embarks the same 65 horsepower electric motorand the small 26.8 kWh battery which offers 225 kilometers of autonomy in mixed cycleand 300 km in an urban cycle. It is listed there at £14,995, or approximately €18,000, excluding VAT. Aside from professionals, we wonder who will be able to buy such a vehicle.
In any case, offering such a small and economical electric model is rather well thought out for everyday travel, and in particular last mile delivery.
