The Dacia Hipster Concept reimagines electric mobility

Dacia has revealed its Hipster Concept, a car that rethinks electric mobility and the issues that come with it, and could cost as little as £12,000 when fully released.

The Romanian brand acknowledges that the impact of regulation and electrification has led ‘towards cars that are ever larger, ever heavier, ever more sophisticated and therefore, ever more expensive.’ The Hipster Concept has been designed to combat this and make ‘electric mobility accessible to all.’

What are the talking points?

The Hipster Concept aims to demonstrate that a car for everyday life can be both compact in size and large in capacity. Its measurements are 3 metres in length, 1.53 metres in height and 1.55 metres in width, with four proper seats and a boot that can be adjusted to fit between 70 and 500 litres of luggage.

It is also 20% lighter than a Dacia Spring, thanks to the company’s ‘Eco-Smart’ approach, which utilises fewer materials and aims to halve the carbon footprint throughout its entire life cycle. Dacia also says the concept will offer ‘sufficient range for daily journeys with the need to charge just twice a week’.

There is also the matter of price, with Dacia wanting to offer more affordable pricing than the £14,995 (OTR) commanded for its Spring, which, at the time of its release, was the UK's cheapest electric car. That honour now goes to another of Dacia’s models, the Sandero, although technically you can pick up a Citroën Ami for £7,705…

Exterior

The Hipster Concept’s blocky design is intentional, with no overhang at either the front or rear. Romain Gauvin, Head of Advanced Design and Exterior Design at Dacia, said he wanted to design “a car that can be sketched in three strokes of a pencil.”

The entirely horizontal front end seamlessly incorporates headlights, while the rear prioritises functionality, and the tailgate opens in two parts to provide access to the boot. The rear lights are positioned behind the tailgate window and do not require their own glass panel.

There are only three painted parts in a single body colour at the front and side door entry elements, while Dacia’s own ‘Starkle’ material derived from recycled plastic is applied to the front and rear skids.

Interior

Dacia has made the most of every inch of space, with the interior following the cubic shape of the bodywork. The windscreen and windows are vertical, while the front section of the roof is glazed to provide more light. Weight and costs are saved with the placement of sliding side windows.

There’s space inside for four adults, with the rear accessed by a wide door opening and the front seats identical to those used in the Dacia Sandero. The seats are made from a simple, weight-saving but comfortable mesh fabric, while the ones at the front merge to form a bench, in a nod to Dacia models of the past. Two airbags for the driver and passenger are incorporated into the dashboard for extra safety.

The interior of the Hipster Concept can also be tailored to each customer’s needs in the form of YouClip accessories developed by Dacia. There are 11 YouClip anchor points across the dashboard, door panels and boot interior, which can accommodate accessories like cup holders, armrests and additional lighting.

And yes, your smartphone can be placed in the cabin’s docking station, and can even be used as a digital key to start the car. The dock also acts as a multimedia screen and serves as the Hipster’s audio system through a portable Bluetooth speaker compatible with YouClip.

Will the Dacia Hipster Concept become reality?

words: Mike Booth
pictures: Dacia