New Dacia Hipster is Kei car for Europe
Three-metre-long concept seats four and could actually arrive on roads, costing little more than £10k
You know how it seems all cars are getting too heavy, too large and too expensive these days? Well, Dacia is hoping to launch a new four-seater that’ll weigh less than a Citroen Saxo, be shorter than a Kei car and be the cheapest new car in Europe. And to signal its intent, it has unveiled the boxy, wide-arched Hipster concept, suggesting that if enough of us want it, they will make it.
Measuring in at three metres long, 1.55 metres wide and 1.35 metres tall, and weighing less than 800kg, the electric Hipster is an actual car that can be driven on fast roads as well as in town. It is therefore a very different proposition to the loveable but shamelessly basic quadricycles that are the Citroen Ami and Fiat Topolino, with promise of a motorway-usable top speed and anticipated near-100-mile range.
A production version of the concept - which sits on dinky 14-inch wheels and thickly treaded 4x4 tyres (because Hipster) - would cost less than the Dacia Spring, meaning a price in the region of £10,000 to £14,000 seems likely. And for that, you’d get a surprising amount of car, as this near-six-footer can confirm, having sat comfortably alongside another adult in the back of the concept at its reveal in Paris. No joke, the rear legroom is better than some medium-sized hatchbacks.
This TARDIS-aping space comes partly thanks to the car’s oblong proportions, which means there’s as much headroom in the back as there is in the front (which, by the way, gets a fixed sunroof so you can look up at traffic lights), along with the use of an ultra thin fabric for the seats, made from recycled and fully recyclable materials. This clears up space for your knees without, according to Dacia’s VP of design, David Durand, compromising safety, because “the metal structure is the same as conventional seats”. As are the seat belts and their mounting points.
Unlike the far less malleable, firmly padded plastic chairs of the Ami, the Hipster’s seats are ultra comfortable front and rear, and it’s no accident that they feel like those fancy office chairs with the same kind of backing. To make this little car’s use of minimal space even more impressive, the front passenger seat can be folded flat, while the rear bench can be folded to turn a 70-litre boot into a 500-litre area, beating the Ami Cargo’s load bay area by 100 litres - and matching the boot space of a 3 Series Touring. That, along with the car’s name, emphasises how production variants could be adapted not just for use as delivery vehicles, but also as barista vans - or rolling handlebar moustache maintenance shops.
The dashboard of the Hipster offers more storage space in the form of a shelf, but - along with the seats and belts - it doesn’t compromise on safety, with an airbag in the steering wheel as well as on the passenger’s side. The latter has a clear plastic cover that allows you to see the airbag inside, to emphasise the safety, and to create a cool, early '00s iMac finish. It’s not totally random, either, because the same finish is applied to the car’s nose too, allowing you to see some of the car’s wiring. Note the purple cables to the left of the right headlight.
But here’s where the Hipster goes further than the Spring in its pursuit of material and weight minimisation. The dash features only one built-in screen, a narrow instrument cluster that displays essential driving information, while the rest of the Hipster’s digital tech is provided by your smartphone. Unlike the Volkswagen Up, however, which also deployed your smartphone in the infotainment position, the Hipster would be more integrated with your device via a specific app, which provides everything from sat-nav to a real-time tyre pressure monitoring system. This, PH was told, previews an app that’s coming for all Dacia owners.
At the rear, the tailgate opens in two parts like a Range Rover, although the glass extends to the very edge of the car, meaning there are no weight-adding frames. In fact, even the Hipster’s LED taillights don’t get their own clear covers, but instead use the tailgate glass to protect them from the elements. Open the top half of the tailgate, and you prod the now-exposed LEDs directly. Lower the bottom half, and you’ll find a couple of U-clips to let you move the car’s portable speaker - normally U-clipped up front - to the rear, so it can play music outside if you park up.
Not surprisingly, given that U-clips are common even in Dacia’s less space-critical models, these mounting points are elsewhere in the Hipster, including the A-pillars and front doors, with the latter providing room for removable storage bags to be mounted. Oh, and above these doors, U-clips are windows that slide forward and backwards like an early Issigonis Mini, removing the need for mechanisms in the doors themselves. Not surprisingly, Durand said his team took much inspiration from the British icon’s obsession with maximised packaging.
Everything - from those ultra-thin seats to the exposed technical features and smartphone-centric software - has been created not just to demonstrate Dacia’s design potential, but also with production in mind. Dacia CEO Katrin Adt said during the concept’s reveal event that (parent company) Renault has “the technology and capacity to make it happen”. She added that the biggest challenge at the moment was regulatory, with Dacia pushing European regulators to create a new category of car that would allow for a production-spec Hipster to exist without needing to conform to all of the Euro NCAP’s structural and (every PHer’s favourite) ADAS requirements. Probably this isn’t going to be a car of choice for young parents.
Still, Dacia reckons there’s a market for this sort of car, and not just because the 70cm longer Spring has sold in 180,000 units after four years on sale, but because of the direction of travel for many European economies. Dacia is well aware that it is one of few beneficiaries of the cost-of-living crisis, with its position as a mainstream brand best illustrated by the Sandero’s elevation into first place so far as EU car sales are concerned. Brand VP, Frank Marotte, admitted that the market “has come to [Dacia], beyond all expectations”. Inflation, along with regulations that benefit smaller, lower-emissions cars, has been advantageous for Dacia - so naturally, it sees an opportunity to capitalise on that with its smallest, lowest-emitting car yet.
Normally, such a vehicle would be boring and a bit soulless. But not this one. Much as the original Mini was to a cash-strapped post-war Britain, the Hipster may well appear like a solution to the increasingly challenging times we live in. And while we can argue about what constitutes lasting or even good design in this day and age, at least the manufacturer is attempting to inject some cost-effective fun into an otherwise mundane conceptual process. Interested? Well, apparently Dacia execs read PistonHeads and the forums - so you know what to do...
Must admit I saw this and genuinely thought, are you kidding me!?
This looks brilliant and I want one now.
This is what EVs should be. Cheap, light, quirky and interesting.
You'll drive this with your safety in mind. After all its not a Audi A4 Executive 2.0TDI sports line thing.
I've wondered for years why no one makes thin car seats. The ones in my Elise are light and thin and comfortable. And as the article implies, people don't tend to complain about the comfort of sitting on Herman Miller office chairs for hours on end. Conventional car seats take up so much space and are so heavy. A mesh back is already ventilated and has such low thermal mass - a much better solution in all weather really.
The 800kg claim is impressive if true - that seems improbably light for an EV, even with 14" wheels and such diminutive size.
I don't hold out much hope for production if this needs some kind of EU regs change for type approval, though.
I suspect this car won't come into being and it is just, for the most part, PR stunt but it looks great as well as fun and a perfect antidote to ubiquitous thruster weaponry.
You'll drive this with your safety in mind. After all its not a Audi A4 Executive 2.0TDI sports line thing.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff