Dacia dust storm hits Ireland

DACIA, THE RENAULT-OWNED Romanian brand, has finally arrived on Irish shores, hitting its competitors with a shockingly low entry-level price. Its Duster compact SUV – the only Dacia available until the Sandero hatchback arrives, next year – kicks off at €14,990 for the front-drive 1.5 dCi diesel with 110bhp and 130g/km band B emissions. (Impressively, the higher-spec four-wheel-drive model is also in band B.) An equivalent Skoda Yeti, with a 1.6 TDI diesel, costs more than €24,000.

“Dacia has arrived, and this brand will shake up the Irish motor industry. It could not be a better time to announce the price of Ireland’s smartest buy. Dacia is generous, reliable, simple and smart. We believe Dacia will change the way people buy cars. No doubt that the launch of Dacia in Ireland will continue its great success of being the fastest growing brand in Europe,” says Julien Lelorrain, marketing director for Dacia Ireland.

The Duster has already been a big success for Dacia in Europe. At one point customers in France and Germany had to wait for six months to receive their orders. That’s even more impressive when you consider that this isn’t the first car to bear the Duster name. There was a Duster in the 1980s, a car so dreadful that Car magazine summed it up with the pithy phrase: “Duster to dust, ashes to ashes, quick someone, pass us the matches.”

There’s little danger of the new Duster being damned with such rhyming critiques. It uses proven Renault diesel engines and chassis, and has generally shown itself to be a very reliable vehicle in the markets that have had the car since 2010.

There is a reason for that low price, though, and that is the car’s lower level of standard equipment, although Dacia has boxed clever by including some items, such as steering-wheel stereo controls and Bluetooth phone connection, in the price.

That means Irish Dacias will be better equipped than those across the water; basic models in the UK market don’t even get a standard radio. While Irish specs aren’t quite so spectacularly stingy, neither are they especially generous. Stability control is an option on all but the highest-spec versions, and curtain airbags aren’t available at all.

Anti-lock brakes, front electric windows and power steering are all standard, but you’ll have to pay extra for items that most cars now include in the price, such as air conditioning, reading lights, rear electric windows, a trip computer and electric side mirrors.

Some prospective buyers will doubtless be miffed by the lack of standard toys, even at this price, and Dacia will be criticised for leaving in visible toys, such as Bluetooth, while scrimping on invisible safety items.

Renault in Ireland, which is responsible for importing Dacias, will also have to be careful that the Duster doesn’t cannibalise its own sales. The temptation of a car the size of a Nissan Qashqai for the price of a basic Renault Clio will almost certainly be too much to resist for many. Sales will officially start in January 2013, although Dusters will be available between now and then for test drives at Dacia’s nine-strong dealer network.

For €15,000 I could have . . .

* A Ford Fiesta 1.2 60ps three-door

* A Volkswagen High Up 75ps and €705 change

* A 2009 Audi A3 1.9 TDI three-door

* A 1989 Jaguar XJS 5.3 V12 convertible

* Five nights in the Penthouse Suite at the five-star Merrion Hotel, in Dublin

* Seven business-class return flights with Aer Lingus from Dublin to New York

RIVALSSkoda Yeti 1.6 TDI Greenline – €24,275, tax band A; Nissan Qashqai 1.5 dCi XE – €24,945, tax band B; Mitsubishi ASX 1.8 DI-D Intense – €25,973, tax band C; Hyundai ix35 1.7 CRDI 2WD – €25,995, tax band B; Kia Sportage 1.7D EX – €28,265, tax band B