And the low-cost market gets the spotlights once again. Since Dacia needed to update its line with this new generation which debuted last year, it took the opportunity to also rearrange these vehicles, investing in new categories to satisfy new customers and improving the existing competitors. It’s interesting to notice that the Romanian automaker’s worry with cheap prices doesn’t stop it of releasing its vehicles in style: sedan and hatchback arrived in the last Paris Motor Show, and now the wagon has used the Swiss event to join them.
That mentioned rearrangement can be explained as nothing but the most natural strategy for a smart automaker who really wants to prosper. The original Logan arrived in 2004 only as a sedan, but didn’t take long to achieve great sales. The natural response to this event is to increase the offer, not only at the sedan’s trims but at new models projected as Logan’s variations, in order to extend this name’s acceptance to more products. On the other hand, it was still needed to dimension how far the public was really willing to purchase low-cost vehicles instead of migrating to Renault’s line. The only way to diversify the offer without raising the costs too much was to adapt the sedan into the new categories, which was done as Sandero, MCV and Pick-up. The first ones were so successful that motivated Dacia to create the first “out-of-the-box” sibling: Duster now reaches its third year of nice sales both under Dacia and Renault, according to the market. There were so many great news that this family’s second phase needed bigger plans: defending “the Logans” from the improving rivals would need an even better offer, which started with two new members: Lodgy and Dokker made Dacia enter respectively into minivan and multivan/cargo categories. Both hatchback and sedan were already renewed, the pick-up is expected to follow them soon, but the station wagon had to receive some corrections.
Have you ever seen the first Logan MCV? Everything in that car seemed to scream the intention of working both as a station wagon and as a van, despite of Logan’s city-car dimensions. But if the second generation received a minivan to attend those with big families and a multivan for cargo transport, MCV was freed to be only a conventional SW… and to finally have decent styling. There were abandoned both the two-part vertical rear door, and the very weird “partially higher roof”, higher only at the central section in order to keep the sedan’s front doors. That’s what makes the second phase even more attractive than these pictures show. The elegant lines magnify the 14.7-ft length, which encloses the 20.2-cu-ft trunk which can achieve 53.6 cu-ft by folding the rear seats – which are only five now, to avoid competing with both the mentioned new vans. However, the car’s front half doesn’t deny the Logan genes, whose imponent lines and modern construction may not bring too much sophistication but ensure a secure and spacious vehicle. It’s possible to see the several internal storage areas compose a very practical room along with typical items such as infotainment system with a console touchscreen. This car will arrive in Europe next April featuring the sedan’s engines: with diesel there’s dCi 1.5L with 90 hp, while using gasoline it’s possible to choose between 75-hp 1.2L and 90-hp TCe 0.9L, with five-speed manual transmission.
