Welcome to the Dacia Bigster Concept

Much news from Renault this morning, from confirmation Alpine and Lotus will team-up to develop lightweight electric sportscars to the revival of the Renault 5. It’s all part of the company’s ‘Renaulution’ corporate strategy that will see it launch no fewer than 24 new vehicles by the end of 2025.

Together with the Alpine/Lotus and Renault 5, this is one of them. The Dacia Bigster is a 4.6-metre long SUV that’s supposed to “make the C-segment accessible, at the cost of a vehicle from the segment below”, meaning it would sit above the Duster in Dacia’s line-up.

Dacia says the Bigster is a “genuine vehicle made with genuine principles”, with “no bells and whistles, no chrome trim or imitation-aluminium” and protective panels made from “raw recycled plastics”. It represents “the very essence” of an SUV with “no more, no less than the essential” and ought to be powered by “both alternative-energy and hybrid engines”.

Renault’s big shiny plan means Dacia and Lada will be tied together to form a “dedicated business unit”, and together will account for seven of the 24 vehicles the group will launch by the end of 2025. This includes a new Lada Niva we are, regrettably, unlikely to get in the UK, as well as the Bigster. All will be on the CMF-B platform.

But despite big changes in the way Renault operates, Lada and Dacia’s CEO Denis Le Vot promises “Dacia will stay Dacia”. Which is very good news indeed.