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Added on the 15/06/2021 08:30:32 - Copyright : Auto Moto EN
Geneva Motor Show 2024 - World premiere of the Dacia brand, with their new Duster and Spring models
Continuing its quest to redefine the essentials, Dacia, the brand with outdoor spirit, is taking part in the Dakar Rally and the World-Rally Raid Championship (W2RC) from 2025. Tackling some of the world’s most demanding and harshest terrains, Dacia unveils its contender, the Sandrider, a prototype designed to win.Inspired by the Manifesto concept car, Dacia’s laboratory for new ideas unveiled in 2022, Sandrider is an all-new vehicle designed specifically for rally-raids. It draws on the sporting expertise of Renault Group and Prodrive, a UK company specialising in motorsports.In keeping with Dacia’s famed approach, Sandrider was designed to focus on the essentials of motorsport, that is performance and victory. This innovative prototype cleverly exploits all the possibilities offered by the regulations in the Ultimate T1+ category, focusing primarily on agility and weight. It fully meets the essential needs of both drivers and co-drivers, who were actively involved in its development from the start. From the beginning of the project, and ahead of the many test sessions, the drivers and co-drivers offered their extensive experience and knowledge to both designers and engineers, mainly through hands-on design sessions using virtual reality.A very special Dacia, but a Dacia nonetheless, Sandrider is strongly aligned with the brand's core values.
24 hours: that’s how long it took Dacia to pull off an industrial tour-de-force. It switched all its models, at its three plants in Pitesti, Tangier and Casablanca, to its new brand identity at the same time. That’s 3,100 vehicles in a day! Dacia pulled off this one-of-a-kind industrial challenge because its organisation is agile and did it while keeping the quality of its vehicles flawless. It took over a year of meticulous preparation and coordination across all its departments. Christophe Dridi, Dacia’s VP Industry, tells us more about this metamorphosis.
Nissan Australia has again raised the small SUV bar with a completely new Qashqai that is even roomier than before, and which features a new turbo-petrol engine with more power and torque, improved fuel economy and lower emissions.Penned at the studios of Nissan Design Europe in London and engineered at the Nissan Technical Centre in Bedfordshire, UK, the new Qashqai is also the first vehicle globally to use Nissan’s innovative CMF-C architecture, which boasts a 48 percent increase in structural rigidity.In terms of construction, the body-in-white makes use of more lightweight materials, as well as advanced stamping and welding techniques, not just to increase strength, but to also reduce weight. For the first time, the rear hatchback door on the Qashqai is now made of a composite material, which saves a further 2.6kg.Central to the engineering vision was to retain the current Qashqai’s proportions, which are “just right” and key to its success, meaning it comfortably navigates urban roads and fits comfortably in parking spaces, while also giving excellent interior space.The front and rear doors, front fenders and bonnet are all now made of aluminium, which offers a weight-saving, and the total net advantage for customers, thanks to all the advanced manufacturing techniques, is that the overall body-in-white is lighter by 60kg and stiffer by 41 percent compared to the outgoing model.
A ‘D’ and a ‘C’, two letters dressed in white, joined together, forming a union at the heart of a black grille. Dacia’s new ‘Dacia Link’ emblem, as seen on the front end of its vehicles, perfectly symbolises where the brand is headed in terms of colours and materials. Bold choices that hone in even more on the brand’s ‘philosophical markers’: essential and simple, but looking for adventure. How does is that reflected in the brand’s current line-up? What does it mean for future models? Helene, Lead Designer in charge of Colours and Materials talks us through decision-making process and gives us an exclusive glimpse of some still unreleased material.
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