Been a long time since that word was last used in social circles (at least mine), but Dacia has dug it up for its latest concept car – a boxy little EV called the Hipster. According to the Renault-owned brand, it foreshadows an affordable, essential runabout that aims to become “THE popular electric car of tomorrow”.
Will this be Dacia’s entrant into the European Union’s new ‘E-car’ category? Autocar reported last month that EU president Ursula von der Leyen would work with car industry bosses to develop a new small, affordable car category. A sort of kei class for Europe, if you will, but European-sourced and with less stringent safety regulations. The Dacia Hipster’s airbag count, by the way, is two.
The overhang count, however, is absolutely zero – I mean, if you’re going to fit four seats and a 70-litre boot (expandable to 500 litres) into a thing that’s just three metres long, 1.55 metres wide and 1.53 metres tall, you’d want to stretch the body right up to the corners, I’m sure. It’s smaller than a Fiat 500e, and at around 800 kg, it’s a light ‘un.
Looks wise, well, look at it. All lines and sharp angles, and dare I say I see a bit of Defender in that side profile? The full-width tailgate opens in two parts – the upper one being glass – and the tail lamps sit behind said glass. Door handles? They’re those straps at the trailing edges of the doors.
The interior is out of this world, featuring a hexagonal steering wheel, a front bench seat, mesh fabric upholstery, sliding side windows and an almost-completely-vertical glasshouse. There are 11 anchor points around the vehicle for you to mount stuff like cupholders, armrests and ceiling lights. The centre touch-screen is your own phone, of course, but we must say, going back to basics hasn’t been this funky in a long time.
However refreshing a change it may be from the sea of Chinese EVs out there, its range is unlikely to ruffle their feathers – Dacia, without divulging a single kW or kWh figure, just says the Hipster offers “sufficient range for daily journeys with two recharges per week” and that “in France, 94% of motorists travel less than 40 km per day.” There kind of are about 194 other countries in the world, but still, this is the funkiest thing we’ve seen in a while – go through the photos below if you want to know what ‘hipster’ really means.
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