While the 2020s feel a bit looser than some previous decades, appearances still matter to an extent. Case in point: If your latest Amazon Prime delivery rolled up in a hatchback, it might look sus, right? Ah, but you see, this isn’t a hatchback. This is the Dacia Spring Cargo, and its Romanian makers tout it as “Britain’s most affordable compact electric van.” A van? This? Well, yes, but only technically.
Automakers of Britain have a rich history of taking small hatchbacks, boarding up the rear windows, chucking out the rear seats, and producing vans. For a while, you could get a Ford Fiesta van, or a Vauxhall Corsavan, and that was all well and good. However, the Dacia Spring cargo is a bit different from those other small parcel vans, starting with the fact that it has five doors.
Now, an extra door or two to better grab cargo stuck against the divider is a sound idea in theory, but it’s also a relatively uncommon one in the segment. After all, doors present a unique challenge for blanking out windows, as the windows in most rear doors move. Naturally, Dacia decided to get around this problem by just tinting the shit out of the rear windows.
Huh, that’s certainly one way to do it in a cost-effective manner. Well, if Dacia didn’t end up making blanking plates for the rear windows, maybe it spent the money where it actually matters? You know, on cargo division, payload, that sort of stuff. You know, things that help a van do van work.
Well, look at that. Not only has Dacia fitted a sturdy-looking carpeted lip to keep low cargo from sliding into the backs of the front seats, a mesh divider also acts as a critical safety device, while the whole cargo floor is kept level-ish with the addition of a new platform floor. The result? Dacia claims the Spring Cargo can haul 815 pounds, and while that doesn’t sound like the most wildly impressive figure in the world, keep in mind that the Spring Cargo itself weighs just 2,067 pounds. Talk about pulling one’s weight.
Oh, and there’s another facet of the Spring Cargo that deserves consideration — it’s all-electric, and with a range of 186 miles on the admittedly optimistic WLTP cycle, this mean it’s just about perfect for same-day delivery of small parcels. Think about it — it doesn’t waste much money idling, it’s efficient at low speeds, its the right size for odds and sods, and since it’s electric, there might even be other benefits for it beyond the low price tag of £14,995. That’s an electric van, even if it stretches the definition of a van, for less than $19,000 at current conversion rates.
The Dacia Spring Cargo might not be the most purpose-built execution of an electric van, but by going cheap where possible, Dacia might’ve stumbled onto a small-town Amazon driver’s dream. I guess one could even call it good news. Anyway…
(Photo credits: Dacia UK)
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185 miles on th WLTP, so that’s like 100 real world miles then?
I see various hatchbacks from Chevy Sparks to Toyota Yaris/Prius/Prius C to Ford Fiestas to Kia Souls used essentially as vans for various medical transports in the US. Think moving lab samples, old paper medical charts, to who knows what else in the medical industry. We don’t have the tax breaks for vans specifically here, but it’s definitely a niche.
This is the second time I’ve seen this thing on the site, and now this is the second time that I have to say that it’s not a van. If this is a van, then so is my Forester with the seats folded down. Put some sliding doors on it and we’ll talk.
I’m more okay with this being a van than 4 door SUVs being coupes. At least these have the rear seats removed and a permanent divider.
I have the gas version of those, about 2 years ago, I moved to a different state, took all my crap plus 2 cats. Not the most comfortable but it was doable, not bad for a 1.0 L three banger, drove about 1200 Km in a bit less than 13 hours including gas/toilet brakes
Good news indeed!
Interesting how tax policy impacts what vehicles look like. This would be perfect for an urban runabout or a teenager’s first car. Well, maybe not for a teenager with that giant open back area and tinted windows…..
Yes please bring on all kinds of small cheap electric Dacias for the people! And commercial trade. That is the right way to implement EVs. Enough with those heavy big ones!
Just saw a giant Kia EV9 trying to make a U-turn at my street corner, damn that is one BIG box, and it didn’t go very well… Thing is bigger than a Range Rover 🙁
The Landrover Discovery II van also had rear doors with blanked out windows since only the Discovery I had a two door version.
The various gymnastics to make a,vehicle a “van” are amusing. Offhand in Denmark a 2 door Range Rover with no back seat was a van. In the UK side windows were a big deal and I have seen 80s Transit and Landrover crew cabs with no rear windows because of that. The UK relaxed regulations a bit after the first FWD Ford Escort vans with small windows behind the doors
The Dutch have the toughest rules. Because they required a minimum interior volume Discovery vans had a fiberglass high roof and the Defender 130 crew cab had to have an extended wheelbase to get enough load floor ahead the,rear axle.
Passenger vehicles could see similar shenanigans with Landrover 12 passenger station wagons being the default in the UK because they were legally mini. busses. The in the oughts the license laws changed and drivers needed a bus license and a tachograph, so people sawed 6″ of the rear inward facing seats which made them 10 seat cars.
I just moved a whole apartment’s worth of crap in mine 🙂 The back seats fold down flat, and if you need more space the whole backrest can be removed without undoing any fasteners; Renault really thought this out.
PS If you remove both wheels a full suspension MTB will fit inside, two if you remove the bars and pedals too. The Spring and Kwid aren’t approved for trailer hitches, though it is doable if YouTube is to be trusted.
They forgot where the pee bottles storage.
Well, the barely-remembered Chevrolet HHR Panel was pretty much the exact same thing as this. In some variants the rear door windows were replaced with blank panels, but some versions had glass. I doubt they were sold in the UK, but they would have also legally been “vans” if they were.
The one I saw at commercial auction are pretty well fitted out with shelves and some with pullout slider, I think they were actually pretty slick.
Not a van. I guess that could be expected from a car guy whose last name is a misspelled Korean crap car.????
Is a van, but ignorance could be expected from such a boomer. The UK gov defines a van as “4-wheel vehicles constructed for transporting goods. Must have a gross weight of 3.5 tonnes or less.”
Not a van. Why would we look to the UK gov to define such a thing?
Yeah, why should we look to the UK gov to define a vehicle built for UK roads? What are they, the government or something?
The notion of “van” is bigger than any government. It’s up to us, the citizens of Autopia, to decide.
You make a fair point and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
Ireland had a rich vein of hatchbacks used as vans back in the 90s. There’s a good thread here with some pictures:
https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118593288/#Comment_118593288
Question is, could the Nissan Leaf be dumbed down enough by removing stuff to get even close to the 15K US price point? It would be an interesting Experiment to see if anyone here in the US would even Bite?
Probably, if you assembled it in a country that isn’t Japan
the question really is could they build them in Mexico and the wages be low enough for Nissan to make some money at that price point.
I’m still mad we never got the Fiesta Van in North America!
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/ford/fiesta/van
Take a regular, US market Fiesta, fold down the seats, weld the rear doors shut, blank out the rear windows with black foamboard.
Boom! You’ve got a van!
There’s some tax reasons to have a van instead of a car as a business (I forget the exact details), so this sector was moderately popular for workers who only needed to move themselves or a few tools about. The last Corsa van and fiesta van were reasonable sellers, there were less common ones like the 207/206 and the Clip for a while too
You can claim 100% of the VAT as a tax refund in the UK (if the vehicle is purchased by a business).
Funnily enough, despite this being classified as a commercial vehicle, the Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster does not qualify — meaning nobody is going to buy them in the UK.
No they closed the fancy pick-up loophole as sole traders were buying them through the business and using them as personal vehicles – but I think the Quartermaster doesn’t have enough payload to qualify it as a commercial vehicle either
I really want one! that would be a great dog van. The divider is already there, tinted rear glass, is done. If you can set the interior temp to a specific temp. Perfect. It would also be a great errand running run about town for 2 people. Load up those groceries!
those dividers are actually dog dividers I believe. it looks just like the ones suggested for use in the Maverick, except they impede the side airbag function and are technically illegal for a 4 seater. less so with no back seat I suppose.
I’m wondering how many of these get sold to private buyers as something cheap to run down to the shops
Probably not much new ones, but second hand, they are really nice for someone without kids in need of a cheap ride.
Zero. The reason for this to exist is differential VAT rates for business purchases of new cars vs individual (or ‘Car Scheme’) purchase.
£14,995 is the price of the basic 45hp car version. I was genuinely looking at one to replace an aging Ford Fiesta last weekend but decided against it when I discovered the top speed was 78mph. 0-60 was very much ‘eventually.’ Charges in under 13 hours from a normal English wall socket. The only thing that stopped me was the idea of not feeling safe on the motorway.
For that price and that much cargo space, I’m now interested.
So, $40K in the US, eventually?
Well, since Dacia is a fancy exotic luxury brand from Yurp, it will start at 50k.
Oh, wait, Romania.
At this 15K LB price it might not be the worst thing. if it is priced and optioned solely for gig work so they can leave their main ride at home, I would also suggest a fold down passenger seat or remove that and all the related safety cost increasers and make it even more useful. But yeah, it would probably be thrice as much in the US, and few would buy them as gig workers rarely can afford their main ride, let alone a work vehicle.
We just gotta figure out how to make them cool, like how the Sandman Ute and its competitors became cool kid cars in Australia.