Bargain bullseye! Renault-badged Dacia could outplay MG ZS, Kia Seltos and Subaru Forester, while bringing the top-secret alternative to the AWOL Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz utes Australians would love

Renault importer Ateco Automotive is preparing a renewed assault on Australia with a range of all-new SUVs as well as a secret dual-cab utility.

Expected to begin in 2024, they will all be sourced from in-house Romanian budget brand Dacia, and will place the French brand squarely in the sweet spot for consumers seeking European engineering at budget-brand prices.

However, even though Dacia dates back to 1955 and has become a widely-acclaimed poster child for budget yet robust new vehicles in Europe, the United Kingdom and Africa over the past 15 years thanks to models like the Sandero small car and best-selling Duster small SUV that use existing Renault and Nissan technologies, its vehicles will most likely wear the Renault badge in Australia.

According to Renault Australia managing director, Glen Sealey, overseas experience has shown that leaning on Renault’s reputation makes more sense than going to the expense of establishing a new name to take on known budget entities like MG, Haval, Kia, Hyundai and Skoda.

“Whether we brand (as Renault in Australia rather than as Dacia), probably,” he said.

“If I look at (Renault’s) right-hand-drive (RHD) strategy in other countries in terms of international markets outside of Europe, South Africa is RHD and they have Dacia branded as Renault, and that looks like a good strategy to me.”

The Dacia SUVs slated for Australia would kick off with the third-generation Duster.

Pencilled in for a global debut in 2023 before arriving locally a year later, it’s a rugged-looking car-based small SUV that’s expected to grow to around the size of the Kia Seltos for its next incarnation. The Duster is already a massive sales winner in Europe, Africa and South America, but doesn’t meet Australia’s latest safety regulations, so hence the wait for the new version.

An even bigger opportunity awaits the production version of the Bigster, a larger and longer (at 4.6-metres) medium-sized SUV previewed by a concept with the same name last January. Expected to be one of 2022’s most anticipated releases abroad, it is said to offer proportions and 5+2-seater availability that mirror the Skoda Kodiaq, but with a more off-road style that might give the Subaru Forester Wilderness a fright.

As Dacia’s unofficial motto in Europe translates to “accessible, at the cost of a vehicle from the segment below”, all are expected to undercut equivalent Toyota, Mazda and Volkswagen alternatives, meaning low-$20,000 and probably mid-$30,000 starting prices for the Duster III and Bigster respectively.

Even more intriguingly, Renault is also hoping to break new ground in Australia with what might be shaping up as its biggest chance for glory in the long run, in the form of the 2025 Oroch II.

Currently a compact, Duster-based, high-riding, four-door pick-up, the next-generation version is widely rumoured to be on growth steroids, and so should morph into the mould of the US runaway-success Ford Maverick as well as the Hyundai Santa Cruz – two of 2021’s hottest debutantes. That the latter aren’t slated for Australia due to RHD availability might mean Renault’s luckiest break in this part of the world, especially with RHD South Africa and UK likely getting on board as well.

Still unseen, speculation suggests the next-gen Oroch may move from being Duster-derived to Bigster-based, making it usefully larger, roomier and – most importantly – more truck-like than the existing model released in 2015. This means it should also gain optional four-wheel-drive capability, along with possibly more powerful powertrains.

The Oroch, along with Duster and Bigster, are all currently under development by parent company Renault in France and Japan, leveraging latest Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance technologies.

The shared thread here to help keep costs down is the scalable CMF-B Common Module Family architectures already familiar to owners of the latest Renault Captur and Arkana as well as the Nissan Juke, among a host of other coming SUVs and crossovers in the Alliance’s broad portfolio. Think Skoda’s relationship to its parent brand Volkswagen to better understand the synergy going on here.

Of course, the Dacia-based SUVs would all sit below their established Captur, Arkana and Koleos model equivalents respectively in Renault’s local line-up.

This makes space for these and future Renault-built models to become the brand’s premium technological vanguards with newer Euro-6 and above combustion-engine powertrains and, increasingly, electrification options moving forward, as recently revealed by the battery electric vehicle (EV) Renault Megane E-Tech crossover and evocative retro-styled R5 and R4 EV concepts.

“We don’t have our hand up for all Dacia vehicles, but I certainly do see a future for Duster and Bigster moving forward in Australia with internal combustion engines and given our lifestyle and what we enjoy,” Mr Sealey said. “But we wouldn’t bring that in until we got all-new models, so that would be the all-new Duster and the all-new Bigster.

“We’ve got our hands up with those all-new vehicles… and I think those are for 2024 and 2025. That’s when the Renault portfolio really starts to blossom.”

The long timeframe means that Ateco has gained early access to future developments with Renault in Europe to help ensure the correct specification for Australian consumers, and this fact alone might be the difference between success and failure the brand.

“We have to remember that we are RHD, we are a small market and we have unique design regulations, so we have to get in early in terms of the planning process, Mr Sealey explained.

“And while that’s no guarantee that we’re going to get the vehicle, if we’re in early enough, and we can get the vehicle engineered for our market from the beginning, that’s very helpful.

“We think we’ve got a really good business on our hands. I think the portfolio coming from Renault is fantastic. Renault is not just Renault – Renault is Renault, Dacia, (Russian brand) Lada, (European car-sharing and transportation solution brand) Mobilize, (sports car brand that’s going electric with a Lotus tie-up) Alpine… so there’s a whole raft of businesses there.

“Pre-COVID, Renault was selling just under four million cars a year, now there are 11,000 retailers in 134 countries and there are 40 manufacturing plants, so it’s a big company. We forget that.

“And in the end of the day, being able to access that portfolio is one of the roles that I have.”

With two affordable SUVs and the possibility of a modern Subaru Brumby-style car-based dual-cab ute on the horizon for buyers who cannot buy a Maverick or Santa Cruz, Dacia could provide the vehicles consumers love to finally catapult Renault into the big time in Australia.