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Steel wheels? Crank rear windows? Those features would be poison on a car sold in North America, but Dacia’s UK division isn’t having any trouble selling base model Dusters.
UK mag Auto Express reports
A sixth of pre-orders have been for the entry-level Duster Access model, which starts from just £8,995 and comes with 16-inch steel wheels, power steering, electric front windows and central locking.
So far, 1,000 pre-orders are on the books; not bad for a budget car that can’t even be test-driven so far.
30 Comments on “One Sixth Of UK Dacia Duster Buyers Opt For “Poverty Spec”...”
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While I don’t have the figures, it sure seems like the majority of Camry and Corrola vehicles on the street are poverty models ( Steel Wheels, No Nav, Cloth Seats ).
Unfortunately, because of labor and pension costs, the boys from Detroit are unable to compete in the poverty segment.
But, Detroit is not worried. They figure Obama will be there to save them with more government handouts hidden behind slick names.
Vote Romney.
Did I miss that this was an article about what levels of equipment Brits are ordering on certain vehicles, or a political piece? So much for the Truth aboout Cars.
As for lower content…I test drove a new Wrangler the other day to satisfy an itch I have regarding a potential (down the road) purchase, and I specifically WANT one with manual crank windows. Less to break. While I’m sure the Dacia mentioned above would find severely limited appeal in the US, I’d be very interested in a usable vehicle like that with minimal do-dads (my one concession on the Jeep, BTW, was air conditioning. Yeah, I know the top comes off…but dang, it gets hot and muggy down here in the South!).
For those of us who live where it’s 90F and 90% humidity for days, even weeks on end, AC is vastly appreciated. Butt sweat ain’t pretty P)
As far as I can remember you repeatedly said you work on Wall Street.
Lol you troll.
Is there something wrong with selling more premium vehicles? And in any case, where does the Spark or the Sonic fit in your logic? Also, while the Cruze and the Focus certainly aren’t “poverty spec” they are some of the best selling cars in the world.
So you’re saying that most Camry and Corolla buyers are poor?
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(Internet)
Still hawking those cancer curing Civics I see.
At the risk of feeding the troll, I’ll note it was GWB that kept the lights on at RenCen and Sterling Heights.
While nothing is wrong with Accords and Camry’s, my ’11 300C is a vehicle of righteous vengenace which i am glad i was able to purchase. Sure the CamCord would probably last longer and be cheaper, but at the cost of my driving soul.
Now if you excuse me, me and four friends and their luggage must be at highway speeds in 5.5 seconds.
UK crank windows to US political blather in 30 seconds. This world economy is amazing.
My 1985 E30 318i was a “poverty spec” without power steering. I like the KISS principle and that BMW was a pleasure to drive even when I had to parallel park.
I am not surprised that “poverty spec” cars sell. We live in a Wal-Mart economy where price rules, even if it means getting less.
However, what I find interesting is pre-ordering the poverty spec. Those are two groups that I would not expect to overlap. People pre-order to be the first to get what they want, typically at full-price. People buy poverty spec to get a deal, typically at the moment they need it. That would lead me to believe there is something about this car that people want, and it just happens to be poverty spec. (Perhaps people want to be seen in something low-cost. That has been a fashion trend since the recession hit.)
Europeans generally order cars rather than buy them off lots. They don’t really HAVE car lots like we do. I visited the largest Saab dealer in Sweden, they had about 10 new cars sitting around. So nothing unusual about that part of the story. Also nothing terribly unusual about the “poverty spec” – actualy, the fact that it has that much equipment for so little money is amazing.
I didn’t know “we” were part of the United Kingdom! Amazed that people do not see that this story is about a Dacia SUV that’s not sold here at all.
There have been tons of stories about how US cars don’t sell anymore ‘stripped’, yet some here assume this story is about us and start posting away about how ‘we are Walmart’ and ‘Detroit cant compete’. Looking at this Dacia poverty thing, I think Detoit has nothing to worry about!
As this is Britain, I think you mean an Asda economy.
True to the Duster name! Plymouth or Dacia.
There is nothing wrong with Steel wheels, especially in this area of North America when the Highways departments use lots of Salt on the Roads in the Winter months, they do a good jobs on the other wheels that a lot of new cars come with, my Snow Wheels are all that way ie Steel!
Steel wheels, I don’t mind. Steel wheels with plastic hub caps, should be outlawed, for as easily as those things fall off.
+1.
Steel wheels like on the Dacia are fine. Platic wheel covers are awful.
agree,my father currently drive daihatsu terios,its base model had plastic rims cover and its easy to fell off,my father rapidly take off that wheel rims cover
i think you have to ask yourself whats the bare minimum you’d want in a small car for day to day use… we’re not talking a weekender blaster or a luxo model…
16-inch steel wheels, power steering, electric front windows and central locking is enough… add your own stereo system, a cheap chinese gps and you’re away
later on add a set of wheels if you want
i see a lot of modern cars and i think there’s just too much crap and especially, frills that are unmanageable outside of the warranty
call it the BMW/Audi/Mercedes disease… great under warranty, hell outside of it
I never understood electric /front/ windows, when it’s the rears that are most difficult to roll down. Give me four cranks or none. Other than that, sure… no problem here.
i dont know why electric windows is such a big deal
is the price of an electric motor and assm so costly… in 2012?
clearly its just used as a class differentiator
as for unreliability… electric windows have been common place for 20-25yrs and they just work… since electric motors arent exactly a new thing
of course we all know about the plastic window guides in certain german cars that have early onset failure
I think just as there’s a market for people wanting cutting edge technology there’s got to be one for the Luddites currently scrounging for Volvo 240s, pre 1990 Hondas and mid-80s 911s. Sadly since they’re people that tend to keep a car until it crumbles under them they’re not very lucrative unless you longer term business model to sell at a lower volume, relying on lower build cost, lesser complexity and fewer repairs to cover fewer sales.
The costs of living in a part of the world where business decisions are short term (at least for dealerships, but that’s another discussion) and even $30,000 cars are considered disposable.
Hey, at least the steel wheels won’t fall off like those silly plastic wheel-covers…
The one-sixth ratio of base model sales doesn’t sound particularly unusual.
And I don’t think that having partial power window and seat packages are unusual in Europe, either. We’re spoiled on this side of the Atlantic — we get more car for less money.
If only I could get a poverty-spec 3-series with crank-up windows, manual seat adjustment, stick, and plastic knob radio/climate, that would remove any hesitation I have to buying German.
One sixth is hardly a demographic…trust me, that spec is ‘poison’ in the UK too.
Those won’t be easy to sell on, particularly as a new example is so cheap.
Really? Before moving to Canada I tried selling on my Ford Fiesta ‘Ghia’ with A/C, leccy windows and all the other mod cons. Two of the people who came to look at it complained that it wasn’t a more standard model as “All that complicated stuff will just break.”
Whilst people like my mother like their automobiles stuffed with plush leather and electronic gizmo’s, myself and plenty of people I know are far happier with simple machines that won’t bankrupt and/or perplex you if they go wrong.
Considering most cheaply made alloy wheels tend to weigh more than steel wheels, I never really saw the reason why people ‘upgrade’ when in fact it is detrimental to the ride.
That, and having had to fix numerous electrical gremlins in numerous cars, I’ve always opted for ‘pov-spec’ cars, as they tend do go wrong far less.
Form over function every time. Similarly, the 17-20″ inch wheel diameter popular nowadays can’t be good for unsprung weight.
Not good for the wallet either. I swapped the 17in wheels on my Mazda 3 for lighter 16in wheels from a lower spec’ed 3 and now save $30 per tire and increased mileage by 1 MPG.