Dacia Lodgy Minivan Concept

Today, the Renault Group's Dacia brand has as much to do with sports cars as the Nissan GT-R powered Duster racer has in common with its production namesake. But things change and there's always the possibility that the Romanian automaker may gain a little love from the French firm's Renault Sport division sometime in the future.
Which brings us to this rendering made by Khalil Bouguerra from Virtual-Car. The artist proposes a sporty package for Dacia's newly revealed Lodgy MPV appropriately named DS for 'Dacia Sport'. It includes a lowered body, different bumpers, door mounted mirrors, beefy alloy wheels and a tweaked front grille.
We could complete the fantasy flight with the Megane RS's high-revving 2.0-liter four banger while keeping the basic model's price, but back here on earth, if Renault were ever to produce such a model, something in the likes of a smaller displacement turbo'd petrol would sound more reasonable.
Pictures of both the rendered and the regular Lodgy people carrier follow after the break.

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Dacia’s Affordable and Roomy Lodgy MPV will Start from Just Under €10,000

Up until now, if you wanted to pay around €10,000 for a roomy MPV in Europe, then your only option was to search for a used model, but that's about to change as Dacia has unveiled a new and affordable people carrier at the 82nd Geneva Motor Show today. It’s named Lodgy and according to the Renault Group's Romanian brand, it will enter the European market with a starting price of just €9,900 (about US$13,300).
"Once again, Dacia is flouting convention by offering genuine five and seven-seater variants of its new Lodgy from just €9,900, a revolutionary price for a car of this type," reads Dacia's press blurb.
Naturally, the Lodgy won't sweep you off your feet with its design, but it does look more modern than Dacia’s other models.
The 4.5-meter long and 1.75-meter wide Lodgy is available in both five- and seven-seater versions. Dacia claims that the optimization of interior space means that each passenger, even in the 7-seat model, is accommodated in comfort.
The third row of seats features class-leading leg- and head-room at 144mm and 866 mm respectively and standard Isofix child seat fittings. It can also be folded up or completely removed, adding to the car’s versatility.
Even with all seven seats in place, the boot space is 207 liters whilst its capacity rises to 827 liters with the third row removed and an impressive 2,617 liters in two-seat configuration.
The Lodgy is available with four engines: the naturally aspirated 1.6 MPI 105 and the turbocharged 1.2 TCe 115 gasoline units and the 1.5dCi turbodiesel in two variants, with 90 and 110 PS.
Dacia says that reliability is “a core element of the Lodgy’s DNA” noting that it has covered the equivalent of 1.9 million km (1.2 million miles) during its pre-launch endurance tests.

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