The Dacia Spring has never pretended to be anything other than what it is: the bare-minimum electric car for buyers who simply want cheap, simple mobility. Now, with a significant update for 2026 and a hefty price cut, it has doubled down on that mission—while quietly addressing its biggest weakness.

At £12,240, the updated Spring is officially the cheapest new car you can buy in the UK, electric or otherwise. That headline figure comes courtesy of a £3750 discount introduced by Dacia to mirror the UK government’s Electric Car Grant. Because the Spring is built in China, it doesn’t qualify for the official scheme, which offers up to £3750 off eligible EVs. Dacia’s response has been refreshingly direct: match the saving itself.

For buyers looking at finance, the numbers become even more compelling. On a four-year PCP deal, with a £2776 deposit and an annual mileage allowance of 6000 miles, the entry-level Spring comes in at £129 per month. In a market where even small petrol hatchbacks now flirt with £20,000, that positions the Spring as a genuinely disruptive proposition.

But price alone isn’t the whole story this time. The original Spring’s biggest flaw was performance—or the lack of it. The outgoing 45bhp and 65bhp motors made the car feel out of its depth anywhere beyond urban streets, particularly on faster A-roads and motorways. Dacia has clearly taken that criticism on board.

Both old motors have been dropped, replaced by new 70bhp and 101bhp units. The entry-level motor now gets the Spring from 0–62mph in 12.3 seconds, a vast improvement over the glacial 19.1 seconds of the old 45bhp version. Step up to the 101bhp option, priced from £13,240, and that sprint drops to 9.6 seconds—finally placing the Spring in the realm of what most drivers would consider acceptable for motorway use.

Dacia says these changes make the Spring “fit naturally into motorway traffic,” and while no one will confuse it with a hot hatch, the numbers suggest a car that no longer feels like a rolling compromise once speeds rise.

Powering both motors is a new 24.3kWh battery using lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) chemistry. This marks a first for any Renault Group model and reflects a growing industry shift toward LFP for entry-level EVs. Compared with conventional nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) batteries, LFP packs are cheaper to produce, more durable over time and offer improved thermal safety—key considerations in a budget-focused EV.

Range remains unchanged at 140 miles on the WLTP cycle, but that figure has always been more than adequate for the Spring’s intended use. Dacia claims it’s enough to “easily cover a full working week with a single charge,” and for urban commuters, that’s a fair assertion. Charging speeds have improved too, with range-topping Extreme models now capable of charging at up to 40kW, up from the previous 30kW standard rate. It’s still no rapid charger champion, but it shortens top-up times enough to matter.

Beyond the drivetrain, Dacia has quietly refined the Spring’s dynamics. An improved braking system with stronger assistance, a newly standard anti-roll bar and retuned suspension all aim to deliver better stability and confidence. Subtle aerodynamic tweaks have also reduced the drag coefficient from a lofty 0.743 to 0.665—still high by modern standards, but a meaningful improvement nonetheless.

These changes build on updates introduced last year and suggest a brand increasingly aware that even the cheapest car on sale still needs to feel competent, not compromised.

Customer deliveries of the updated Spring are scheduled to begin next spring. By then, the EV market will be even more crowded, but few rivals will be able to match the Spring’s blend of price, simplicity and now, finally, usable performance.

The Dacia Spring remains a car defined by restraint, but with this update, it no longer feels like a city-only experiment. Instead, it stands as a reminder that affordable electric mobility doesn’t have to mean settling for the bare minimum—just something thoughtfully engineered to do exactly what it promises.

Source: Autocar