Dacia Enters Dakar Rally From 2025

Dacia, the affordable car brand, has announced that it will enter the World Rally-Raid Championship as a manufacturer from 2025, with the Dakar Rally as its main challenge. The Dakar Rally is a legendary event that has been attracting hundreds of adventurers from over 60 countries for more than four decades.

The Dakar Rally reflects Dacia’s brand values of rationality and emotion. It is a human and sporting adventure that requires robustness, endurance and adaptability. It is also an eco-smart adventure, as Dacia’s race car will use synthetic fuel, a low-carbon alternative to conventional fuels. And it is an essential but cool adventure, with a clear and ambitious objective that does not waste any resources. Dacia will use the Dakar Rally as a testing ground and a source of inspiration for its future products. It will experiment with new outdoor features and energy solutions that are clever and affordable, in the true spirit of Dacia. Before taking on the 2025 season, Dacia will test its prototypes in the 2024 Rallye du Maroc, another prestigious rally-raid event.

Denis Le Vot, CEO of Dacia, said:

“Dacia and Dakar are a perfect match! Not only is this a test of Dacia's true robustness, but it is also a showing of our commitment to low-carbon mobility. We are very excited to take part in Dakar with synthetic fuel technology. Dacia, alongside the best team and drivers in the game, are serious contenders for the rally.”

Cristina Gutiérrez, 31, is a Spanish rally driver who made history in 2017 as the first Spanish woman to finish the Dakar Rally in the car category. She has competed in seven editions of the Dakar Rally from 2017 to 2023. She is also the reigning all-terrain rally champion (women’s category) in Spain since 2012.

Sébastien Loeb, 49, is a French rally driver who won the World Rally Championship nine times consecutively from 2004 to 2012. He is widely regarded as one of the best rally drivers of all time and has participated in the Dakar Rally since 2016. From 2021, he drove the Bahrain Raid Xtreme Hunter, a car designed and run by the British Prodrive team.

Prodrive will continue to collaborate with Loeb for the Dacia project. The Dacia prototype will use synthetic fuel supplied by Aramco, a world leader in energy and chemicals. Aramco’s synthetic fuel is produced by combining renewable hydrogen with captured CO2, resulting in a lower-carbon fuel that can be used in today’s engines. The Dakar Rally will be an ideal testing ground for Dacia’s new car and fuel technology. The brand aims to demonstrate its robustness, endurance and adaptability in the most extreme conditions.

MAKE AN ENQUIRY

Get in Touch

Whatever your question or feedback we are here to help. So please feel free to contact us.

Make An Enquiry

Find Us

Keep up to date

Immerse yourself even deeper by joining our online community.

Company Info

Info

Reg Office: Sturrock Way, Bretton, Peterborough, PE3 8YL

Reg. Company Number: 359860

VAT Reg. No. 120617216

Financial Disclosure

F.P. Smith Holdings (Newark Avenue) Limited, F.P. Smith Holdings (Ilkeston) Ltd, and F.P. Smith Motors Ltd are Appointed Representatives of Automotive Compliance Ltd, who is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA No 497010). Automotive Compliance Ltd’s permissions as a Principal Firm allows F.P. Smith Holdings (Newark Avenue) Limited, F.P. Smith Holdings (Ilkeston) Ltd, and F.P. Smith Motors Ltd to act as a credit broker, not as a lender, for the introduction to a limited number of lenders and to act as an agent on behalf of the insurer for insurance distribution activities only.

We can introduce you to a selected panel of lenders, which includes manufacturer lenders linked directly to the franchises that we represent. An introduction to a lender does not amount to independent financial advice and we act as their agent for this introduction. Our approach for a new car purchase is to introduce you first to the manufacturer lender linked directly to the particular franchise you are purchasing your vehicle from, who are usually able to offer the best available package for you, taking into account both interest rates and other contributions. If they are unable to make you an offer of finance, we then seek to introduce you to whichever of the other lenders on our panel is able to make the next best offer of finance for you. Our aim is to secure the best deal you are eligible for from our panel of lenders. Lenders may pay a fixed commission to us for introducing you to them, calculated by reference to the vehicle model or amount you borrow.

Different lenders may pay different commissions for such introductions, and manufacturer lenders linked directly to the franchises that we represent may also provide preferential rates to us for the funding of our vehicle stock and also provide financial support for our training and marketing. But any such amounts they and other lenders pay us will not affect the amounts you pay under your finance agreement, all of which are set by the lender concerned. If you ask us what the amount of commission is, we will tell you in good time before the Finance agreement is executed. All finance applications are subject to status, terms and conditions apply, UK residents only, 18’s or over. Guarantees may be required.

In the event of disputes we are unable to resolve the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI) National Conciliation Service will offer free impartial advice and when appropriate an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service that we are fully committed to. For further information you can visit their website at www.nationalconciliationservice.co.uk or call 01788 538317.

Heading

Contact

Dacia Enters Dakar Rally From 2025