Dacia Hipster Concept Review

Introduction

Behind the cute styling and blocky silhouette lies a serious car that could well introduce a completely new category of cars.

Let’s start with the numbers. The Hipster is just three metres long, which makes it shorter than the original 1959 Mini. Yes, really. In a world where even “city cars” like the Fiat 500 have ballooned past 3.6 metres, the Hipster is practically pocket-sized. And at a whisker over 1.5 metres wide, it’s skinny enough to slip into parking spaces that would make smart owners nervous. 

And yet, despite the dinky dimensions, the Hipster doesn’t look fragile. Quite the opposite, in fact. Dacia has deliberately given it a chunky, squared-off stance to avoid that “glorified-mobility-scooter” vibe you get with some ultra-compact EVs. This is a proper little car. Just… smaller. 

In fact, it’d be easy to look at the Hipster and assume it’s Dacia’s answer to the Citroen Ami. I was stood next to it, and I can see how you might think it was a funky quadricycle vehicle. But you’d be wrong! Because the Citroen Ami is a quadricycle, it dodges a lot of the regulations and safety kit required of actual cars. That keeps it cheap and cute, but it also makes it very limited. Like, you can’t drive it on dual carriageways because it’s not fast enough. 

The Hipster concept, though, is on a proper car platform and it’s much more spacious, safer and promises to be more capable than a quadricycle. Yet, the Hipster is even simpler and lighter than Dacia’s own Spring EV. 

Affordability it’s whole raison d’être. Dacia has basically taken everything non-essential, put it in a box marked ‘no’, and then thrown that box very far away. Do you really need lane-keep assist, multiple cameras and a telly-sized infotainment screen in a tiny town EV? Exactly.

Keeping it simple keeps the Hipster concept light, at around 800kg, which is unheard of for a modern electric car. Light weight means better efficiency, nippier performance, fewer materials and lower costs. But cutting back hasn’t made it boring. In fact, the Hipster is packed with quirky, brilliant touches. 

Range, battery and charging

Unfortunately we don’t have many details on the Hipster’s battery details. This is a concept car, after all. What I would say is that any production version of the Hipster will get  a small battery and a realistic range of under 100 miles, because Dacia knows most city-car drivers rarely need more. It’s the sort of honesty we’ve been crying out for. 

If the Hipster does go into production, I also wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t have rapid charging and just had AC charging – hopefully it would at least have 11- or 22kW AC charging as standard. Possibly with rapid charging as an option? A bit like the early Renault Zoe models? Ultimately, this isn’t a car that’s going to do big mileage; it’s a car that’s designed very specifically to be affordable, basic and ideal for urban use. I am all for that, to be honest! We don’t all need enormous SUVs. Honest. 

Mind you, given that the excellent, short-range Honda e city car didn’t sell well we can only hope that consumers have started to wake up to the fact that a lot of people don’t need a big battery and a long range.

Practicality and boot space 

The Hipster is full of brilliantly simple ideas that make you wonder why every small car isn’t designed this way. For starters, it has just three painted parts; everything else is left in bare ‘Starkle’ plastic; a recycled, colour-through material that doesn’t scratch easily because the colour runs all the way through. 

The clever thinking continues at the back, where the boot opens across the full width of the car and the top section can pop up independently for quick access. There’s even extra storage built into the boot lid, although you’ll need impressive cable-winding skills if you want to keep your cables in there.

The rear lights sit behind the tailgate so they don’t need separate glass and are far less likely to get smashed. And while the standard boot is a very modest 70 litres (for a bit of context, the new Renault Twingo E-Tech gets a 250-litre boot), folding the rear seats turns the Hipster into a tiny van with 500-litres of space. 

Again, remember that this isn’t a car that’s for long hauls with the family. It’s aimed at people who live in the city, probably don’t have kids and just need something cheap and cool for the about-town commutes! So, actually, I’m all in favour of the Hipster’s approach to keeping the boot tiny with seating for four, or dropping the seats to make it into a spacious two-seater. If that’s what the compromise is to keep the car really small, lightweight and affordable, then I’d say it’s a fair one.  

As with the rest of the concept, it’s all been thought out well, too. The rear headrests swivel neatly into the window area when they’re not needed, and the weight-saving continues with fabric door handles instead of chunky metal ones. 

Inside, the large door opening makes it surprisingly easy to climb into the front or the back, and yes – it really can seat four proper humans. The hammock-style front bench is suspended rather than padded, which means no heavy foam and a wonderfully simple, airy feel.  

Interior, design/styling and technology 

Because this is a car designed around essentials, infotainment is pure ‘BYOD’, as the kids say. That’s ‘bring your own device’ to the rest of us. Your phone becomes the key, the screen and the entertainment hub, slotting into a dock and playing through a little Bluetooth speaker. Simple, smart and wonderfully Dacia.

Again, I am absolutely in favour of cheaper cars that don’t have in-built touchscreens but that offer simple, solid phone installation instead. In this budget car class, it’s a no-brainer.  

Pricing and on sale date 

There’s no word yet on when – or even ‘if’ – the Dacia Hipster concept will make it to reality in some form. I certainly hope it does, but here’s the thing: for the Hipster to make production in the form Dacia wants, some regulations may need to evolve. Europe’s current rules don’t neatly account for a vehicle that’s this small, this light and still fully road-legal at car level. To hit its targets on weight, safety equipment and cost, Dacia would likely need a bit of regulatory flexibility – something that would let manufacturers innovate with ultra-light EVs without being forced into the same heavy, expensive frameworks as larger cars.

There has been talk of Europe introducing new regulations for an ultra-compact car class – rather like the Japanese ‘kei’ cars. That would work well for the Hipster, of course. But I had a chat with Bruno Vanel, VP for Renault brand (which owns Dacia) at Brussels motor show, and asked about the potential for a small car class, he was very clear that in terms of legislation “what we need is clarification.” 

Basically, Renault and Dacia are both very on board with the idea of small, affordable EVs, and they’ve got the products already. But they need clear legislation to progress with anything. Until then, the Hipster will probably stay ‘just’ a concept.

Verdict

The Hipster may be a concept car, but it makes a very real-world point that’s impossible to ignore. Do we actually need massive batteries and tech-laden interiors, or could clever design give us a smaller, lighter, cheaper EVs that works perfectly in every day use? In many ways, the Dacia Hipster is a modern take on the Citroen 2CV or VW Beetle – simple, honest, and for the people. 

If the legislation is clarified and put into place swiftly, the Hipster could open the door to a whole new class of smart, simple, super-efficient electric cars designed around real-world needs rather than marketing checklists.  

And, honestly, I think that would be one of the most refreshing shifts the EV market has seen in years.

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