The diminutive Dacia Spring city car – one of Europe's cheapest EVs – is still on the cards for a UK launch a year since it launched in France, but is unlikely to arrive here before 2024.
The electric supermini, which contributed to Dacia growing its sales by 5.9% in the first half of 2022, is in high demand in its launch markets - with the firm claiming 5000 orders per month from January to June.
But that demand, coupled with issues in Dacia's supply chain, means that a UK launch has been deprioritised in favour of meeting existing demand.
Dacia's sales, marketing and operations boss Xavier Martinet told Autocar: "Right now we have a six-month waiting time for our current customers because the demand is higher than expected initially, and we have some supply issues - electrical components mainly.
"We're focused on trying to shorten that gap. We haven't given up on Spring for the UK - I don't think we'll have it in 2023, and if we have it it should be in 2024. Don't expect the Spring in the UK in 2022 or 2023."
Martinet's comments came after the brand director of Dacia's UK division, Luke Broad, told Autocar he was still campaigning ardently to import the Spring: "We are fighting tooth and nail with our corporate team to get that car launched here in the UK.
"We don't have confirmation whether it's a go yet, because they're working on fulfilling the huge back order they have in Europe - for me that's another string to my bow; if it's an extremely popular car in Europe, then it's fair to say it will also be extremely popular in the UK.
"There's no decision on Spring. Hopefully we get it, but in the meantime we will hybridise the Jogger and in the medium- to long-term, you will start to see the hybridisation and electrification of the brand - but only when the customers are ready and it makes sense from a cost perspective."
The Spring launched in several European markets early last year, but Dacia initially delayed a UK sales decison while it evaluated production capacity and its sales potential against the cost of a right hand-drive conversion.
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Total death trap - under engineered and failing badly on EuroNCAP.
EVs are good, but not at any cost.