Small EV price war begins: Dacia trims cost of its Spring city car to £11,990 to undercut rivals

By FREDA LEWIS-STEMPEL, MOTORING REPORTER The Dacia Spring EV has been reduced by £4,000, stealing the crown as Britain's most affordable new EV from a Chinese rival. Famed value-for-money Romanian car maker, owned by Renault, has dropped the price of its Spring electric city car to £11,990 on-the-road (OTR) - making it the cheapest new electric car on sale. It previously cost £15,990, and the discount comes only a day after Chinese carmaker Leapmotor, majority owned by Stellantis, announced a reduction of its T03 city EV to £12,995. In only 24 hours the title of Britain's cheapest new EV has changed, prompting speculation that we could be entering a cheap EV price war.  The Spring's price drop hasn't seen the small, four-seater EV lose any of the essentials customers expect. Each Spring still comes equipped with air conditioning, cruise control, rear parking sensors, a digital instrument display and Dacia's Media Control system with steering wheel-mounted controls. Romanian carmaker Dacia has cut the price of its Spring EV by £4k to just £11,990, making it the cheapest new electric car on sale and undercutting the newly-reduced Leapmotor T03  The Spring has a range of up to 140 miles and recharges from 20 to 80 per cent in 29 minutes, as well as a 308-litre boot which expands to 1,004 litres with the rear seats folded. From now on the Dacia Spring will cost £11,990 for the Express Electric 70 trim and £12,990 for the Extreme Electric 100. For £1,000 more, the Spring Extreme Electric 100 adds a more powerful 100hp motor, a 10.1-inch Media Nav Live with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (compared to the Expression's smartphone mount system), vehicle-to-load functionality, copper-accented styling, electric rear windows and a reversing camera. The budget EV first launched in June 2024, with deliveries from October of that year. In October 2025, it underwent a refresh with more powerful motors added and a new high-tech LFP battery, as well as retuned suspension and upgraded brakes. In 2025, over 17,000 Springs were sold in Europe, securing second place in the European market for electric vehicles sold in the retail channel (segments A, B, B-SUV). Pay £1k more for the Extreme trim and you get a 10.1-inch Media screen with Nav Live and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto  When it launched originally, it cost only £14,995, making it £12,000 less than the second cheapest EV at the time, the MG4 EV. Then when the price increased to £15,990, the Spring became the second cheapest EV on sale behind the Chinese Leapmotor T03 which cost just £14,495 OTR once the Chinese carmaker's electric grant discount had been factored in. Yesterday, Leapmotor announced the T03 would be reduced to only £12,995 OTR - once again battling against Dacia. But with the Spring's new price tag announced today, it is once again the cheapest EV in Britain - but this could all change again in the future... Chinese carmaker Leapmotor has reduced its T03 price tag again by offering an extra £1,500 off via its Leap-Grant which makes it the second cheapest EV in the UK at £12,995 The T03, like the Spring is a four-seater, five-door city EV. It has a range of 165 miles (25 miles more than the Spring) and charges from 30 to 80 per cent in 36 minutes. Leapmotor gives the T03 a 0–62mph time of 12.7 seconds and a top speed of around 80mph which is sprightly enough for city driving even if it won't win any races. There's only one specification and that offers you enough space for four passengers due to the T03's upright shape, and a 210-litre boot. Inside there's a 10-inch floating touchscreen, voice control, in-vehicle Wi‑Fi and a panoramic sunroof, and 10 state-of-the-art ADAS systems. Leapmotor is majority-owned by Stellantis (French-Italian maker of Peugeot, Citroen and Fiat), so while this looks like a Romania vs China price battle, it's in fact a France versus France battle as Dacia is owned by Renault. The T03's price cut is not permanent and comes from a larger grant, so there's no limit in terms of the numbers and the new discount will apply to all models purchased after 1 July. The Spring's price cut is permanent.  The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? 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