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Dacia boss: we will make cars for our customers, not for the EU
Updated: 12 January 2026
► Dacia boss on why customers will always come first
► Katrin Adt calls for EU regulations freeze
► Regulations driving up price of Dacias
Dacia’s boss Katrin Adt has said that it will remain focused on making cars its customers want, rather than tailoring them to suit the European Union and its regulations.
Announced in late 2025, the European Union is looking to create a new category called M1E for small EVs less than 4.2m in length. Loosely based on the Japanese kei car class, European manufacturers making cars from ‘local content’ will be rewarded by being handed credits they can use to offset CO2 emissions.
While you would think such measures would suit Dacia, Adt called for more certainty from the EU and said she wasn’t sure ‘if we’re happy about the EU’s proposals yet’.
‘I’m looking forward to something definitive, we are embracing the idea of small European cars, it’s within our playground at Dacia, but there’s currently a lot of uncertainty,’ said Adt, who took on the role as CEO in September 2025, replacing Denis Le Vot.
Adt was also outspoken about the influx of regulations hitting Dacia in particular and driving up the prices of its cars, and the importance of making cars that its customers actually want.
‘We always say within the Dacia team when we are talking about future products, we are not doing a product line-up for EU regulations, we are doing it for our customers’ needs.
‘We are all against too many regulations, so we are asking for a fair market and fair competition.’
Adt said that within Dacia 25 per cent of its R&D capacity was focused on ‘fulfilling and answering regulations’, and warned that 107 new regulations coming into force in the next five years.
‘It’s quite a burden for R&D, but it also means cars are getting more and more expensive, 40 per cent of the price increases we’ve seen in the past five years are due to regulations. I think it’s a good idea to have that regulation freeze.’
Adt called it a ‘viscous circle’, with Dacia – and its customers – being especially hit by the price increases, as well as the added weight of its cars driving up fuel and energy consumption.
The Dacia CEO also said the firm’s focus on its customers was a way of helping it to differentiate it from the Chinese competition.
‘Dacia needs to keep its attention to its customers, I’ve never seen a brand so centred around customers, rather than own egos or engineering capabilities,’ said Adt.
‘What is essential for our customers and how can we offer it in the most affordable way. That’s difficult to copy.’
Part of this focus on customers is why Dacia has so far only launched electric models in the A-segment, with its current Spring EV and forthcoming Twingo-based city car set to be sold in parallel.
When asked why Dacia didn’t yet have any larger electric models in its line-up, Adt confirmed that it had ‘ideas in the pipeline’ but that it was wanting to respond to customer needs.
‘In the C-sement, it’s the first car [for our customers], not the second and third. We need offerings with decent ranges and at the same time be affordable, and that is what we intend to offer, and extend our EV offering beyond the A-segment.’
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