Dacia Sandero Wins Small Hatchback Car Award

May 16, 2014: Dacia’s no-nonsense supermini is more of a hit with trustworthy users of a respected motoring website than a garage-full of “established” hatchbacks.

Dacia Sandero, the “UK’s most affordable new car” on sale today, with a starting price of just £5,995, saw-off the likes of the Ford Fiesta, Honda Jazz and Toyota Yaris to drive off with the ‘Small Hatchback of the Year’ gong at the honestjohn.co.uk awards in London last night.

Dacia, Britain’s fastest-growing car manufacturer, celebrated its latest success for its smash-hit five-door hatch, which offers supermini style and space for city car cash, at a glittering bash in The Sway Bar in Holborn.

Dan Harrison, editor of honestjohn.co.uk, said: “Dacia has made a big splash in the UK with its affordable model range and our users have shown what an appetite there is for low priced yet good quality cars.

“Its 'function over frivolity' image has huge appeal at a time when car buyers are looking to keep running costs down. The fact that the Sandero has proved more popular on the site than many established hatchbacks is a mighty impressive feat.”

Dacia has already sold over 24,000 cars since arriving in the UK last January, and has racked up a series of impressive media awards for its comprehensive Sandero, Logan MCV and Duster ranges.

Last month, and in its debut year in Auto Express’ 2014 Driver Power survey, Renault Group’s upstart brand powered straight into the top five car manufacturers for owner satisfaction.

Dacia’s Andy Heiron, Brand Manager, commented: “This latest award is another massive coup for us, and one we are particularly proud of as it is the knowledgeable honestjohn.co.uk users themselves who pick the winners.

“The Dacia brand has a global reputation for affordable, high quality products, with impressive reliability. With independent recognition like this and an ever expanding fan base, thanks to sites like Honest John, our sales can only keep rising.”

The honestjohn.co.uk awards recognise and reward the cars, classics and vans that users search for most on the site: the reviews which create the most interest among users are the winners. The data to measure this is taken from Google Analytics and calculates the number of page views each review has had over the previous 12 months from April 2013 to April 2014.

This year’s awards were split into 14 main categories, from ‘City Car’ to ‘Performance Car’, with Sandero’s stablemate, Duster, also shortlisted in the Crossover category.

The surprisingly spacious Sandero was hailed the UK’s least depreciating new car by leading residual value provider, CAP, last year too. It prides itself on big car features and technology, with small car prices, while its attractive design doesn’t detract from its practical personality, with ample space for five adults and plenty of boot space.

Honestjohn.co.uk has answered more than 650,000 questions since being set-up in 2000 to help consumers with advice on buying, selling and running cars. The site gets around 1.6 million visits every month with the majority viewing car reviews.