It's safe to say Renault has struck gold with Dacia as the low-cost Romanian brand is a huge success in Europe thanks to its affordable, no-frills cars. Every now and then, the French automaker puts its diamond logo on those vehicles to sell them in markets where Dacia is not active to avoid cannibalizing sales. The newest badged-engineered model is the Sandero in its high-riding Stepway specification.
The supermini on stilts will go by the name of Kardian when it officially debuts on October 25. In the meantime, Renault has shared a fresh teaser that takes us inside the B-segment model. As expected, the cabin looks a smidge fancier than what you get in the Dacia Sandero Stepway to earn its updated Renault logo on the steering wheel.
From what we can tell, the 2024 Kardian has a fully digital instrument cluster and ambient lighting with selectable colors in the upper part of the front door cards. We are also noticing a nicer, smaller gear selector for the automatic transmission while the lower spokes of the steering wheel have metallic accents. We're being told the B-segment crossover will offer selectable driving modes while that infotainment is going to have an eight-inch touchscreen.
Less than 4.15 meters (163.3 inches) long, the Kardian will look slightly different on the outside to better suit Renault's design language. However, underneath the mildly revised skin, chances are it'll essentially be the same car as the Dacia Sandero Stepway sold on the Old Continent.
The world premiere will be held in Rio de Janeiro where Renault intends to present its new international strategy and show a mysterious concept car. The Kardian will initially go on sale in Latin America before heading to other markets outside of Europe.