In much of Eastern Europe most people would just rather buy a beat up BMW or even a relatively decent one for 10-15k.
To be fair I kind of feel the same. Getting a 2-3 old car seems like a better option than a brand new Dacia
Let's be real here, new Dacias are bought by people who care about not visiting service every other month and total cost of ownership.
My point was that in a lot of places people who can’t afford a new car other than Dacia would still rather buy an older car from a more prestigious brand due to “reasons”.
For about 15 years I kept having a hyundai of one sort of another while my friend has Audis. Our regular planned maintenance and our repairs were about 500% different. Anecdata n=1 of course.
Not everyone wants a status symbol, and not everyone wants a Go Very Fast Very Loud car. Some people genuinely want a car that's comfortable, reliable, and good for the environment.
I am very skeptical that this is true.
I thought they went and robbed a couple of banks like I do.
People only buy Dacia because they can't afford anything else. If they could you would see the Dacia market share shrink to almost zero.
Some people cope with "Dacia is just a cheap Renault" the same they cope with "Seat (Spanish brand) is just a cheap Volkswagen", but deep down inside them they know they can't buy the car they really wanted.