RENAULT'S East European budget brand Dacia is to come to the UK in early 2009.

The first model to arrive here will be the new Sandero five-door hatchback which joins a line-up which currently comprises a saloon, estate, van and pick-up.

Founded in 1966, the Romanian carmaker remained an essentially national company at first, before becoming a Renault subsidiary in 1999.

Since 2004, the Dacia Logan family has formed a new range of low price vehicles and has seen its sales tripling from 68,738 in 2003 to 230,164 in 2007. Since Dacia Logan's launch, the Pitesti factory has doubled its annual production capacity which stands at 350,000 vehicles for 2008.

Dacia vehicles are also manufactured in Casablanca, Morocco. In response to demand, a third production site, also in Morocco (Tangiers), will build Dacia vehicles alongside Renault and Nissan models from 2010.

Today, Dacia is present in 51 markets (in many European countries this is through existing Renault dealerships), extending from Europe to Africa and this Spring will see its introduction in Portugal, and then in Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, Finland) at the end of the current year.

Dacia Sandero is a modern hatchback available with a choice of two petrol engines (1.4 75bhp and 1.6 90bhp) and two diesel engines (1.5 dCi 68bhp and 1.5 dCi 86bhp) which have already featured in the Renault family. It is priced at the entry level of the segment although Dacia insists that the cars will be well specified and manufactured to European standards.

Dacia Sandero will progressively go on sale in Europe, in Turkey and in the Maghreb regions starting from June 2008, before arriving in the UK in early 2009 - more details on UK specification and pricing will be announced later.