Dacia, the Romanian value brand in the Renault Group, has revealed a new high-riding wagon built to tackle the Skoda Octavia and Subaru Outback. Called the Striker, the new Dacia wagon uses the same platform as the Duster small SUV, though in a stretched form. Only hybrid drivetrains are available, and there’s also an all-wheel drive option thanks to an electric motor on the rear axle.

The exterior of the Striker uses Dacia’s latest design language, including new ‘T’ shapes for the lighting, and rugged panels through the use of plastic mouldings. The interior layout follows the Duster and larger Bigster with a large central 10.1-inch touchscreen, digital driver’s display and a lot of storage space. Inside, over 32 per cent and 47kg of the interior materials are recycled.

Measuring 4620mm long, 1820mm wide and 1530mm tall, the Striker is 80mm shorter in length than an Octavia wagon, but its 200mm ground clearance is comparable to that of the larger Outback, which should give it reasonable off-road capability.

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Important for a wagon is its bootspace: there’s 600 litres with the rear seats up and 1600 litres with them folded, which is larger than the Outback but not quite as commodious as the Octavia. Still, it’s larger than most medium SUVs. Dacia is proud of the practicality in the Striker’s boot, which includes a dual-level floor that’s split into three pieces that are carpet on one side and plastic on the other, remote releases to fold the rear seats and Dacia’s ‘YouClip’ attachments points that owners can buy accessories to fit to.

Under the bonnet of the Dacia Striker is a choice of two hybrid drivetrains: The ‘Hybrid 155’ full-hybrid with a 116kW 1.8-litre drivetrain powering the front wheels only, or a smaller ‘Hybrid 150’ 110kW mild-hybrid 1.2-litre turbocharged drivetrain with an electric rear axle motor for all-wheel drive.

Both drivetrains use a six-speed gearbox; an automatic transmission for the 1.8-litre unit and a dual-clutch for the 1.2-litre drivetrain, and both are capable of electric driving in “up to 60 per cent of urban driving”, according to Dacia.

In the all-wheel drive drivetrain, the e-motor uses a two-speed gearbox, with the first gear to instant torque in off-road conditions and the second for more high-speed stability up to 140km/h. The all-wheel drive Striker features extra driving modes compared to the front-drive model like snow and sand, as well as a special off-road mode and hill descent control.

Active safety equipment in the Striker includes autonomous emergency braking, lane keeping assistance, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, traffic sign recognition, automatic rear braking, safe exit alert, a 360-degree camera and, unlike the Duster, adaptive cruise control.

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Four Striker variants will be offered in Europe, with the entry-level Essential featuring 17-inch steel wheels, power windows, a 7.0-inch digital driver’s display, a 10.1-inch touchscreen with live services and wireless smartphone mirroring, manual air-conditioning, rear parking sensors and a reversing camera.

The next tier Expression then adds 17-inch alloy wheels, dual-zone automatic climate control with rear air vents, auto-folding mirrors and an electric parking brake with the next step up Extreme then adding larger 18-inch wheels, a panoramic glass roof, a larger driver’s display, sat-nav, an Arkamys six-speaker sound system and copper trims inside and out.

A Striker Journey sits above the Extreme and is more luxurious inside, adding heated front seats and a heated steering wheel and an electrically-adjustable driver’s seat.

The Dacia Striker will go on sale in European markets later in 2026. Plans for Australia are yet to be confirmed, though Renault’s local distributor Ateco has previously confirmed that more products from the Renault Group are due locally within the few years.