Nobody else is able to build and sell cars quite like Dacia's Denis Le Vot
The greatest-ever Formula One commentators – Murray Walker and Martin Brundle – welcomed me into their homes. Closely working with legendary broadcasters Sir Michael Parkinson and Andrew Neil on LBC radio changed my life – not least because they helped me secure my motoring show on the station. Advertisement - Article continues below
I've been driven by Stirling Moss, Brundle, Sebastien Loeb and Colin McRae. Nigel Mansell and Michael Schumacher also selflessly allowed me into their garages on days they won Formula One races.
Sharing a stage with F1/road car guru Gordon Murray and Nick Mason of Le Mans/Pink Floyd fame was delightful. Being summoned to General Motors' world HQ in Detroit, for a rollicking from its then CEO Rick Wagoner, was plain scary. Scarier still was a tricky chat that I endured with now-disgraced former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn.
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Denis Le Vot is less familiar and a few rungs further down the 'rich and famous' ladder. But not for much longer, if he continues to do the tremendous job-creating manufacturing work he's currently doing at his factories in eastern Europe, central Asia and north Africa.
DLV's commitment to his cause has led to consequences that could never have been predicted. For example, his Sandero hatchback did the unthinkable in 2024 and beat the likes of the VW Golf and Renault 5 to win the crown of best-selling car in Europe.
But who exactly is DLV? I can answer that, because I've just had a one-to-one with the engineer turned top industry exec at his Paris office. He's a main board director at Renault Group's World HQ and, more importantly, the hands-on CEO of its Romania-based brand. Broadly, Dacia badges are worn on a range of modestly specced petrol, LPG, hybrid and pure-electric models built largely from proven Renault components.
DLV's speciality is deciding on precisely the right and fair official retail prices for his cars, then building them with those Renault parts and others – always within strictly controlled manufacturing budgets. Such cost-effective car making is profitable for him, Renault and Dacia. In turn, buyers get brilliantly priced, often four star-quality products, including the £15k Spring EV, sub-£20k Duster and £24k Bigster.
Nobody else seems willing or able to design, spec, build and sell real-world, value-for-money cars quite like budget-conscious Denis Le Vot can and does at Dacia. That's why he richly deserves his induction into The Motoring Hall of Fame in 2025. In my book, the automotive world desperately needs more DLVs.
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