We invented the Dacia Sandman - and the internet fell for it

The boss of Dacia UK at the time was a proper enthusiast called Luke Broad. He had seen the Sandman in Autocar and thought it was cool.

As did the product planning bod from France, but both told us that there were no plans to make something similar in the near or far future. Clearly, they weren't making that up to keep me quiet.

We thought we had handed them on a plate a sure-fire commercial winner. Judging by the amount of material online today, perhaps we had. Many of the AI creations that you will see have moved quite a distance from our original concept.

For starters, many of the headlines refer to the Dacia Sandman 4x4 and we never, despite Summerell-Youde owning a four-wheel-drive camper, envisaged the Sandman being 4WD, not least because the Renault Trafic wasn't available with that drivetrain.

Besides, it would cost too much. Some of the AI images have also ignored our original concept of not fitting out the Sandman with costly and space-gobbling things like wardrobes.

The whole fake Dacia Sandman business has been an eye-opener for me. The amount of sheer cobblers written is incredible.

One US-based site says the following about the vehicle: "For 2026 the Romanian brand draws attention with the Dacia Sandman 2026, a small SUV-camper crossover that promises adventure on a friendly budget. As someone who spent time with the new Sandman in the city and on light trails, I am excited to share real world impressions."

With all this interest in the Dacia Sandman, one wonders whether the company might have a change of heart and actually produce something along the Sandman's lines.

A call to Dacia resulted in the following statement from a spokesperson: "We've been asked so many times about the Sandman based off web stories that it's become a famous anecdote within the business. Although there are no plans for a Sandman, we are pleased people are associating our brand with the outdoors. We know people want accessible adventure and continue to deliver that with our products today."

The whole virtual Dacia Sandman pantomime has also really cheered me up because it graphically shows that there is a real need for proper printed motoring magazines such as Autocar and its monthly rivals that can be trusted and that employ people who know what they're talking about and who have contacts at the core of the motor industry.

Many journalists yearn to produce something with longevity. Steve Cropley has been writing a novel for the past 40 years (called High Compression, about Formula 1) and many of us have written motoring books.

Much of what I've written over the past 20 years has ended up wrapped around cod and chips, but thanks to some very bored people around the world, my legacy is that I created a legendary vehicle called the Dacia Sandman.