Renault working on all-new Duster for the Indian market

According to Autocar India, Renault has started working on a new generation of Duster for India. Finally, the Duster will be getting an upgrade that it deserved. It was Renault that started the trend of monocoque mid-size SUVs in India. However, they did not update the Duster because of which it started to show its age when compared to other mid-size SUVs. The manufacturer stopped the production of the Duster earlier this year.

The new Duster will be based on the new CMF-B platform. It will actually be the lower-spec version of the platform. It is called  CMF-B LS (lower spec). This is probably done to save manufacturing costs. The platform will be further optimized for the requirements of India. The current India-spec Duster was based on the B-Zero platform which was also shared with Captur, Logan and Lodgy.

It is expected that the new Duster will be launched in 2023-2024 and will lock its horns with Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, Maruti Suzuki S-Cross and MG Astor. Moreover, it will also go against Tata Harrier, MG Hector and Mahindra XUV700.

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People were very disappointed when Renault discontinued the Duster’s diesel engine. The new Duster is expected to come with a hybrid petrol engine. So, it should be able to deliver the fuel efficiency that will be closer to a diesel engine. We are still not sure whether the new Duster will come with a 4×4 system or not. Renault used to sell an all-wheel-drive version of the Duster which still has a cult following. Duster AWD was quite capable and was also the most affordable mid-size SUV to come with all-wheel drive.

New Duster could be based on Bigster

The new Duster will still have some of the characteristics that we have seen on the current Duster. For instance, big wheel arches, a grille that integrates with the headlamps and a butch design. Dacia, a sister brand of Renault, did reveal Bigster Concept last year. In fact, Dacia sells Duster in the global markets, Renault just rebadged the SUV and brought it to India.

The Bigster was also based on the CMF-B platform. This new platform has been developed by Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance and all these manufacturers will be using the platform for their new vehicles.  The Bigster does look like a spiritual successor to the Duster. So, the new Duster can take some design inspiration from the Bigster.

Speaking of the Bigster Concept, it looks butch and rugged. It also has headlamps integrated with the grille. There are Y-shaped LED Daytime Running Lamps and a huge skid plate. There is a muscular bonnet with huge trapezoidal wheel arches. The fenders have a pronounced design and there are new alloy wheels too. At the rear, there is a Y-shaped LED tail lamp, a flat tailgate with a rear skid plate.

Bigster measures 4.6-metres in length which means that it is longer than the current Duster. So, we are expecting that the Duster will have more cabin space and will be positioned higher than the current Duster.

Via Autocar India

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