Renault Duster doesn’t need to introduce anymore, it has made its own and individual place in car market in its segment. It wouldn’t be wrong if we say that Duster is the best thing that has ever manufactured by Renault India; it has become one of the most popular SUVs (in same segment) in country. And now the news is that this royal SUV has got a renovation and set to launch in India again as a face-lifted version in upcoming month of 2013 or may be in early 2014.
Expected changes:
Though it is expected to be a minor face-lift coz it is now going to launch in 4wd mode i.e. four-wheel drive (4×4) which means it will have now total four wheels that are driven and also the all four wheels can receive torque from engine. This 4wd mode is said to perform great for friction at the time of driving in challenging environment like snow, mud etc.
The existed Duster is 2wd (4×2) i.e. it has currently total four wheels and two wheels that are driven. This is said to be the only major change done in this renovated Duster along with the additional of some more premium features in it.
Expected reason for renovation:
It is rumored that reason behind this renovation is its increasing competition in market. Duster has to now share its success with many other SUVs in its segment, mainly with the brand new Ford EcoSport because this Ford’s SUV has been made its debut in India with comparatively more affordable prices than Duster. As Renault is well known about this fact, a face-lifted version is ready by the company to increase the sale of this trendy car.
As reported till now, this brand new SUV will probably cost 1 lakh rupees more than its existed version because of the addition of some premium and safety features. Currently the existed version has the price range of 7.99-12.18 lakhs.
Engine details & Performance:
It can be pre-assumed that this new Duster 4×4 will perform good on the road by giving balanced and comfortable ride, as existed variant (Duster 4×2) itself has a great record on the road. It is expected to powered with three engine variants; out of which two variants have 1461cc, 1.5 dCi K9K diesel engine mated with 6-speed manual transmission which churns out the power of 108.5bhp and max torque of 248Nm, while the third variant has 1.6 liter petrol engine with 5-speed manual transmission that provides 102.6bhp of power and 145Nm of max torque.
It is obvious that if all four wheels will receive torque from the engine then definitely the engine would consume more fuel and its affect would come as a result in reduced given mileage. Hence this new variant of Duster must be less fuel efficient. The existed Duster 4×2 has mileage range between 13.24kmpl and 20.45kmpl (depends upon engine variant) (ARAI certified).
Also boot space has reduced in this new variant, now it will have 408 liters of boot space over the 475 liters in existed variant.
The adjacent competitors of this new Duster 4×4 will be Mahindra safari and Tata Scorpio now which are said to be the typical 4wd vehicles.
Car Zoom’s take:
Though the exact price, features and specs details can only be revealed by its launch, but as per the given updates till now, we can assume that this face-lift version is not coming with many changes but definitely has tendency to increase the sale of Duster. But also we have to keep our fingers crossed that Renault may not increase the price on that level which would be unaffordable by buyers.
