After the launch of Hyundai Creta and soon to be launched Maruti Suzuki S-cross, the current ruler of compact SUV segment has every reason to concern. Moreover, Hyundai Creta has received more than 15,000 bookings prior to its launch and has a waiting period of up to seven months on certain variants. The upcoming S-cross is also expected to perform in a same way as Creta which puts pressure clearly on Renault.
The Renault is clearly feeling the heat and seems to be ready to respond with an automatic gearbox and facelift of Duster this year. Reports suggest that Renault is already working on facelift version of Duster which is likely to hit the Indian showrooms by October-November this year.
Renault is going to up the competition with the launch of an automatic gearbox which might amass great interest of buyers to help Duster to stay at the top. Too many expectations beyond automatic gearbox will disappoint you as the changes can be expected to minimal. The Indian spec variant will not get as many changes seen on European Duster.
The new variant will be quite similar to Duster adventure edition; this means it will be equipped with black cladding around the fog lamps, smoked headlamps, matte black carbon finish wheels, front and rear skied plates, new body cladding. These features might be offered with entire Duster range.
Changes inside are also expected to be limited, it is likely to get eight way lumbar support for drive seat, tweaked upholstery and additional controls on steering.
However the biggest USP of new Duster will be the introduction of a six speed dual clutch automatic gearbox also called as efficient dual clutch (EDC) that is also offered in Russia spec Duster. The AT variant will be powered by the same 1.5 dCi unit producing 110Ps power and 245Nm of torque, available only in 2WD mode. Also expect slight bump up in fuel efficiency as well. However, the option of AWD cannot be ruled out though it is quite early to comment on that.
