Renault India to Launch New ‘Variations’ of Duster in Coming Months

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In an interesting new bit coming right from the Renault’s house is an update on once-the-rage Duster. Renault says they are planning new variants/variations of Duster for our markets.

Economic Times reports that on the sidelines of the Tokyo Motor Show, Gilles Normand, Renault Chairman Asia Pacific, shared that they plan to manage the ‘life-cycle’ of Duster in India. In this bid, the company will launch ‘variations’ of Duster, when he was asked the question of its continuing sales dip. Here is what he said:

We are going to manage the life-cycle of this product, you can expect that in the coming months, there will be variations of the Duster.

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Duster facelift
Gilles says after the initial hype, Duster is stabilizing in its sales in India.

Despite the higher price tag, Duster opened to bumper bookings and has been the maker of Renault brand in India with blockbuster sales during all these months till now. However, with growing competition and its craze going down by the day, Duster has been seeing lower sales month after month.

There were days when Duster had huge waiting periods and now its available almost off the shelf at majority of cities in India and at discounts and offers of as high as Rs 60,000!

Renault-Duster-Detour-rear
How about something on these lines Renault..? Click pic for more images & Details

Now, when we talk about what Renault might be considering, here are the options that come to our mind:

  • Special Editions: Keep launching special editions with added features like the Anniversary Edition and new colour options to keep the buzz going. This is a very temporary step and we doubt if this will help them much.
  • Duster Facelift: Launch the facelifted Duster which they unveiled internationally a few weeks back. This is the best way to lend Duster a mid-life push and announce the re-arrival of the segment maker!
  • 4 Wheel Drive Duster: There is also a possibility of Renault launching the Duster 4 Wheel Drive (4WD) for India. This may not bring many sales volumes to the company but in this way, Duster will become the first ‘compact SUV’ to get the 4 wheel drive in the country. Its not really tough for them as well, considering that the original Dacia Duster 4WD is manufactured and exported from Chennai plant. And we already have had a few test mule spottings of the Duster 4WD on our soil.

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Or this Duster D-Cross Concept? Click on the image to know more about it.
We would love to see the Duster facelift making it to India as soon as possible to tackle the new menace of Terrano and XUV500 W4. What his statement confirms is that Renault has ‘some’ plans for Duster and it be a matter of only a few months when we start seeing something coming from them.

So, will the Duster dust its way  back to the crown?

Also Read: Clash of the Compacts: Ford EcoSport Versus Renault Duster: Which ONE..?

1 thought on “Renault India to Launch New ‘Variations’ of Duster in Coming Months”

  1. Despite being a better put-together vehicle with better drivability, as compared to the Ford Ecosport, the Duster’s dipping sales graph is largely on account of its looks. Ford managed to make a good looking compact SUV, the Ecosport whereas Renault stressed on purely making a driver’s car. The elegance with which the Duster destroys bad roads and potholes is only a distant dream for the Ecosport.

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