Bold everyone’s SUV
The Dacia Duster has been a force to be reckoned with for years. The current model builds on its predecessor, but next year there will be a completely new Duster. It is not only completely revised down to the smallest nut, but also attracts a much sharper suit.
Highlights
- Coming in 2024
- Bolder design
- New technology, now also hybrid
Cars such as the Hyundai Tucson and the Kia Sportage translated the SUV concept into a relatively affordable price range a long time ago, but the Dacia Duster only really made the SUV accessible to the masses. With the first generation Duster that came on the market in 2010, the Romanians hit the bull’s eye. In its first full year of sales, this SUV knocked the Sandero off Dacia’s sales throne and in 2012 the Duster also stayed ahead of its cheaper relative.
About thirteen years later, the sales counter of the Duster in the Netherlands is at almost 14,000 units, making it the best-selling Dacia after the Sandero and the Logan. Quite an achievement, especially when you consider that the other two are not only cheaper, but have also been available in the Netherlands for much longer. The Duster is also selling like crazy in other countries. For example, almost 200,000 units left the showrooms in Europe last year, good for a wonderful second place behind the Sandero in the European private car market. Not bad for a six-year-old model who is on his last legs. And then we haven’t even mentioned the tens of thousands of copies that the Duster sold as Renault in South America records every year.
Dacia is very committed to maintaining the Duster success and so it will be quite the next year with a completely redesigned model. We are now looking ahead to that.
Modern technique
Gone are the days when Dacia cars invariably used proven but older technology from Renault. Although the Duster, like its sister models, has been available for years with modern turbocharged engines from Renault, the current model is still on the same B0 platform of the first Duster, which is now almost twenty years old. After all, it was a technical development of that. The next Dacia Duster will be parked on a much more modern platform. Like Dacia’s latest model – the Jogger – and the Sandero, Dacia builds the new Duster on a simpler version of the CMF-B platform, which we know from cars such as the Renaults Clio and Captur. You can bet that you will notice that along the way. That technical turnaround will probably bring a series of electrified powertrains to Dacia’s successful adventurer for the first time. Just look at the Jogger. It is technically related to the new Duster and has recently also been available with Renault’s 140 Hyrid powertrain.
It may not remain on an electrified level. It could very well be that the new Duster will soon be available with mild-hybrid machines in addition to conventional turbo engines with powers from about 110 hp. If Dacia is smart, it certainly delivers the 100PS TCe Bi-Fuel powerplant – which runs on both petrol and LPG – in its new potential success. Whether the Duster will get four-wheel drive variants? That remains to be seen. Especially outside the Netherlands, Dusters with extra grip are in any case a welcome addition to the range.
Dacia Duster (illustration: Larson).
Sharpness
The new Duster is not only making strides on a technical level, a lot will also change on a design level. You can logically still clearly recognize its predecessor in the current Duster, and certain sheet metal parts are even interchangeable. But the third generation Duster is new down to the smallest nipple and panel. For the design of the new SUV, the Romanians, led by Design Director David Durand, drew inspiration from the Bigster Concept from 2021. With that show car, Dacia indicated that it had the ambition to come up with a model above the Duster. The Bigster design is not limited to that new large SUV and also brings more pronounced shapes to the Duster world. That’s more than an assumption. From the database of the World Intellectual Property Organization, AutoWeek turned up patent drawings of what is most likely the new Duster. Based on those plates, our illustrator drew the Duster as we expect it to come into the world. Angular and especially extended rear wheel arches, daring lighting and a considerable amount of plastic decoration: the new model looks much more daring than the current one. The new big brother of the Duster will arrive in 2025 and may be a longer version of the Duster. Don’t be surprised if it can accommodate up to seven occupants. So something else to look forward to.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl