[BoneCollector]

The new generation Duster is being actively considered to make a comeback in India as per this article in Autocar.

While the new Duster has yet to be signed off for India and the decision to go ahead has yet to be made, company insiders have confirmed it is the SUV being actively evaluated for launch in India next. What has worked in Renault’s favour is that the company has done well in India last year. It sold almost 1,00,000 cars here, the brand is getting stronger and it is now the leading European car maker in India.

Fabrice Cambolive, SVP, sales and operations, Renault, seemed quite bullish. “On the whole, I think we have the capacity to come into this segment and we are preparing our financials and analysing this for the coming years,” he said. Also, if Renault goes ahead with the CMF-B LS platform in India, alliance partner Nissan will also have to be part of the plan, helping to share costs and development responsibilities. And this could lead to a whole family of cars from both brands, and possibly even Mitsubishi at a later stage.

[Venkatesh]

All-new Renault Duster for India in the works.

Renault India clearly isn’t done and ‘dusted’ with the sub-brand yet. Far from it. In the works are plans to introduce the all-new 2023-’24 Duster.



Next-gen Renault Duster is based on the CMF-B platform.

Based on a platform known as CMF-B, the new Renault Duster is actually built on a on a lower spec version known as the CMF-B LS (lower spec).

Renault India, however, is likely to evaluate the cost benefit of bringing a 4X4 system to India; only a small percentage of earlier-gen Dusters sold in India were 4X4s. Still, it’s an essential element of the car’s DNA, so it will be a toss up.

Source

[volkman10]

As the normal path this SUV is approved ( 7th March) for Brazil. For India, plans not yet known.

Renault will have new SUV and 1.0 turbo engine in Brazil and even Nissan can benefit Model will be built on the CMF-B platform.

The French brand, which has not launched new models here for a few years, said it will have a new national SUV , but did not say when that will happen.

This new car will be built on a new platform, CMF-B . And under the hood it will have an equally new 1.0 turbo engine , with no power and torque figures yet released.

The simplified version, known as CMF-B LS, is used in the new Dacia Logan and Sandero , in addition to the Dacia Bigster, the 7-seat version of the Duster. It is unclear which one will be produced in São José dos Pinhais (PR).

The new SUV is likely to be positioned below the Duster , as a sort of successor to the Sandero Stepway and direct competitor to Fiat Pulse and Volkswagen Nivus . Considering the Renault - Nissan alliance , it is still possible that the 1.0 engine will end up in models of the Japanese brand.

The arrival of a turbocharged engine with more power and torque can help not only boost sales at Nissan , but also give a higher production volume and help dilute investment costs.

Renault:

The arrival of the modern CMF-B platform, together with a new 1.0 turbo engine, continues our strategy of strengthening our presence in higher market segments, consistent with the Renaulution strategic plan

Another Theory:

Alternately, and that makes a lot of sense, is that this SUV is bigster. It has already been confirmed for Brazil and will be built on the CMF-B platform, both in the Renault version and in Dacia. The model will be larger than the Duster and will have seven seats to fight directly with CAOA Chery Tiggo 8 and Jeep Commander.

Renault 1.0 turbo:

Renault announced the production of the 1.0 TCe three-cylinder turbo engine. That's why the possibility that this new model is the third generation of the Stepway or a compact model of unprecedented size is greater than that of the Bigster.

Currently offered in Clio, Captur, Juke, Micra (March), Sandero, Logan, Taliant, Jogger, Triber, Almera, Magnite and even Mégane Sedan, this engine has two different versions.
The HR10DET has no direct injection and delivers 100 hp and 16.3 kgfm of torque. The HR10DDT, which is only in Nissan Juke and Renault Mégane Sedan, has direct injection.

In this layout, the 1.0 three-cylinder turbo brings 117 hp and 20.4 kgfm of torque. That is, very same torque of the Volkswagen 1.0 TSI and fiat's 1.0 T200. The power, however, is lower than the two rivals, but that can gain an extra incentive thanks to ethanol, including torque.

Link

[batladanny]

Originally Posted by Venkatesh

All-new Renault Duster for India in the works.
Renault India clearly isn’t done and ‘dusted’ with the sub-brand yet. Far from it. In the works are plans to introduce the all-new 2023-’24 Duster.

Renault not updating the Duster in India has to be one of the most baffling decisions. The brand had solid cred amongst enthusiasts and was also a decent mass-market seller. Letting the brand rot and fade away is just so sad.

[Durango Dude]

Lesser European brands will find it almost impossible to penetrate the Indian market: which comes with wafer thin margins and coupled with low market buying power. They are forced to make compromises and what Europe considers the rock bottom cheap is pretty expensive for India: eg Logan. Duster was the only Renault product that was successful for a long time till the Kwid, Triber and Kiger came along. Kaptur was a resounding flop. Duster if developed will go down the same route as when it's launched it will be priced at around Rs 20 L or more. Europeans are asking Indians to tailor their tastes to their given product where as Kia tailors their products to Indian tastes and prices them competitively. Renault will survive only because of Kwid, Triber and Kiger. Wonder how Citroen is hemorrhaging?? Hardly see any of their C5 Aircross on the roads. You don't pull the plug on a successful product, they should have done what VW did with the Polo/Vento should have kept it fresh with updates and added features and may have survived, but the SUV space is seeing most action and products and Duster surely looked Dusty and dull in the face of products from Kia.

[starke]

No, We don't need the Duster again as the market is not what it was 10 years before. The sub-compact SUV segment is a premium segment now and competitions like Seltos/Creta/VW-twins/XUV700 is far superior than the affordable segment Dacia Duster.

What we need is the new Austral

[RoadTrippin]

Absolutely no rush guys @ Renault. Don't rush in to launching in 2023-24 timelines, best to wait another 3-4 years after that to be absolutely sure. Not likely you only created a whole new segment in the market, dominated it and then let your product die due to neglect and a bafflingly poor strategy. Sure the market will welcome you back with a lot of love now that the segment has deeply entrenched strong competitors with excellent products.

[GTO]

I see no reason not to. Brand "Duster" has enormous equity in India & a large fan following. Renault India simply has to pick the new Duster from their global portfolio & localise it, which is so much easier than designing a new car from the ground up (as Tata & Mahindra do).

It's also in a segment where the volumes as well as profits are huge. Bring it on, Renault. Don't abandon nameplates just like that.

[prajwalmr62]

I would be surprised if Renault comes with anything in 15L+ category. They are already moving towards low-cost cars and probably doesn't make sense for them to introduce anything higher than Kiger.

[volkman10]

The assault of the new Duster, known internally by the code P1310, on European dealers, is set for the year 2024.

It is not ruled out that it will be introduced at the end of 2023. However, it is too early to venture a specific date.

In the technical section we will be facing a totally new vehicle. The entry on the scene of the new generation of the Duster will mean the consummation of the transition from the Dacia range to the CMF-B platform.

The use of the new platform will allow Dacia to meet its goal of electrifying the Duster. And this allows us to link with the mechanical section. Diesel will be a thing of the past and will no longer be available. The new Duster will bet everything on gasoline and electrification. One of the available engines will be a 1.2-liter TCe block electrified with light hybrid technology (MHEV).

Dacia is also contemplating the possibility of developing a plug-in hybrid variant (PHEV). Now, everything will depend on the cost of the technology. In addition, we should not rule out the possibility that the ECO-G engine adapted to the use of LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) will still be available. The front-wheel drive will be the protagonist but there will still be versions with a 4x4 traction configuration.

Link

[volkman10]

Renault Duster to return with USD 500 million India investment.

- Renault-Nissan set to launch several new models on Indianized CMF-B platform.
- All new Renault Duster to be launched in 2024-25
- CMF-B platform to be heavily localized in India
- CBU import models to be launched in the interim

Renault-Nissan India: CBU launches in the meantime:

bringing in the CMF-B platform and localising it will take time, and the aforementioned products are set to hit Indian roads only in 2024-25. Until then, both brands will rely on CBU imported models to keep things interesting. According to sources, the Arkana – a coupe crossover derivative of the Captur, is a key option for a 2023 launch, and it has, in fact, been spied testing in India earlier this year.

The second option is the Renault Megane e-tech – an electric version of the brand’s popular European large hatchback. However, it may face a hurdle in the form of the new battery norms soon to be introduced in India. Nissan Motor India, meanwhile, has already announced that it is studying the likes of the X-trail, Qashqai and Juke SUVs as CBU imports for the Indian market.

There is still a challenge in the short term, though. While the Franco-Japanese Alliance is readying the next phase of investment, its current range could be limited by a lack of engine variety. Currently, the entire model range (apart from the near-defunct Kicks) is powered by a single engine – the 1.0, three-cylinder unit in naturally aspirated (BR10) and turbocharged (HR10) guises.

There’s no diesel or a localised EV or hybrid on the cards, not in the near future at least. There is a plan to launch the Triber CNG next year, but with CNG prices shooting up, the relevance of the gas-powered variant has been thrown in doubt.

Link

[sagsaw]

The bigger question is will it work?

Petrol only in 2024-2025 with Petrol prices say about 150/- per liter by then and no hybrid I see no reason why they should localize CMF B.

Will Duster and Kicks command enough volumes to justify the huge investment? And only 2 vehicles on the platform?

And Nissan mission move ahead never mentioned about Kicks on CMF-B.

Interesting scoop by Autocar but is it just a market seed to guage the responses?

Instead I feel Renault Nissan should hybridise their entire current lineup with eTec n ePower and that would be a much fruitful investment.

[Adorablejim]

The pictures are of the BIGSTER SUV. Renault initially had plans to develop the 3rd Generation DUSTER in India for the world which was to be a petrol only model. However, the plan was shelved. Renault needs to ensure that the new DUSTER if considered for India will have the right ingredients to take on the competition in terms of product quality, features, pricing and most importantly the sales and service experience.

[lionheart_mm]

I wonder why all companies are only after the 4.3M or below compact SUV segment.

This kind of reminds me of late 2000s where every company wanted to make hatchback, but at the end of the day people bought only Hyundai/ Maruti, and the rest disappeared.

Now, the focus should move to above 4.3M. At some point people that currently own Seltos / Duster / Creta have to upgrade and it is good to have a sub 30 lac SUVs other than Safari, XUV or Hector.

[Livnletcarsliv]

The launch time of 2024-25 of this new duster and other models eventually makes sense because globally 2023 is going to be a bad year economically.

Other than that, I see nothing else to be in favor of this new-gen Duster to bring back the old glories of Renault's name and fame in India.
Going by the message so far (from the company), even Renault (or Renaut-Nissan) is absolutely unsure about the plans. All these are tentative and probably put to evaluation and testing before they take a call.

Duster with the current segment scenario (in which it is targeted), is most unlikely to bring back the old glories. I only see this just as another alternative to the others. And moreover, with the awaiting EV and ICE bullets from M&M, Tata, Honda, Suzuki, Toyota, Hyundai - Kia, and VW-Skoda, the market penetration will be highly challenging for Renault-Nissan.

So no/low expectations on Renault to bring back the duster story and other models with a huge $500million investment.