[sidindica]

Photos of the vehicle caught testing courtesy M P Mathew from Kerala.

[sharmanova]

Renault, please get it right this time. Include features atleast on par with Grand Vitara, if not Creta. Also offer a turbo engine and a competitive price to achieve decent sales of around 4-5K units per month.

[Abhinav_2502]

The Duster when it was launched in India pretty much defined the segment because it was exactly what the people wanted. A no nonsense workhorse which was powerful, comfortable and looked good. The only reason the Duster died a slow death is because Renault never gave it the updates required.

This generation of the Duster has everything that went right for the previous one sold in India. The car looks great, the dimensions give it good presence and the hybrid powertrain could be a great replacement for the workhorse diesel of the older car. Renault-Nissan have a winner on their hands that could revive the whole alliance, only if they bring in the car with all the variants sold in Europe and at a competitive price. Is this the one to finally dethrone the Korean segment leader?

[diwakarmuthu]

Originally Posted by sharmanova

Renault, please get it right this time. Include features atleast on par with Grand Vitara, if not Creta. Also offer a turbo engine and a competitive price to achieve decent sales of around 4-5K units per month.

+1

Proper AT box, Petrol+ Hybrid powertrain, ADAS (if not now, within the first year), good quality interiros and price it under 22 L onroad

[Nithesh_M]

More likely just testing some powertrain combinations here. They skipped the last generation of Duster citing high costs and I don't see how this new one will meet the Creta segment pricing without being dumbed down for us in terms of interior quality and features.

[vellatechie]

Renault should learn a thing or two from Honda Elevate. Launching a no-nonsense product at a decent price won't cut it in the 10-20L segment anymore.

They really have to nail down the pricing and the feature spread across variants for Duster to succeed. The fact that there won't be any panaromic sunroof doesn't really fill me with hope tbh but I am looking forward to the launch.

[Sensible_Speed]

They HAVE to get the powertrains right. Honda being pigheaded about not giving the Elevate a hybrid powertrain was basically sawing a limb off an already 3 limbed quadruped. Renault have a potential ace in their hands with the Duster. If they unashamedly ape the Koreans by carpet-bombing the segment with multiple powertrains and variants, they have a real opportunity to cause the competition to sweat.

But, realistically, the heft of the Duster brand has worn off now. All but the few enthusiasts that bought them, have forgotten what the Duster represents. Using past success to market the new one is not going to work. Renault have to take the competition head-on and be as aggressive in their product push as they can. The Indian consumer is more discerning than ever and demands only the best a brand can offer.

[peddagunda]

I hope they bring the AWD as well with AT. The current AWD options in the segment is with Grand Vitara being offered only in manual.

[sunilch]

People have forgotten about the Duster today simply because:

1) The company decided to take on Honda head-on and win the race to ignore the product and the customer.
2) The market has moved on and competition is fierce now in the 12-24L price bracket.

Duster, if at all launched, shall be able to garner only bread crumbs now. It will fall in between Jimny (VFM after discounts) and Korean/Chinese options (too much variety to choose from Kia, Hyundai, MG stables). Not to forget, the 2WD Thar options from Mahindra too are quite in demand.

Renault doesn't have the muscle to offer too many features and multiple Engine Options.

It is likely to come in Petrol and EV (Wild guess) avatar only.

This could only be product testing too, for other global markets.

[livetodrive]

Great news, hope Kiger gets phased out to avoid cannibalism.

[AdityaDeane]

Originally Posted by livetodrive

Great news, hope Kiger gets phased out to avoid cannibalism.

When Tata, Hyundai, Maruti and so many other car manufacturers can have sub 4m, and over 4m cars/SUvs selling from the same showroom, why should Renault resort to killing of the Kiger to avoid any kind of cannibalism?

In fact, if someone walks into a Renault showroom for the Duster, but decides to go for the smaller and lesser powerful Kiger or Triber, Renault still gets their money, and they would want more of it, not to kill off that iota of opportunity by gaining more customers while keeping only 1 car, like their sister concern Nissan does.

I am all for keeping all size cars in the showroom, so that a customer can decide which car they want, and what all features set matters for them, instead of killing their own chances by keeping just 1 brand of vehicle to avoid cannibalism.

I am pretty sure that the majority of BHP-ians will agree with me on this, rather than killing off their other smaller (less powerful) brand (in comparison to the Duster), just so the Duster sells more. But, I may be wrong as well. Just my 2 cents on your comment.

[SideView]

Originally Posted by sidindica

Photos of the vehicle caught testing courtesy

Loving the overall stance lets see how they water it down for Indian markets.


OT:
Killer deal for banana (plantain/ethakka) 3 kg 100, here in banglore 1 kg was 80.

[ToThePoint]

Originally Posted by livetodrive

Great news, hope Kiger gets phased out to avoid cannibalism.

Duster will be competing in the Creta segment and not the compact SUV segment where Kiger belongs to. There is no reason for phasing out Kiger.

[akhil_rpmlover]

Found a video of the camouflaged vehicle caught testing in Kerala. Looks well proportioned for the segment.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCOSW...d3amE4bDR5Nw==

Courtesy: Respective owner of the video.

[ramki.grandhi]

Originally Posted by livetodrive

Great news, hope Kiger gets phased out to avoid cannibalism.

If some company is afraid of cannibalism, their competitors will happily do it for them! Its fair strategy to have it cannibalized internally by some other product from same company. In fact, that is the reason why some cars like Nexon have tons of variants. So, no way customer steps into showroom can leave empty handed because of no car in his budget.