Renault has revealed the imagery of the facelifted Duster, which is rumoured to be headed for India. As one can see, there is hardly any noticeable change to the design of the car. Infact, save the badging, the car appears to be identical to the Dacia Duster, which was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

At the front, there is a new grille, with two parallel chrome strips, running horizontally along the middle. New headlights with double-optic elements and integrated daytime running lights, borrowed from the Duster’s Dacia namesake, replace the simpler units of the old car.

At the rear, the tail-lights have been slightly altered. The chrome strip above the number plate appears to have been replaced by a black plastic cladding.

The car sports new “Duster” branded roof-rails and 16-inch alloy wheels.

On the inside, the Duster gets a new instrument cluster and a new centre console. The steering wheel now comes with controls mounted on it.

There is no information regarding any mechanical changes to the car.

On the whole, the facelifted Renault Duster appears to be nothing more than a re-badged Dacia.

The waiting periods for the Ford EcoSport stretch anywhere between eight months to well over a year. In an era where instant gratification is the name of the game, especially when it comes to consumer goods such as mass-market automobiles, long waiting periods often send buyers to rival brands. Renault is one such brand that's seeing a steady stream of prospective EcoSport buyers who, dissuaded by the long waiting periods for the crossover, are making the shift to the Duster SUV.

To make the Duster more attractive to such buyers, the French automaker has given the RxL 110 Ps variant a minor refresh through the addition of twin airbags. Team-BHPian Abh1nav has added the detailed price list of the same. Previously, the RxL 110 PS variant of the Renault Duster was available only with ABS+EBD as a major safety feature. The addition of driver and passenger airbags to the Duster 110 RxL has seen the prices go up marginally, by about 11 thousand rupees. The Duster RxL 110 with airbags is now priced at 11.05 lakh rupees, ex-showroom Delhi. 

The Renault Duster RxZ 110 variant is priced about 60,000 rupees more than the RxL variant. For the extra 60,000 rupees, one gets alloy wheels, seat height adjustment and driver seat belt warning indicator as the three major additions in the RxZ model. Also, the RxZ 110 variant continues to be offered with cosmetic changes such as revised seat fabric and silver finish for the wing mirrors, door handles and roof rails. 

Renault just launched the "Anniversary Edition" of the Duster last week. The anniversary edition of the SUV added a new Blue paint scheme to the Duster range and also came with discounts totaling about 60,000 rupees. The top-end 110 RxZ variant of the Duster underwent another change earlier this year, when Renault omitted the rear AC unit in order to liberate more leg room on the second row.    

The Duster is available with petrol and turbo diesel engine options. The petrol engine is a 1.6 Liter unit that outputs 105 PS-140 Nm. The turbo diesel engine is the 1.5 liter K9K unit, available in two states of tune: 85 PS-200 Nm and 110 PS-248 Nm. The 1.6 liter petrol engine and 1.5 liter K9K engine in the 85 PS state of tune get 5 speed manual gearboxes. The 110 PS diesel engine gets a 6 speed manual gearbox. All variants of the Duster are front wheel driven. 

By the end of this year, Nissan India will take a stab at one of the hottest segments in the Indian car market, the compact SUV space. To do this, Nissan has borrowed the Dacia Duster from Renault India, an SUV that will get a restyling and rebadging. The thus adorned Duster SUV with Nissan badges will be launched in India by the end of 2013, and from here on it gets interesting. AutoCarIndia reports that Nissan's Duster based SUV will be dubbed the Terrano, a badge that Nissan will be resurrecting after nearly two decades. Along with the resurrection of the Terrano badge, Nissan's Duster based SUV is also expected to be priced higher than the Renault variant, at a price that's about 50,000 to 75,000 rupees greater than that of the Renault Duster. 

This bit of detail is quite a departure from the norm as badge engineered products shared been Nissan and Renault have resulted in Nissan products being priced and positioned below those from Renault. Also, the high price will mean that the top end variants of the Nissan's Duster based SUV will be priced over 15 lakh rupees in certain cities of India, and at that kind of money, it'll be interesting to see if the Indian SUV buyer will actually look over and above the Renault Duster and pick the Nissan badged product. At the higher price point, if Nissan does outfit its iteration of the Duster with a higher level of kit and spruced up interiors, the new product would be a welcome addition. Under the skin though, the 1.5 Liter K9K turbo diesel engine is expected to be a common thread that connects the Renault and Nissan versions of the monocoque Duster.

A reason for Nissan pricing its version of the Duster higher than that of the Renault version is to avoid cannibalizing sales of the latter. Both Renault and Nissan have a similar number of dealerships across the country. Nissan has 79 dealerships when compared to 90 of Renault. Notably, the Nissan Duster based SUV will be the last badge engineered product from the Renault-Nissan stable for the time being. From here on, Renault and Nissan are expected to focus on independent products carrying their respective badges rather than indulging in badge engineering, a strategy that was mainly intended to make Brand Renault more visible in the Indian car market. Now that the Duster has made Renault a household name in the country, the time seems ripe for the French brand to strike out on it own. The Renault-Nissan joint manufacturing facility at Oragadam though, will continue to be a shared affair. 

Render courtesy IndianCarsBikes

DC Design has put out more pictures of its Duster modification on Facebook.

The upgrade package begins at Rs 3.49 Lakh and could end up costing a substantial amount more, once all options are chosen.

The donor vehicle will of course have to be provided by the customer.

The dull front of the Duster has been streamlined by DC into a cleaner, better integrated design.

The wide tyres shod on multi-spoke alloys complete the hunkered down look of the SUV. The rear has been left untouched by DC, save for the DC logo on the boot handle and mild additions to the tail lamps.

The overall effect achieved by DC is certainly an improvement over the original Duster design. The interiors have been radically upgraded from the Duster's otherwise basic inside. It now features perforated leather seats, lashings of wood veneer and chrome on interior panels, along with LCD/LED displays and LED lamps.

While the interiors appear to be immaculately finished, the driver's armrest has a rather odd looking contraption that seems to house a rear cooling vent with cupholder / storage area. 

As much as we like the exterior mods, the interior looks overdone...we'll even go to the extent of calling it gawdy. 

DC Design has put a Duster under the knife to come out with this custom adaption of the SUV.

Posted as 'coming soon' on their Facebook page, the modified Duster looks surprisingly subtle for a DC Design (usually, too loud & garish).

DC has released only a picture of the front; the highlight is the strip of LED lights that replace the headlamps and a classy front grill.

The bumper sees rather chunky double barrel fog lights and (excessive) chrome surrounds. The front air dam appears to be unchanged.

We're not sure how this funky face will match the Duster's otherwise older, conventional side / rear profiles. Let's wait and watch. 

The bonnet features a 'power bulge' and the paint is in matte finish. DC Design usually provides high quality interiors and the modded Duster should be no different. 

Image Source - DC Facebook