The new Dacia Duster, unveiled this week, will significantly move upmarket. At the risk of distancing yourself from your usual clientele?
Ride in a functional car at an affordable price. This could be the summary of the Dacia motto in a few words. The Romanian brand, bought by Renault in 2000, quickly established itself as the main provider of low-cost vehicles in France, as in Europe. The manufacturer’s five models – Sandero, Duster, Lodgy, Spring Jogger – are selling like hot cakes. Particularly the Sandero, a city car, and the Duster, a family SUV. It is the latter which takes the spotlight at the end of 2023. Launched on the market in 2010, the Duster has sold more than 2.2 million copies worldwide. A huge success that Dacia hopes to extend with the new generation of the SUV, the third, presented this November 29 and expected on our roads next spring.
If the temptation not to retouch its best-seller was great – the Duster was still the best-selling SUV in Europe in 2022 – Dacia decided to offer it an in-depth makeover, both on the outside than inside. The body of the Duster, formerly rounded, is now very straight with much more prominent edges which reflect greater robustness. But by copying what we now see almost everywhere (horizontal hood, vertical shield and tailgate, fine headlights, spoiler, etc.), the 3rd generation Duster will no longer stand out aesthetically from the latest Renault models (Scénic, Austral …), Peugeot (2008, 3008…) or even Volkswagen (Tiguan, T-Roc…), which do not necessarily target the same clientele.
Let’s move on to the physical, not always the most important. Inside, the transformation is even greater. The Renault group’s CMF-B platform allows the new Duster to take a technological leap forward. Already, under the hood, with the arrival of a hybrid engine. The customer will have the option of switching to the full hybrid, with 140 horsepower by combining the 1.6 liter gasoline engine with the two electric batteries, or to a mild hybridization engine. The Duster is thus brought up to date, but inevitably this will have a cost. The full hybrid version, in the entry-level Essential finish, will probably cost between 26 and 27,000 euros.
The Romanian SUV is also becoming more gentrified in the cabin. If the furniture remains quite classic but neat, the dashboard of the future Duster has been completely revised. The size of the digital panel dedicated to multimedia increases from 8 to 10.1 inches and the meter behind the steering wheel becomes digital, in color and customizable on the high finish. New driving aids and other comfort elements are legion: cruise control/speed limiter and automatic switching on of low beam headlights as standard, automatic emergency braking (with vehicle, pedestrian, cyclist and motorcycle detection), traffic sign recognition. signaling with overspeed warning, rear parking assist, emergency stop signal, lane change alert, lane keeping assist, driver attention monitoring system, emergency call (eCall), heated steering wheel and windshield…
The Duster’s move upmarket is evident. That of its prices will also be. His entry ticket will be barely under 20,000 euros, compared to 17,990 euros today. The question now is whether the European low-cost champion will still succeed in attracting a clientele for whom price almost always trumps the level of equipment.