The Renault Duster is one of the most successful SUVs ever launched in the Indian market. Even though it wasn’t the pioneer in the compact SUV segment, it rewrote the rulebook for the segment.
The production of the Duster started in 2010, and it was developed by Renault and it’s Romanian subsidiary, Dacia. Renault took the opportunity to introduce the Duster to the Indian market in 2012 and there has been no looking back for Renault ever since.
The Duster is a very capable, yet understated SUV and it became even more understated as time passed. Newer, fresher competition in the compact SUV segment slowly started eating into the sales figured of the Renault Duster and the engineers and designers over at Renault decided to do something about it.
They announced that the new Duster for the Indian market would be revealed at the 2016 Indian auto expo, held in Delhi and rightly so, they delivered.
Renault India revealed the new 2016 Duster last month, at the Auto Expo and received very good response indeed. The Duster update was completely worth waiting for, as it wasn’t just aesthetic changes that were made to the compact SUV, but it even featured a couple of mechanical changes which made it more attractive.
The new, 2016 Renault Duster was launched just this week and features a host of changes. Up-front, the headlamp, the grill and the bumper has been redesigned, with the headlamp being divided into a cluster of three. The side profile is characterized by the new gun metal grey 16-inch alloy wheels and at the rear is a redesigned bumper and tail lamp.
The interiors get new upholstery materials, redesigned seats and a new centre console design on the dashboard. The interiors of the new Renault Duster features a host of changes including a new infotainment system with 7-inch touchscreen display in the centre console.
Updates have been made to the air conditioning system, and power windows too, which now feature an anti-pinch function. The Duster also now has a lot if safety features like ABS with EBD, hill start assist and ESP.
The new Duster is powered by the same 1.6-litre petrol engine and 1.5-litre diesel engine as the outgoing model, but the biggest change in the new Duster has to be the new gearbox. The 5-speed manual transmission coupled with the 1.6 liter petrol engine and the 6-speed manual gearbox coupled with the 1.5 liter diesel continue to be offered on the new Duster too, but Renault has now launched the new Easy – R AMT gearbox which was first revealed at the 2016 Indian auto expo. The new AMT gearbox has been launched only on the 110 PS diesel engine variants. The 4×4 drivetrain too continues to be offered to customers.
Prices of the 2016 Renault Duster facelift (ex-showroom, Delhi):
Petrol 4×2 MT
- RXE – Rs. 8,46,999
- RXL – Rs. 9,26,999
Diesel 85 PS 4×2 MT
- Standard – Rs. 9,26,999
- RXE – Rs. 9,46,999
- RXL – Rs. 10,26,999
- RXS – Rs. 10,76,999
- RXZ – Rs. 11,46,999
Diesel 110 PS 4×2 MT
- RXL – Rs. 11,06,999
- RXZ – Rs. 12,26,999
Diesel 110 PS 4×2 AMT
- RXL – Rs. 11,66,999
- RXZ – Rs. 12,86,999
Diesel 110 PS 4×4 MT
- RXZ – Rs. 13,56,999
To read more on Renault Duster, Click here
Also see: Renault Duster Explore Limited Edition
GALLERY:2016 Renault Duster (facelift)
