Renault Duster bags over 1000 bookings ahead of official launch early next month

The Duster, undeniably, is Renault’s most anticipated car for India till date given the huge buzz surrounding the upcoming official launch early in July. The ever rising interest for this mini SUV among the buyers can be seen from the numbers that have racked up. According to Renault, The Duster has received over 1,000 orders ever since pre-launch booking registers opened across Renault dealerships with Rs 1 lakh as booking amount. 

As for the engine options, The Duster will be offered with three engine options spread across three trim levels – RxE, RxL and RxZ. The base and mid variants i.e. RxE and RxL will be available with a 1.6-litre, 102 PS, 145 Nm petrol option or a 1.5-litre, 85 PS, 200 Nm diesel option. The RxL and the top end RxZ will be available with the top-of-the-line 1.5-litre dCi diesel mill that puts out 110 PS of power and close to 250 Nm of torque. The latter comes from the recently launched Renault Fluence E4-D and gets a six-speed manual transmission. The other engines are mated to a 5-speed manual transmission and a front-wheel-drive mechanism. We are being told that a 4x4 won’t be offered initially but we may need to wait till the launch to confirm.

The lack of a four wheel drive system (if true) may sound unoptimistic for an SUV – but for an urban crossover like the Duster, the two wheel drive system not only provides better driving dynamics and lighter steering for the city environs, it also ensures better fuel economy. It also means that the Duster will start at a tempting price tag. Speaking of which, the Renault Duster will be priced between Rs 7 lakh to 12 lakh for the Indian market. 

The Duster’s interiors have been tweaked for the Indian market’s needs and preferences. The air-conditioning and the suspension setup too has been carefully fine-tuned for the Indian driving conditions. The design of the interiors remains more or less similar to the one seen on the global model. 

As we mentioned above, the Duster will be launched in first week of July with deliveries expected almost instantly. It will compete with the likes of the Mahindra Scorpio, the Tata Safari and the upcoming Ford EcoSport.