We have received accounts from two readers of a small camouflaged SUV testing on the GST road in Chennai over the last few weeks. The GST road leads to the Renault-Nissan JV plant at Oragadam and the same stretch is where Mahindra City is located. Indian Nissan engineers report to work there.
Our first witness Ramesh has a keen eye for imported SUV’s. He is certain that the model tested is the Dacia/Renault Duster. Ramesh spent two months last year working in Romania and has seen plenty of Dusters being transported from Dacia’s Mioveni manufacturing plant. Ramesh says he’s also seen the Mahindra W201 (World SUV) umpteen number of times on the GST road.
Our second reader Adarsh follows the international auto scene with great interest. He fell in love with the car since day the Duster concept was unveiled. Much like James May then.
Adarsh says the Duster could be manufactured at the Oragadam facility in 2012 and there could even be an export plan on the cards for this 8 lakh rupee SUV touted to arrive with a 1.5-liter dCI engine from the Micra.
The power output could be 86PS and torque should be around the 200Nm mark as fuel economy takes precedence over power in an eight lakh rupee car.
Renault could offer this car only in the 4×2 format initially, and the gauged response could make way for a more powerful 4X4 variant.
Dacia Duster Promotional Video
Have you spotted the Duster mule in and around Chennai? Then contact me at notjustshrawan (At) gmail.com
this is the real cheetah not the Mahindra’s XUV500
love it. wish it is priced below 9L with a rich interior, i would definitely buy it. May be at later time, Renault should also think about giving existing customers of duster an upgrade option with minimal charges if possible!
I dont think Duster will be launched in India, the Image in the Renault website is close to Sandero Stepway. It is a 4 metre SUV and I am thinking Renault might bring it here. So my guess is it will not be the Duster but it will be teh Stepway that will be launched in India.
No Vijay, Renault India has confirmed the Duster for 2012. Details from a recent Renault India press conference can be found here – http://indianautosblog.com/2011/06/renault-duster-for-india
[...] this year, IAB reported of sightings of a mysterious SUV testing near Mahindra City, Chennai. The Duster is a compact SUV based on the Logan platform. [...]
[...] six types of cars in the next five years. These could be the Koleos (Crossover), Fluence (Sedan), Duster (mini SUV), V-Platform sedan and hatchback derivatives and the mini car on the lines of the Maruti [...]
looks like a decent SUV at a decent price (assuming it will be around 8 lacs)
Well said Shrawan … If it comes for 8-10 lambs beaker, definitely this would be a poor man’s X1. It would fulfill the buyers who is looking for a small SUV other than Scorpio.
Will it be cost 8 lakhs? Are you sure? Even if it is 10 lakhs worth to buy..!! Eager to see more details….
If this comes under 10 Lac, I would be the first one in my state to buy this……
The agreement between Renault and Mahindra ends in 3 months, getting the logan license Mahindra .
http://daciahispania.blogspot.com/2011/01/el-logan-indio-sera-sustituido-por-un.html
http://www.automarket.ro/stiri/renault-nu-va-mai-vinde-logan-in-india-din-aprilie-35871.html
It’s really not an hi-fi product which meets the requirement of an real Indian customer. Low cost, higher ground clearance, a deisel efficacy to run, cheaper maintainance….what else commonly we Indians look at…?
@Prady – Yes, this will be the cheaper alternative to the Scorpio. It was built for Brazil, India, China and Russia. It’s like an inexpensive X1. Poor man’s X1 I can also say.
Interesting…future.