Our Brazilian friends can now enjoy the Renault Duster in automatic avatar

21/11/2012 - 13:43 | ,   | Kaustubh Shinde

The Renault Duster has been breaking sales records in India since the day it was launched.

Renault Duster AutomaticRenault Duster Automatic gearbox

It is easily the most successful product delivered to the Indian shores from the French automaker and it helped the Lozange sell more cars than Volkswagen, Chevrolet, Skoda and Nissan last month.

However, we have received a number of requests for more details on the Renault Duster Automatic variant.

Renault India has made amply clear that they have no plans to launch the automatic variant for the Duster in India anytime soon. It is very difficult to question Renault India’s decision because right now the automaker is even struggling to meet the demand for the manual variant. Launching an automatic variant in this situation would only increase the waiting times.

Renault Duster Tech Road 2013 front viewRenault Duster Tech Road 2013 rear view

However, the Duster’s success may be ticking away as Ford is prepping the EcoSport for a pan India debut in early 2013. If these spy shots are to be believed, Ford is testing a PowerShift variant of the EcoSport for India. The PowerShift gearbox is Ford’s cheapest double clutch automatic gearbox which debuted on the new Fiesta.

This conveniently bring us to our Brazilian friends who have been enjoying the Renault Duster in an automatic avatar for quite some time now. In Brazil, you can opt in for a Renault Duster powered by a 2.0L flex fuel engine mated to a four-speed automatic gearbox sending power to the front wheels. Brazilian media driving reports indicate that the Duster's torque converter AT box may not be a highly advanced double clutch setup but it does its job decently.

So when Ford India does launch the EcoSport with a PowerShift transmission, do you think Renault should retailed with a Duster AT? Which of the two companies is going to pair the AT to a diesel motor first?

[Images sourced from Car.blog.br]

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