Renault Duster appears online- To hit the Indian roads on 4th July, 2012

The first look of the much awaited Renault Duster in India appeared on Renault’s official Indian website, bringing many speculations about the car to an end. The dashing SUV from the French automobile giant Renault is set to be launched on 4 July 2012. The bookings for this car have already started a few weeks earlier and buyers can do their bookings by paying Rs 51,000.

Although the car was displayed at the Auto expo in January, the details were not clear at that time. Various rumours regarding the powertrain, price and launch date were doing rounds.

Renault, the French auto maker had earlier announced that five passenger vehicles from the company will hit the road by the end of 2012; of these, Renault has already rolled out three cars in the market, namely- Fluence, Koleos and Pulse and now the countdown for Duster to break covers has just begun. Renault Duster comes under the Dacia badging in the global market. However, it would be launched under the name Renault Duster in India.

Duster, a five-seater car, is generated on the B0 platform and has an overall length of 4.3 metres. The car would be available in three trims and would come with two powertrain options- 104 bhp 1.6-Litre petrol and a 105 bhp 1.5 litre K9K diesel with 85 and 110PS power options. The 1.5 Litre diesel powertrain would be adorned with a 6-speed manual transmission gearbox, whereas the petrol variant would come mated with a 5- speed transmission gearbox. Duster will be fitted with disc brakes at the front while the rear would have drums and would run on 16 inch alloy wheels. The car has the capacity to reach 0-60kph in just 5 seconds and 0-100kph in 12.2 seconds. The SUV will be priced between Rs 7 Lacs and Rs 10 Lacs.

Amidst uncertainty in fuel prices and high interest rates, it would be good to see how the Duster performs in the already ailing auto market of the country. The recent reports show that the number of unsold cars in the inventories has piled up and the growth of the car market has showed a disturbing pace in the month of May, the slowest in the last seven months. The data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) shows the sales figures in May to be 1,63,229 units against 1,58,809 units during the same period last year (2011). Judging by the statistics, it is worth the wait to see whether Renault Duster would succeed in making its mark in the Indian auto market at a time when the confidence of the buyers is low.