Will Renault Duster live up to the expectations of the Indian car buyers?

The grand Auto Expo in January 2012 witnessed the announcement of a compact new SUV Duster from the French auto marque, Renault and since then, speculations about the new car have not stopped till date. Now that the model has been finally launched, it remains to be seen whether the novel offering from the arsenals of Renault succeeds to live up to its expectations.

Renault Duster launched in India at an extremely exciting price of Rs. 7.19 lakhs

To keep the imagination of auto aficionados soaring, Renault’s Senior Vice-President, Global Marketing and Communications, Mr Stephen Norman, commented that the launch of the Duster was “undoubtedly the most important event in India and also the most important at least for the next two years”. The Chief Operating Officer of Renault, Mr Carlos Tavares, added, “We have the capability to create a good surprise — not a fantastic surprise, but a good surprise. You will not be disappointed for sure.”

As the Renault official website quotes, the Renault Duster will be:

· Big on comfort and safety

· Beautiful inside out

· Efficient on fuel economy and performance

The pricing of the vehicle is a major attraction as this would possibly be the smartest model in the price range of Rs. 8-12 lacs. According to the senior officials of the company, Duster is going to be a good looking, robust, modern and fully loaded SUV in a competitive price range. While it is anticipated to square off with the new XUV 500, there are not many competitors for the debutant baby SUV in the Indian auto market.

After reigning over Europe and South America, Renault plans to take over the reins in India and Russia with optimised new models. The auto-giant has not tasted much success in India; its last offering Logan failed to create storm in the entry sedan segment. Taking lesson from the failure, the car maker seems to have put in lots of strategy and research in the designing of Duster. If the hype replicates into reality, the compact SUV will definitely act as a trend-setter for the segment of compact utility vehicles.