Renault India Starts Duster Exports To The UK

by Faisal Ali Khan

December 13th, 2012 9:29 AM

renault india starts duster exports to the uk

Since ages, India has been receiving cars from UK manufacturers (MINI, Rolls-Royce, Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley, etc) and it’s now time to return the favour. Renault has commenced exports of the Duster compact SUV to the UK markets. This entry level vehicle is manufactured at Renault-Nissan’s India facility in Chennai. The Duster is badged as a Dacia for the UK and is very similar to the one sold in India. The Duster is a massive hit in India, selling more than 5,000 units per month, which is more than 6 times that of the second best selling car (Scala, which is a re-badged Nissan Sunny) in Renault India’s portfolio.

The UK spec Dacia Duster is offered with a 1.6-liter gasoline engine which produces 105 HP of power (148 Nm) and uses a front-wheel drive layout. There is only one gasoline version on offer, which is the entry level, bare basic model. The diesel Duster is powered by a 1.5-liter dCi engine which belts out 110 HP of power (240 Nm). There are 4 variants offered in the UK market in two trim levels. The diesel powered Duster is offered in both 4×2 and 4×4 options. Currently Renault doesn’t offer the 4×4 variant of the Duster in India and plans to launch it to counter the upcoming Ford EcoSport. The Dacia Duster is priced between £8,995 and £14,995.

Faisal Ali Khan is the editor of MotorBeam.com, a website covering the automobile industry of India.

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6 comments

Mike978 on Dec 13, 2012

Thanks for the article, I hadn`t realised the cars were imported from India. I had thought they came from Eastern Europe since Dacia is Romanian in origin. I had read that over 20% of the Sandero sales were of the base rock bottom priced model. I suspect the same will occur with this model since the GBP8995 undercuts every crossover in the market by a huge amount.

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- Faisal Ali Khan on Dec 13, 2012
  
  Mike, yes the base variant will work well. Dacia does make some good low cost cars. As far as imports from India go, Renault-Nissan have setup Indian facility with export market in mind.
  
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- Carrera on Dec 13, 2012
  
  Dacia is the Romanian brand which started to make cars under licence from Renault in 1968. I think all the Dacia branded cars are made in Romania. The other models which are made in Morocco, Russia, India..etc are probably not Dacia, but maintain the model name ( Sandero, Logan, Duster). I could also be totally wrong though. "Dacia" is the ancient name of what is now known as the modern Romania. I think the name was given before the Roman invasion of "Dacia" in the years 100-102 AD.
  
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- Adrian Roman on Dec 14, 2012
  
  @Carrera "I think all the Dacia branded cars are made in Romania. The other models which are made in Morocco, Russia, India..etc are probably not Dacia, but maintain the model name ( Sandero, Logan, Duster). I could also be totally wrong though." You're just partly wrong. All models built for the European market are branded Dacia (which means everything built in Romania and Morocco, plus the UK bound Duster assembled in India). Everywhere else in the world they are branded as Renaults. Also, good explanation on the name Dacia. Here's the breakdown of models: The models manufactured in Romania for the European market (except Russia) are all branded Dacia (the 2nd gen Logan and Sandero, plus Duster). This includes the Sandero for UK The models manufactured in Morocco (Lodgy MPV and the derived Dokker van) are also branded Dacia, and built for the European market. The 1st gen Logan and Sandero plus Duster built in Brazil, Colombia and Iran (only Logan) are branded as Renaults, just like the Duster built in Russia. The 1st gen Logan station wagon and derived van are since a few months built in Russia as Lada Largus. The 1st gen Logan built in India is called Mahindra Verito. The new generation Renault Symbol is just a 2nd gen Logan with a Renault badge, to be sold in Turkey and north Africa. Ultimately, it's all about brand image, apart from the badges and radiator grille, they are identical.
  
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W.Minter on Dec 13, 2012

In the EU Nissan Pixo, Micra and Suzuki Alto are already India imports, AFAIK.

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- Faisal Ali Khan on Dec 14, 2012
  
  Yup, the Alto and Pixo are made in the same factory by Maruti Suzuki India.
  
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