New faced Renault Duster slated for reveal in April

"Cars that are Renault derivatives of Dacias, I want that to stop".

Renault Duster

Marking four years in production this year, Renault owned Dacia will reportedly introduce a revised version of the second generation Duster in April as part of an extensive mid-life refresh.

According to France’s L’ Automobile Magazine, the covers will come off towards the end of the month in question with styling reportedly from the all-new Sandero that debuted last year. Allegedly, the update will also be the last major refresh as production is expected to end in 2024 in reported preparation for the production version of the Bigster Concept out the following year.

Despite details being unknown at present, the Duster, according to the publication, is set to receive a new dashboard and infotainment system inside, as well as revised petrol and diesel engines in order to meet Euro 6.d emissions regulations. It will however continue to have the option of four-wheel-drive and also see the EDC dual-clutch gearbox.

The arrival of the facelift Duster could also be the last hurrah for the Dacia nameplate on the model after French website, caradisiac.com, reported in 2018 that Renault had decided to stop rebadging it under both marques in certain markets as a way of distinguishing the Dacia marque from its parent. Platform and parts sharing will continue but the exercise of badge engineering would cease.

In an interview with Automotive News Europe months later, Renault Chief Designer Laurens van den Acker confirmed that the Duster would indeed be the last model to carry both Renault and Dacia badges, before telling Britain’s Autocar not long after that the decision would be to the benefit of both in order for Renault to move upmarket and Dacia to focus on affordability with its own unique identity.

“Cars that are Renault derivatives of Dacias, I want that to stop. I can’t argue with the business sense to do it, because Renaults were expensive for some markets and Dacias were relatively modern cars that were reliable and affordable, so we rebadged them. It helped us gain a foot in those markets. But now we start to sell more cars in markets such as Russia, we will start to differentiate,” van den Acker said.

Once revealed, expect the facelift Duster to arrive on local shores either towards the end of this year or possibly in 2022 with a line-up of unchanged drivetrains.

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