Renault Duster at Dakar Rally 2013

As the South American Dakar Rally gets off to a flying start, Dacia and Renault Dusters are in attendance. These two vehicles compete for Team Renault and have been heavily modified to tacking this ruthless rally. Over the 15 day rally which commenced from Peru and traversing over a total route of 8000 kms and 4000 kms of special stages, the Dusters will have to travel 8574 kms out of which 4155 kms will be special stage routes.

The Dusters have been adapted to tackle this demanding rally due to augmentation of machines made by Barattero Company, one of the most popular rally tuning companies in the whole of Argentina which will see Emiliano Spataro and José Garcia at the wheels. These two Duster models will be powered by a 3.5 liter V6 petrol engine offering peak power of 300 bhp. With an all wheel driver configuration, the engine assembly is mated to a six speed sequential transmission system.

Renault Duster has seen immense success ever since the SUV’s Indian auto market launch. This feature packed and technologically superior SUV enjoys the title of market leader in its segment where it is priced at Rs.7,19,000 and Rs.8,19,000 for the petrol variant while the diesel counterpart is priced at Rs.7,99,000, Rs.8,99,000 and Rs.9,99,000.