When launched, India-spec Renault Duster will take on Creta, Seltos, Grand Vitara, Hyryder, Astor, Elevate, Kushaq, Taigun, and the likes
India has enjoyed an enduring connection with the Renault Duster. Thanks to its sturdy and resilient foundation, the Duster became an immediate favourite in India. Although it’s now discontinued in the country, a new version of the Duster has been unveiled globally. India will also get the new gen Duster, which has been teased recently.
India-Spec Renault Duster Rendered
The new 2025 Duster has debuted globally as both Renault and Dacia offering. There will be an Indian-ised version for us along with a Nissan counterpart, as teased by the company recently. Based on these teasers, rendering artist Pratyush Rout penned down our version of Duster with slight design changes as opposed to the global model.
First thing you’ll notice is the missing RENAULT lettering on the grill along with a unique LED DRL signature than global Duster. Headlights and DRLs are still in the same housing in the old-school, or rather, conventional way. Upper grill on our render is slightly taller, making the headlight taller too.
We should expect a triple barrel LED reflector setup, just like with the global model. Bumper is vastly different on our render, in keeping with recent teasers. For starters, we don’t get fog lights with the 2025 Renault Duster India-Spec Render, while the global model gets them. Renault Kiger doesn’t get fog lights either.
The bull-bar-like silver plastic element on global model is much less substantial with Indian model. Our render shows a silver-finished lower bumper element that will be advertised as a faux skid plate. On the global model, there were two vertical slats in the bumper and those are different on the Indian Duster.
These changes on the India-spec model don’t take away Duster’s butchness and massive road presence. Contributing in that regard are muscular creases on the flat-ish bonnet, boxy silhouette, squared-off wheel arches, chunky wheel arch claddings, wide rear haunches, fat tyres (probably 225-section), flared front fenders and functional roof rails among others.
An instant hit with the Indian audience?
Wheels will be unique to Indian offerings and our render sports quite swanky-looking units that are 17-inchers. Where powertrains are concerned, base variants could feature the same 99 bhp 1.0L Turbo Petrol unit on Kiger and Magnite, while higher trims might sport larger motors. Hybrid powertrains and AWD options are likely too.
If the term “jack of all trades” had a face in the Indian compact SUV realm, it has to be the now-discontinued Renault Duster. It was good in many aspects and for that proposition, automotive purists forgave the lack of features. Good suspension? Check. Good engine, low running costs, robust underpinnings, great drive and handling, mild off-roading with AWD? Check, checkity check!
Duster is the one that sparked the compact SUV segment in India that now has nine active contenders and two upcoming. Even though we don’t know exactly when, Duster is coming back and will set the segment on fire. Buyer trends are highly likely to be positive.
