The Renault Duster facelift or the 2016 Duster was unveiled at the recently concluded 2016 Auto Expo held in Greater Noida. Now, if reports are to be believed, Renault plans to launch the new Duster in the Indian market as soon as next month. The new Duster Easy R AMT would reportedly be launched by the end of March this year. The new Duster takes some styling cues from the Duster Oroch pick-up which is currently on sale in Brazil.
The new Duster would boasts of as many as 32 new features along with an all new 6 speed Easy-R Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) gearbox. Some of the new features revealed by Renault include a new front face, kayak roof rails, firefly fog lamps, waterfall LED tail lamps, hawk eye cluster headlamps, electrically adjustable and foldable ORVMs with turn Indicators, gun metal finish alloy wheels, an infotainment system, climate control, rear view camera with guidelines and cruise control with speed limiter.
There were some features that distinguish the outgoing model from the new model that was showcased at the Auto Expo. Up front, a double slat chrome grille with honeycomb inserts replaces the 3 slat chrome grille and the earlier headlight setup makes way for a hawk eye unit. On either sides, the ORVM’s get a carbon fibre vinyl which might come as an optional feature. Above the car are the kayak roof rails. The alloy wheels get a gun metal finish. Coming to the posterior, the conventional tail lamps are replaced by waterfall LED tail lamps, as the company calls them.
The company hasn’t revealed the engine specifications yet although we expect the new Duster to be powered by the same 1.5 litre diesel engine that comes in two different states of tune apart from the 1.6 litre petrol engine. Transmission duties will be taken care of by the conventional 5 speed and 6 speed manual transmissions on the petrol and diesel variants respectively while the new Easy-R AMT transmission will reportedly come only on the top end diesel variant.
The new Duster will compete against the likes of the Ford EcoSport, the Hyundai Creta and the Mahindra TUV300. One can expect a price hike in the range of Rs. 50,000-60,000 citing the new Easy-R AMT transmission apart from some new features in the car.
Following is the image gallery for the Renault Duster Easy-R AMT:
new 16 inch alloy tires and the front grille along with new headlight console make the car look more formidable