Renault and Nissan are set to put their 24-year-old partnership back on its feet with a new agreement later this year.
The Renault-Nissan Group has revealed future possibilities for the Indian market in its latest brand strategy announcement for global markets. It has been a long time since we saw new launches from both carmakers.
We’ll explain to you all the details about the new products headed our way.
About Renault-Nissan’s New Alliance
The automakers are preparing to bring in fresh investments for their alliance. They have come up with a deal restructuring their partnership where both the carmakers will have an equal amount of shareholding. Nissan is also investing in Renault’s new electric vehicle unit – Ampere.
Renault-Nissan has outlined its future product roadmap for India and reportedly plans to roll out three new models. A huge investment of Rs 4,000 crore (USD 500 million) is said to support this new India product plan. Both Renault and Nissan will work on shared models for India which will also include a pair of new compact SUVs shared by both carmakers.
The compact SUVs in this case could be the new generation of the Renault Duster that was on sale in India for almost a decade.
New-Gen Duster
The carmakers will work on a new generation of the legendary Duster SUV that was discontinued last year. This iteration will be heavily localized and will come with new styling and new features. Renault is planning to bring back the SUV to India sometime between the year 2024-2025.
Platform – The new-gen Duster will be built on the brand’s international CMF-B modular platform. Additionally, the CMF-B also features an electric variant known as the CMF-B EV architecture. The CMF-B EV platform will help Renault-Nissan to locally manufacture electric vehicles in the future as the platform supports both EV and hybrid powertrains.
The automakers will make sure that the platform is made future-proof by aligning it with the current and emerging industry safety protocols. The upcoming Renault Duster will be based on Dacia’s Bigster concept, which debuted in early 2021. As earlier, Nissan will also spawn its rebadged version of the Duster with cosmetic changes to the car’s exterior as well as interior.
Powertrain – The third-generation Duster is expected to offer a strong-hybrid powertrain along with a petrol-only unit. Although there will be no diesel on offer as the whole Renault-Nissan Group had pulled the plug on its diesel motors back in 2020. Since Nissan’s counterpart is expected to remain mechanically unchanged, it will also be equipped with the same powertrain as that of the Renault Duster.