It’s probably safe to say the Duster is among the most important models for Dacia. With 197,100 units delivered around the world last year, the affordable SUV can now brag with more than 2 million cumulative sales since its original launch in 2010. In Europe alone, the Duster was the best-selling SUV on the retail market last year and Dacia’s second best-selling model overall. A new generation Duster was confirmed by the Romanian automaker just earlier this year and about a week ago, we shared the first spy photos of that vehicle. Now, thanks to our pals at Kolesa.ru, we can take an early look at the next-generation Duster.
What you see in the gallery below aren’t official renderings or images, though these digital drawings use the spy photos as a base and try to uncover all the camouflage. The first glimpse at the new Duster showed a disguised prototype already wearing its production body and lights. While not everything was visible, we got a good look at the model’s overall size and boxy shape, as well as some smaller details like the rear disc brakes and rear door handles hidden in the C-column.
The design language of the new Duster was previewed by Dacia with the Bigster concept. It will also receive a production version, which will become the marque’s first C-segment model when it hits the market sometime in 2025. It will be around 4.6 meters (181 inches) long, leaving enough distance from the new Duster to grow slightly in its dimensions and offer even more room in the cabin. The switch to Renault-Nissan Mitsubishi’s CMF-B architecture should also bring improvements in terms of packaging, making the new Duster more practical than the outgoing model.
Speaking of the new underpinnings, the CMF-B platform, which is currently used by several other models from Renault, Nissan, and Mitsubishi, will allow Dacia to finally put a hybrid powertrain under the hood of the Duster. A hybrid engine without a plug shared with the Jogger wagon could probably be considered a given at this point, while, hopefully, a plug-in system is also on its way. It’s too early to tell whether Dacia will sell the new Duster with a diesel engine, though.
We should probably see the new Duster in its full glory towards the end of this year with sales likely to begin in early 2024. Until that moment arrives, however, we expect dozens of spy photos, so stay tuned.
