[CarML]

Back in 2015, I bought the Duster (85 PS) based on advice from a close friend who was a Duster owner himself. I didn't explore multiple cars before finalizing because I was bowled over after having test driven the Duster.
I have had a great time with the car and it's going strong. It is disheartening to see this once iconic name being discontinued in India. I hope Renault comes back with a bang in 2023 with a product that is built for the modern times that we live in.
Just wondering about the impact on used car market. Do BHPians feel that demand for pre-worshipped Dusters would go up?

[shashi792]

We have a Duster AMT 110 PS and 70K km. While we have changed multiple cars in our garage, Duster is for sure one which we have a hard time replacing. After you enjoy all the features (sunroof, panoramic roof, android auto, MID, etc...) provided by other cars from our stable, my family members still say that nothing comes close to our Duster's ride quality.

[xjosephjacob]

Finding a blue ocean is one thing, however consistently looking for bluer waters and swimming towards it separates winners from losers in business.

The Duster by design was (and is) always utilitarian and functional over form- the second generation too. In my opinion over 90% of the Indian Duster buyers didn't buy Duster for the magic carpet ride, or the handling or the abuse friendly nature. If that was the case, it would still have sold like hot cakes as the technically 12 year old workhorse is still head and shoulders above the competition in these aspects.

There was nothing like it in the Indian market when it was launched in late 2012, and it had a free run all the way till late 2015. Duster had that aspirational SUV looks, enough ground clearance to navigate the broken roads, delivered consistently high fuel economy numbers, was powerful too, all at the price of a sedan- things that most buyers look forwarded to. Then came the Koreans, matching the Duster on the attributes people loved and on top of it, trumped the Duster on features and refinement and ruled the segment like a champion.

Don't know what made Renault sell a 2010 model till 2022. I don't think the second generation Duster would have revived Duster's fortunes in India either- in light of the modern looking pseudo SUV's from competition, armed with you know what. I'm sure Renault knew that 2nd gen Duster doesn't cater to the market demand, at the price point they built the brand on. The product-market fit just isn't there anymore for what Duster stands for.

So long mate- I'm sure the nameplate will return in a modern avatar very soon.

[Tgo]

As an owner of two Dusters, I have though a lot about what led to this. It seems to hold true for the Nissan brand too, which is a part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance.

Their strategy for India was promising, and began with premium offerings (Teana, X-Trail, Koleos, Fluence) establishing the brands and their credentials with a plan to bring in more affordable products for the mass market. Sunny, Micra, and Evalia under the Nissan brand followed by the Duster under the Renault brand. This was the second phase which was short lived but the products had their unique identities.

They probably had slower roll-out of their product release strategy. There were competitors working on products which were in tune to the market demand. We had the Verna, Vento, Creta, Ecosport which brought in a whole new perspective for a regular car buyer. Not only were these products new, they opened up new segments, brought in incredible features and aspirational value. Kudos to these guys for the effort they put into developing these products.

The alliance probably realized it late that the products they chose for India, might have been low cost in the markets they existed in globally... probably easy to pull off in India. These models were all end of life products which never were considered for an update strategy hence they never saw features that enabled them to compete. I also suspect, they shifted production of these end of life products to India and never achieved a production run required to break even. Since production was shifted as-is from other countries, these products never had the level of localization required to price spares competitively.

It was around this time they thought of revamping their strategy for India and decided to develop fresh low-cost models which have no legacy and point of comparison with the global market. In my opinion this was a great plan which eventually worked out but it also gave rise to so many changes which questioned the brand's commitment and direction.

A great article which leads into the next one I share.

A challenge was given by Carlos Ghosn to both Renault and Nissan to design an affordable car, able to compete in the A class, an entry car in most regions. In many parts of the world, this is the highest volume segment. The cars often are on very old platforms to keep the price down. The way to enter the market usually is to ‘do new with old’ -- don’t spend a lot of money, manage with what you can find, old technology in slightly newer clothes.

This article did the rounds after the Kwid and RediGo were a success, but it is mostly here, where it fits into the timeline. It also shows the core values the alliance had to work on building for its plan for India. An exercise which shows promising results and is going to stick around and influence the products and the market segment they target for the future.

For 20 years, Frenchman Gerard Detourbet has disrupted the industry with cars at prices thought impossible to achieve. He scared Europe’s automakers with his half-priced Dacia cars. He cut the price in half again with the $4,100 Renault Kwid, and the $3,700 redi-GO, cars that put the Renault-Nissan Alliance firmly on the map of future growth market India.

My first objective is cost, and I start production only when I can achieve the cost. For the content, I put in the car what the customer is ready to pay for, not more.

Renault-Nissan is willing to listen to our thoughts,” told me Srinivas Reddy, Senior Vice President of Motherson Automotive & Engineering, a company that makes most plastic parts of the Kwid and Redi-Go. “Normally, an OEM comes with their fixed global spec, and asks for a quote. Renault-Nissan is a company that questions whether this spec is required in India or not. Renault is willing to listen to us.

Now comes the futile effort phase.

Since new products do not come up overnight while they were working on it secretly, they were struggling to stay relevant.

• Sunny, Micra and Duster were rebadged to Scala, Pulse and Terrano confusing the customers and the respective brand's unique identifiers.
• X-Trail, Fluence, Koleos which had established the image of these brands were axed rather abruptly.
• Evalia was licensed off to Ashok Leyland to test the waters. More to figure out whether royalty earrings from licensing out a platform could work out.
• Now they needed a sacrificial goat to gauge the reception of their low-cost product strategy. They revive the Datsun brand (specifically for India and only for this purpose) with one model Go, its impractical 7 seater the Go+.
• Captur was an experiment to lure-in the customer through glamorizing the product which failed miserably due to misleading marketing that Team-BHP caught onto. Kicks held on mostly due to being placed in the less popular brand and therefore out of visibility. Both were fundamentally, the Duster, for people who thought the Duster was old.
• BS6 norms became the pretext under which they could justify their move towards petrol-only powertrains. Their newer offerings were never designed to take in a diesel engine so they found it better to axe the single model which needed it.
• 5th, 6th & 7th year warranties were launched around that time. The Duster had a brief run with Petrol only lineup and the Zoe was showcased somewhere only to establish prudence.

To conclude: The Duster clicked initially but survived only to prove Renault's long term commitment to its customers and market the newer offerings (Kwid, Triber and Magnite) to customers who had valid reasons to keep away.



I sincerely hope that the people who owned it, used it to its full potential, loved it for its strengths, made some great memories and move on... The Duster doesn't seem to be coming back anytime soon.

Disclaimer: This is an independent opinion based on un-verified facts.

[Contrapunto]

Originally Posted by Livnletcarsliv

Duster was the inception of the mid-size SUV segment in India. And with the earlier AWD option, 1.5 diesel, driving dynamics, and performance, Duster literally ruled the market like no one and was one solid and capable SUV.

Even though Duster was doing exceptionally good, I wonder why Renault did not bring the 2nd and eventually the 3rd gen to India. Pity those AWD SUV enthusiasts like me. And now they have pulled the plug.

.

I always wondered about these mysterious strategic decisions that auto managements take. With a success in their hands, you would expect them to double down on it. Instead they sleep over it till the opportunity fizzles away......there may be some logic, but it escapes me. Maybe some automobile industry insiders in this forum can provide clarity

[GreasyCarb55]

First the EcoSport and now the Duster, both cars that kick started the now ridiculously popular Mid Size SUV segment in the country are now dead.

The fact it still sold in respectable numbers despite the newer Korean competition speaks praises of how trusted and well established the Duster brand is in India.

The UK/EU got the second gen Duster in 2017, Brazil in 2020 and Russia in 2021, let's hope it makes it to our shores in late 2022/early 2023.

A second gen Duster with AWD, the 1.3 Turbo Petrol from the Kicks and an updated K9K Diesel mated to 6 speed TC/Manual would sell like hot cakes and would no doubt steal sales from the more expensive Koreans as well as the S-Cross and Urban Cruiser/Brezza.

Now let's just hope some of Renault's top executives read TeamBHP Threads like this one

[jithin23]

I still remember back in 2013-14, the fight was head on between the Duster and EcoSport. Though the Duster was expensive by a couple of Lakhs, the ride quality still remains unbeatable. The AWD took it to a next level. Sadly, in it's sunset years, Renault never corrected the price, axed the DCi engine which was it's bread and butter nor brought in the new gen which was relevant in today's times. Yet again, we lose another gem which was a pioneer of its segment

Goodbye Duster! :(

[RGK]

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[PapaBravo]

Farewell, my Friend. Unfortunately, Renault did not harness your potential.

Buying HULK (my Duster) has by far been the best decision I would have made. It has taken me to every nook & corner of the country. It has always been comfortable, be it a 1500km marathon or one of the most treacherous roads like Sandakphu. There is no trail in the Himalayas where I felt that the HULK could not go.

Hope Renault to get the new generation model soon.

Some memories.

[ambabu]

A sad day indeed for this iconic model in India. The pioneer of the compact-SUV segment in India, Duster has never failed to please you with its carpet ride quality and sturdy nature, even though the interior was always a bit of a compromise. I am a proud owner of a 2015 110 PS diesel duster (regret not buying the AWD variant to this day). One can only hope that this retreat is temporary and this legend will come back with a bang (But I reckon it'll be a tough bargain for Renault India to convince its global leaders with the current sales numbers in India).

On a related note, I have been receiving some calls from my dealer inquiring about if I am planning to exchange my duster with the new turbo petrol one. It could be related to the low sales figures or clearing the lot or Is my dealer forecasting the higher demands the diesel one might have in the pre-worshipped car market?

[VJ05]

Renault really messed up big time with Duster. They had the product in the arsenal. The segment was hot - Creta and Seltos are selling like hotcakes and what they did with Duster was outrageous. They could have launched 2nd & 3rd gen Duster here and it would have been worthy competitors to the Korean twins. There's a market for Butch mid-size SUV's in 10-15 L price bracket and Duster would have filled the gap nicely.

[Livnletcarsliv]

Originally Posted by Contrapunto

I always wondered about these mysterious strategic decisions that auto managements take. With a success in their hands, you would expect them to double down on it. Instead they sleep over it till the opportunity fizzles away......there may be some logic, but it escapes me. Maybe some automobile industry insiders in this forum can provide clarity

Either make good money or quench the SUV enthusiast's thirst (by serving a niche market) or do both. Well, the Duster was able to do both. I don't understand what these OEM's/Management people are up to?

[revved_up]

Have owned a Duster AWD and driven more than 1 lakh kms. It sure did have its share of niggles but i would still rate it as the most complete car i ever owned till date.

Ironical that, I am also going to bid goodbye to my steed in the next few days!

Have alot of fond memories with it!

[Atul Kolekar]

I still own an AWD 110ps Diesel and love the car despite all its shortcomings in light of modern offerings by brand like Hyundai. Have had suffered multiple Injector failures and recently saw the dreaded Check Engine Light.

What I fail to understand is why a Company like Renault couldn't figure out the reason behind such a vital components failure and their attitude towards problem in general.

First you build a Brand as legendary as Duster and then ignore it to wrought away...

[Rada]

I was one of the first in my city to take delivery of the Renault Duster, way back in September 2012. It continues to be my first car and I have nothing but good memories of this reliable, roomy and affordable 5-seater SUV. As others have pointed out, Duster started the compact SUV revolution in India but was sadly overtaken by genuine rivals like the Ford EcoSport and wannabes like the Hyundai Creta.

As Renault pulls the plug on Duster in India, I too, sadly and reluctantly, have to bid goodbye to my decade-old companion. While test-driving other vehicles as a possible replacement for the Duster, I found there was no vehicle even in the 20-25L bracket, as roomy as the Duster. This is true, not only for the front seats but also the rear, which can seat three full-size adults in absolute comfort. You have to only take a test drive of the Kushaq, Taigun, Astor or one of the Korean twins to know what I mean.

I would have gladly replaced my existing Duster with a new one, if only Renault had upgraded the interiors and other convenience features to keep up with the times. But this was not to be and finally for an owner like me, the compromises became more and more difficult to justify.

I have finally opted for the MG ZS EV, with delivery expected within the next few months. What I will be sacrificing the most will be the sheer feeling of space inside the cabin, I know. But the only consolation will be that it will be an EV and my cost per km will be around 20% of what others will be shelling out for their equivalent petrol/diesel SUV-s of the same segment.

I will miss my Duster though.