Renault will soon be launching the Duster with a new 1.3L turbo-petrol engine in August which has the best-in-class numbers in terms of engine output, more powerful than Creta, Seltos and Hector.
Renault had showcased the Duster compact SUV with a new 1.3L turbo-petrol engine at the 2020 Auto Expo and now, we have finally come to know about the launch timeline of the Duster with this new engine. According to a report by carandbike, Renault will be launching the Duster with the new 1.3L turbo-petrol engine towards the end of August 2020. However, given the coronavirus scare and the uncertainty around it, the company is yet to decide on a particular launch date in August.
This new 1.3L turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine produces 153 bhp and develops 250 Nm of peak torque. This engine will come mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox as standard but there will also be option of a CVT automatic transmission. Incidentally, the same engine is also offered on the BS6 Nissan Kicks in the same spec of tune. The Kicks is already on sale with this 1.3L turbo-petrol engine for a couple of months now and it is actually the cheapest of the lot in this range of turbo-petrol SUVs like the Hyundai Creta, the Kia Seltos and the MG Hector.
It also worth pointing out that the 1.3L turbo-petrol engine is also the most powerful of the lot. The 1.4L turbo-petrol engines in the Creta and Seltos produce 140 bhp while the 1.5L turbo-petrol engine in the Hector produces 143 bhp. The Duster will be more powerful and torque-ey than all of them which should really spice things up for Renault. The Duster has always been a very popular SUV and such class leading numbers should further help its case. As for the CVT gearbox, it is expected to be a 7-step unit, as is the case in the Nissan Kicks.
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Apart from this new 1.3L turbo-petrol engine, Renault will continue offering the 1.5L, naturally aspirated, four-cylinder engine on the Duster. This engine produces 104 bhp and 142 Nm of peak torque and it comes mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox as standard. In the Nissan Kicks, the turbo-petrol engine is offered only on the mid-spec and top-spec variants and we expect the same treatment to be meted out to the Duster as well.
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The Duster turbo-petrol, as was shown at the Auto Expo, did have some differentiating styling elements from the standard Duster. This includes red accents on the grille and the foglamp housing and there were new alloy-wheel designs as well. The Duster 1.3 Turbo at the Auto Expo was also wearing less cladding at the rear and the Duster lettering on the revised roof tails and tail gate also were finished in red. We expect these differentiating elements to be offered on the final product as well including some red accents on the interior. Other styling elements and features on the interiors will remain unchanged from the standard Duster.
