Dacia Duster

Dacia takes into consideration the suggestions of the European public and will offer a new petrol engine, more powerful than the 1.6 with 16 valve unit, found today. The new engine version will be available only for export, and will not be sold in Romania.

It is a unit with four-cylinder, 2.0 liter, capable of developing 140 horsepower, whose production has already started. The production of the four-cylinder unit comes after last year, Automobile Dacia, has invested 1.4 million euro in developing a new engine block, for a new family of engines. The Dacia officials confirmed that since last year in Pitesti will be produced a new generation of Euro 5 engines available for the models designed within the Renault-Nissan group.

Dacia Duster is is appreciated in France, where the Romanian SUV climbed in April to the sixth position in the top selling models. The Duster – with 5328 units sold – continues the success of last year recorded by Sandero, which was in one month on the first place in sales.

The first three places in the sales market in France was occupied by the "classical" Peugeot 207, Renault Clio and Renault Megane, while on the nest positions were Renault Megane, Peugeot 308 and Dacia Duster. Very interesting is that, apart from the Duster, all models decreased in sales compared with April last year. The largest decrease was recorded by Clio, with 35% compared with same month of 2010.

Car sales in France – April 2011

1. Peugeot 207 – 7917 units

2. Renault Clio – 7454 units

3. Renault Megane – 6439 units

4. Renault Scenic – 5553 units

5. Peugeot 308 – 5455 units

6. Dacia Duster – 5328 units

Dacia Duster seeks to make the Duster an attractive model for the French skiers, even though the season is almost ended. The Romanian car manufacturer and its French division launched a special edition of the SUV, dedicated to the French Ski School. More specifically, the Romanian model  will be bought by the ski instructors affiliated  to the organization, which makes the ESF (Ecole de Ski Francaise) special edition an exclusive one.

The Duster ESF special edition is based on the 110 HP Euro 5 diesel version, all-wheel drive and Winner trim level. To all these are added the ESF logo, found on the body, the rubber mats, an aluminum shield for the engine and mooring rooftop bar, able to bear four pairs of skis. The exterior will will be painted in Platinum Grey metallic, which costs 450 euros. The final price of the ESF special edition will be 18,990 euros all taxes included.

Special Edition of the Duster comes with a set of Glacier White color boots, especially for the ski instructors. Dacia has not announced whether the ESF special edition will be available to the public.

Dacia Duster is the new official car of the Gopo Awards. Six Duster units will bring the  Romanian movie stars on the red carpet. Also, Dacia will present this year, the award for Best Director. Automobile Dacia is a partner for Gopo Awards since 2008, and Duster is the official car of the event for the second consecutive year.

"The association between Dacia and the Gopo Awards comes naturally as the Duster, the official car of the Romanian movie awards, is a winner in the automotive field, " said Jérôme Olive, the General Director of Automobile Dacia.

"We are extremely proud of the collaboration of two successful local brands. The Gopo Awards Gala, has become one of the most important annual cultural events and is also the most important recognition that the Romanian filmmakers receive home. The Gopo Awards would not be where are now without a strong partner such as Dacia, "said Tudor Giurgiu, the president of the Association for Promoting Romanian film.

Dacia announced the introduction of a new version of the Romanian SUV. The Duster can be ordered now with the 1.5 dCi diesel engine and 90 HP, that is the evolved old 85 HP engine with four-wheel drive system.
The new Duster dCi unit is available from the beginning of the year, when Dacia replaced the Euro 4 with Euro 5 engine. The price of the new Duster Ambiance version with an 1.5 dCi engine, 90 HP and 4×4, starts at 15,050 euros.
Dacia has updated the list of prices for Duster in Romania. The basic version of Duster has become more expensive with 200 euros and has a price of 11,150 euros including VAT. The top version of Duster, the Ambiance, with 1.5 dCi engine, 110 HP and 4×4, now costs 16,600 euros.

While in past years Dacia stand at the Geneva Motor Show was besieged by journalists, the 81st edition of the prestigious event was marked by calm in the Romanian car manufacturer stand. The main reason behind the low number of visitors was the fact that Dacia showed no novelty in this showroom. The car manufacturer from Pitesti preferred to focus its efforts on developing new models rather than creating futuristic concepts with weak chances on going into production.

Dacia presented at the Geneva Motor Show the competing version of Duster, used in the Aicha des Gazelles Rally, accompanied by a slightly aesthetic modified version of the Duster. More specifically, it was a white Duster with front and back black bumpers, side skirts, black mirror cases and a set of black alloy wheels, that look promising.

The European organization EuroNCAP has tested the Romanian SUV. As expected the Duster has achieved three stars and the EuroNCAP engineers said that the model is "not very impressive" and that they expected more since the Dacia is part of the Renault Group.

Dacia Duster scored 74% of the points for the safety of the adult occupant and 78% of the points for the safety of the child occupant. With regard to pedestrian protection, the Duster was scored only 28% of the points, and the level of safety equipment was pegged at 29%. Dacia Duster does not have ESP as standard, only ABS and four airbags (except the basic version, which has only two airbags).

The level of standard safety features of the Duster reveals that the last member of Dacia family has done well in the two tests, since it managed to get three stars with just two airbags and ABS as standard, plus the two side airbags on the Laureate equipment level (like the one used for the Euro NCAP tests).

Dacia Logan was the first member of the Dacia family tested by EuroNCAP, achieving three stars in 2005. Later, the Dacia Sandero, achieved three stars at the Euro NCAP test, and then the Duster achieved the same number of EuroNCAP stars, but under new test criteria. More specifically, the tests for Duster ware more severe than the ones for Logan in 2005 and Sandero in 2008, so we talk about an improvement of the safety level.

The French from Le Blog Auto announced today that Renault could prepare a 850 HP version of the Dacia Duster. The model will be manufactured at the request of the French driver Jean-Philippe Dayraut for participation in 2011 edition of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (the competition is held annually on the top of Pikes Peak in Colorado, USA, has 19.99 kilometers, covers a difference of 1439 meters between start and finish,  has 156 turns and a average slope of 7%). The news is especially surprising as Jean-Philippe Dayraut is competing in the Andros Trophy for BMW and against Alain Prost, who is driving the Duster Ice, a special version developed by Renault for this competition.

According to French journalists, Dayraut has already established contacts with Tork Engineering and Renault – the two companies that have manufactured the Duster Ice – to develop a super version of the Duster. If it will be produced, will have under the hood an engine that will develop 850 horsepower and that will derive from the V8 Nissan GT-R competition. The total mass of the car would be only 900 kilograms.
But nothing is official at this time, the rumors circulate only through the paddock of Andros Trophy.

Dacia announced today a new partnership. This time, the top version of Duster will be the official car of the George Enescu Festival. Dacia is a partner for six years with the Gopo Awards and with the Book Fair "Gaudeamus". This year, the George Enescu Festival will take place between 1 and 25 September 2011 in Bucharest. The association of Dacia with the prestigious cultural event organized by the Romanian Government – Ministry of Culture and National Heritage is a premiere.

In addition to the transport of the personalities who will participate in this event, Dacia will also provide a Duster 4×4 for Ioan Holender, the director of the festival. Ioan Holender will use the Dacia Duster for his trips in Romania to organize the Bucharest event.

"The festival is one of the strongest brands in Romania. It promotes not only the work of the greatest Romanian composer, inspired by Romanian folk music and influenced by French music tradition, but all the cultural activity in Romania. Dacia is proud to be associated with such a great event. Through their international vocation, both are brands that Romanians can be proud" said Jérôme Olive, the general manager of Automobile Dacia and Renault Group in Romania.

"We wanted to bring at this anniversary edition as many Romanian brands as we could. The festival is an exceptional opportunity to show the world what values exist in Romania and show the Romanians some international values. The presence of our most important brand, Dacia, is a proof that our festival is uniting what is representative in our time – creativity, resilience and competitive spirit" said Ioan Holender.

The French Association Argus published the winners Argus Trophy 2010, a competition highly appreciated  in France because the jury is is composed of journalists, experts and market analysts or specialists in the automotive industry. The awards are granted on different categories (city, Compact, Family models, Trendy Models and Premium models).

Dacia Duster (the 1.5 dCi Laureate 4×2 version) managed to win the award for family cars, surpassing the Opel Meriva 1.3 CDTI and the Kia Sportage 2.0 CRDi 4×2. "The Dacia was irresistible in this category. Aided by an unbeatable price, the Duster comes  with the best cost per mile. Even if the the Romanian SUV performance is not above the the comfort level of Meriva, or not is as practical as Sportage, the Duster has the merit of bringing before us a forgotten concept. This SUV is a simple, robust and functional" said the press release accompanying the results of the competition.

The other categories in which competed models launched during the year in France were awarded the Suzuki Swift 1.3 GLX five-door DDiS (Model City), Alfa Romeo Giulietta 1.6 JTDM Distinctive (compact), Citroen DS3  HDI 90 (Trendy models) and BMW 520d (Premium models).

The criteria considered by the jury for each of the five scoring categories targeted the purchase price, the operating costs per kilometer, the residual value, the consumption and the benefits from use (production quality, driving pleasure and the whole idea of the car).