Dacia Duster

The interest shown by the European tuning houses for Dacia Duster is growing in the last period, and because many Duster units were sold in Germany, it was expected that a tuning package will be produced here. The latest tuning kit proposal comes from the specialists of RaceChip, who received the Quality Award in 2009 in Germany.

The tuning house will not modify the exterior of the Romanian SUV, preferring to focus its resources on the engine under the hood, the 1.5-liter dCi diesel with 110 HP.

RaceChip proposes a first package, which increases the performance of the diesel unit with 26% for power and 27% for the torque: the power reaches a total of 139 HP and the torque increases considerably, from 240 Nm to 306 Nm. The price of the first package proposed by the Germans is only 129 euros.

The second package is named RaceChip Pro and offers a 30% improvement in power and 33% improvement in torque. More specifically the Duster will be powered by an engine with 143 HP and 321 Nm torque. The price of the second package is 229 euros.

According to the information provided by German tuning house, the two kits improve the diesel engine power and also its consumption.

After Duster received the first tuning kit from the Elia AG tuning house, the Romanian SUV enjoys a new interpretation. This time, the tuning kit comes from the more popular tuning house Cobra that is responsible for the modification of the best 4×4 models in Europe.

The designers from Cobra have chosen a more individualistic approach of the Romanian model, on which they installed a large front bar with 60 mm diameter, finished in chrome and complemented by a set of tubular side skirts. The 4×4 model, built in Mioveni, will have a modified grille and a stainless steel exhaust pipe with 80 mm in diameter at the end. The 18-inch alloy wheels, with multi spoke and 225/50 tires will change the look of the Duster.

Cobra announces in the official release that the package of accessories comes with a warranty of two years and a European certification.

Jerome Olive, the CEO of Renault Group Romania, said in an interview in the ZF newspaper that Dacia Duster will have an automatic transmission and new engines. Unlike the versions with automatic transmission of Logan and Sandero, Dacia will sell in Romania the Duster with automatic transmission. Most likely, we are speaking of a gearbox with torque convertor, produced by Renault. The automatic gearbox will be produced at the Mioveni factory, along with a new range of engines, which will no longer be imported from the Renault factory in Spain.

The automatic gearbox will have 4 or 5 speed and will be taken directly from Renault. The Romanian engineers make the final adjustments and prepare the new version for tests and for the debut that is expected in the next 12 -18 months. Currently, there is information about the engine that will power the Duster version with automatic transmission, but it is expected to be an 110 HP dCi engine or a top unit in terms of performance. At the end of next year Dacia will start producing the right hand drive version of the Duster that will be launched in the UK.

Although has economic versions, with the signature eco2, Dacia Duster will receive in the European markets an LPG engine, designed to reduce the operating costs and the CO2 emissions. The first company that will power the Romanian SUV with LPG engines is Borel, who begun to sell a Duster on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) version in France.

The auxiliary equipment will be installed on the 1.6 and  105 HP engine and will be available in both versions 4 x 4 or 4 x 2.

The 4 x 2 version has received a 95 liters tank, which can provide additional autonomy of 700 km. On the other hand, the 4 x 4 version will have a 61 liters tank only, which ensures an autonomy of 500 kilometers. In both cases, the Dacia Duster LPG can offer its customers a total autonomy of over 1000 km.

The French of Renault have prepared a special model of Duster for the Russian market. The model presented at the Moscow Motor Show abounds in chromed, specially designed to create the impression of exclusive, high class car.

The grill of the SUV was replaced with one with more chrome stripes across the Renault logo. The Chromium was used to modify the rear part of the car too: the band on the trunk, made in plastic for the European version was replaced with a chromed one with shiny ornaments that emphasize the logo of the car. The rear window wiper was also improved with a chrome strip.

The Renault Duster for the Russian market will be powered by a new 2.0 liter petrol engine along with the other engines.

The Renault Duster will be produced in Russia in 2011, at the Avtoframos factory near Moscow where now are produced 160.00 units of Sandero and Logan. Until then, the French will assembly the model based on parts made in Romania.

Photo by р|d

Renault announced officially that the Dacia Duster will be assembled in Russia since the fall of 2011. The parts and subassemblies that are needed to assemble the Duster will be sent from Romania CKD (Completely Knocked Down) packets  assembled in the special center in Mioveni, and the  cars will be assembled by Russian workers.

In Russia, the Dacia models are sold under the Renault brand and assembling these models in Romania ensures a competitive market price. According to the official announcement from Renault, the Duster version dedicated to the Russian market will suffer some minor changes that will bring the model up to the Russian customer preferences. These include some minor changes to the interior design, the equipment and the engines.

Along with Duster, Renault will assemble in Russia the Magane and Fluence compact models, which will arrive at the Moscow factory in the form of SKD (Semi Knocked Down) assemblies.

After being criticized by the Dutch and French publications, because of poor results obtained in tests of braking and stability, Dacia Duster is again on the first pages of the European newspapers with his first tuning package. The Germans from the Elia AG that modify models from Renault-Nissan and Volkswagen became interested by the first Romanian SUV.

A first for the Romanian SUV, the kit prepared by Elia AG includes two sets of accessories, one more discreet named "Adventure" and one more complex which completely changes the SUV. The first package comes with a chrome front bar with the Duster logo, and chrome side steps.

The complete kit includes new front and rear spoilers, side steps and a chrome exhaust tip. The fog lights are replaced with LED lights and there are two different sets of rims: the first is called Alia Ventis, has 16 inches and costs 110 euros/rim, The second is called Opal Elia, measures 18 inches and comes with two different finishes, one black and one silver, with a  price of 185 and 169 euros/rim.

The Germans from Elia AG were not content only with the aesthetic changes and modified the engine that powers the Duster: the ECU system of the 1.5 dCi liter engine was modified to obtain a total of 122 HP and 265 Nm with 12 HP and 25 Nm more that will cost 589 euros.

The Spanish car market is not doing very well in July when have been sold only 82.605 new cars with 24.2% less than the same period last year. However, the Romanian car manufacturer, Dacia, registered a good growth along with two big names in the industry: Porsche and Jaguar.

Dacia has the fastest growth on the Spanish market, with 60.8% higher sales in July. The Spanish car market is dominated by Seat, Volkswagen and Renault, while Dacia is positioned on the 17 rank with 1325 cars delivered.

The Romanian car manufacturer positive development is largely due to the new Duster, the SUV being on the eighth position among the best selling 4×4 cars in Spain, with 309 units delivered in July.

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Dacia will increase the Duster production in the next 6 months to face the strong demand coming from the Western European markets. The Mioveni factory that produces 20 Duster units per hour, will produce from January 35 Duster units per hour. The growth will take place gradually and starting from October, Dacia will produce 25 units of the Romanian SUV.

The main problem of the Romanian car manufacturer is now represented by the production capacity of the suppliers, who have been caught unprepared for the avalanche of orders from Western Europe and can not afford to suddenly increase the  production.

According to current data, the delivery of a Duster unit in Western Europe now reaches up to 6 months. The total orders for Duster gathered earlier this month to 35.500 units, of which 30.000 are from the Western Europe. In Romania, 1500 of the 3000 Duster commands have already been delivered.

Dacia customers in France can order the 4×2 version of Duster on bioethanol and two other new Euro 5 engines. The two engines are the 1.6 liter and 105 HP and the 1.5 liter dCi and 90 HP. The new unit can be powered both by petrol with an octane rating greater  or equal to 95 and or by bioethanol E85. The 90 HP diesel engine is equipped with a particulate filter and replaced the 85 HP version of Duster.

The 1.5 liter dCi and 90 HP of Duster emits just 130 grams of CO2 per km and has an average consumption of 5 liters per 100 km. The particulate filter of the engine regenerates automatically without the intervention of a mechanic. The 2WD  Ambiance version of Duster, powered by an dCi engine with 90 HP has a starting price of 14.700 euros in France, while the Prestige version equipped with this engine has a starting price of 16.700 euros.

The 1.6 liter version of Duster emits just 160 grams of CO2 per kilometer by bioethanol E85 and 165 grams CO2 per km on petrol. The unit is flexible and can operate with either E85 ethanol or petrol, without any difference in operation of the engine. The use of E85 fuel is extremely attractive in France as a liter of E85 costs in average 0.86 euros.