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Renault to launch new Duster ahead of Ford EcoSport launch

Now that the Maruti XA Alpha launch will be not before 2014, the only major to-be rival of the French SUV Renault Duster is Ford Ecosport. The American SUV has set a ground for itself in Brazil and other countries and its next destination if India where it believes to have a nice time. India too is in anticipation of the new SUV since January when the EcoSport was unveiled at the Auto Expo. Reports have come in that Renault is thinking of refreshing the looks of Duster in order to counter the more urbane looks of the EcoSport. The new Duster launch will be synchronized with that of Ecosport launch in the country in order to make reappearance at a time when its rival comes in. The Ecosport price is believed to be around Rs7 lakh to Rs 9 lakh and it is this thing that greatly worries Renault.  

It could be possible that the EcoSport launch could be timed with the Maruti XA Alpha launch as it is also heading for a near 2014 launch. But it is quite sure that the real show of the SUVs in India will begin once these two cars arrive and join the race with Duster that has grabbed much attention following its high mileage and performance delivery. Also people have been waiting for some new offering at low price as the segment has not seen any new offering for long. The other SUVs in this price band viz. Tata Safari, Mahindra Scorpio and others are somewhat old and these are dated now.  

The new Duster that is expected to arrive in late next year or sometime early 2014 will be the SUV that will have so many design changes. The front grille and headlamps besides the bumper and the front styling will undergo drastic change. In all, the SUV will have a more refined styling than the present one and it is also expected that the seven seater version as well as the four wheel drive transmission will be in place at the same time.