Badged both as a Dacia and as a Renault, depending on the destination market, the Duster SUV has proven to be a very successful model for the French automaker, being the best-selling Renault model worldwide. It’s no wonder then that the 1 millionth model was recently built, only four years after the model’s launch.
The millionth Duster was made at Renault’s plant in Curitiba, Brazil, and will be delivered to a customer in the same country. The Duster is currently marketed in more than 100 countries, and it is made in five factories across the world: Pitesti (Romania), Curitiba (Brazil), Envigado (Colombia), Moscow (Russia) and Chennai (India).
The Renault-badged version features a “severe cold” climate version for Russia, a flex-fuel version for Brazil and a right-hand drive version with a specific interior for India. The Dacia-badged version has proved just as popular with customers thanks to the cabin space it delivers for its price, as well as its all-terrain ability. The Dacia version has been made at Pitesti, Romania, since 2010 for sale in Europe, Turkey and the Maghreb nations. It has also been built at the same plant with Renault badging since June 2010, initially for the Middle-East, Egypt and other African markets, then, from 2011, the Gulf region.
The Curitiba factory in Brazil has been manufacturing Renault-badged Dusters since October 2011 for sale in Brazil and Argentina, while the plant in Envigado, Colombia, has assembled Dusters since February 2012 for its customers in Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Chile, Peru and Central America. Production of Duster in Moscow, Russia, began in December 2011 for the local market, with Renault badging.
The latest factory to join the list was Chennai, India, in May 2012, for Duster’s Indian, South African and Indonesian markets as a Renault model, as well as for the United Kingdom, Cyprus, Malta and Ireland branded as a Dacia. Renault and Dacia sold 376,000 Dusters in 2013.
By Dan Mihalascu
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