Dacia Duster’s Successor To Remain Affordable And Off-Road Focused Despite Electrification

The Dacia Duster has always been quite popular in Europe for offering practicality, off-road capability, and modern design in an affordable package. The third generation of the B-SUV that is expected around 2025 will keep all of those characteristics despite the electrification which will be inevitable at that point.

Dacia has pledged to keep offering ICE-powered vehicles for as long as possible before expanding the use of PHEV and BEV technology in its range. Despite already offering the Spring, which is among the cheapest electric cars in the world, the Romanian automaker will introduce their first hybrid in 2023 based on the Jogger as “the most affordable 7-seater hybrid on the market”.

The Duster was unveiled in 2010 with the second generation following in 2017 and receiving a mid-life facelift this year. This means that the all-new third-generation Duster is at least three to four years away, coming around 2024 to 2025. By then, some kind of electrification must be used in order to remain eligible for sale in the European Union and the UK throughout the 2030s.

See Also: 2022 Dacia Jogger Unveiled As An Adventurous 7-Seater Crossover Wagon

It has been confirmed that the CMF-B architecture that already underpins the Sandero, Sandero Stepway, and Jogger, will eventually underpin the whole range of Dacia and Lada models – including the next Duster. This could allow the model to use the PHEV powertrain of the Renault Captur E-Tech.

A fully electric version is also possible, sitting on the CMF-BEV architecture introduced by the Renault 5, as it can accommodate large diameter wheels fitted with off-road tires. The only problem is that this platform is currently front-wheel-drive only, but this could change in the future.

See Also: Facelifted Dacia Duster Gets Extreme Limited Edition For 2022

During the presentation of the facelifted Duster, product boss Julien Ferry told Autocar that its successor will retain its role in providing “a very good price-to-feature ratio”, addressing the needs of the customers that want “a simple car which can go off-road”. Thus, the off-road nature of the car will remain a top priority, like the current model which is described by Ferry as “the best non-specialist off-roader” in the market.

The Duster will be joined by a larger C-SUV in the second half of 2022. This model was previewed by the Bigster concept, will sit on a stretched version of the CMF-B platform and will be the first to bear Dacia’s new logo.