Confirmed: Renault Duster Petrol To Get CVT

Published March 16, 2017
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2 min read

The CVT gearbox will be available with the 1.6-litre petrol engine. Likely to be launched within the next couple of months

Renault Duster received a facelift in 2016

The Duster is an important vehicle for French carmaker Renault, as far as India is concerned. When the company was looking for a breakthrough in the Indian car market, the Duster came to its rescue. Since then, the SUV has been regularly updated with new features and variants. In early 2016, Renault gave the car a facelift and also paired the 1.5-litre diesel motor with an AMT gearbox. Now, sources close to the manufacturer have confirmed that Renault will introduce a CVT variant for the petrol Duster.

The Duster currently comes with a 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that makes 104PS power and 148Nm torque paired with a 5-speed manual gearbox. The motor is shared with the Renault Scala sedan, which already gets a CVT-equipped variant. Notably, the petrol Duster is available only in the base-spec RxE and RxL variants. With the introduction of the automatic, we're hoping Renault offer the petrol engine in the top-spec RxZ trim.

Now, you may say that the petrol variant has never been a sales driver for the model. However, petrol cars have once again become popular among Indian buyers owing to the decreasing gulf between fuel prices, as well as uncertainties over government legislations (Delhi diesel ban, anyone?).

Renault Duster has an all-wheel drive variant as well

The petrol Duster is priced at Rs 8.64 lakh (RxE) and Rs 9.45 lakh (RxL); both prices ex-showroom Delhi. We expect the prices to go north by atleast half a lakh, which means the Duster CVT is likely to be priced around Rs 9 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. If Renault does launch a top-spec RxZ variant, we can safely assume a price tag that hovers around the Rs 11 lakh mark (for reference, the automatic gearbox-equipped petrol Creta costs Rs 12.97 lakh; ex-showroom Delhi). The petrol-CVT variant should help Renault's cause of getting the compact SUV throne back from the Hyundai Creta.

Recommended Read:

- Renault Duster Diesel AMT Review
- Renault Duster AMT Vs Hyundai Creta Automatic Comparison Review