Renault recently announced its renewed strategy for the Indian market which includes establishing a new design studio in the country. The new Renault Design Centre in Chennai is the largest designing studio by the French carmaker outside Europe. The new strategy also outlined the launch of five Renault models in India in the next two years.
This includes the highly anticipated third-gen Duster and its seven-seat version called Bigster. While there’s no prospect of bringing back the diesel engine for the Duster and its three-row sibling, Renault is expected to bring a hybrid powertrain with the upcoming SUV duos.
New-gen Renault Duster Hybrid in India
At the inauguration of the new designing studio in Chennai, Venkatram Mamillapalle, managing director & CEO of Renault India, hinted at inclusion of hybrids in the lineup. During the discussion, Mamillapalle confirmed that Renault is keen on exploring multiple options including CNG and hybrid. However, it needs to be viable for the Indian market.
Mamillapalle ruled out mild-hybrids since they don’t make any impacts. This suggests that Renault is looking at strong hybrids for the Indian market. Besides strong hybrids, Renault is evaluating the range extender technology where a compact internal combustion engine works in tandem with an electric drivetrain. Range extenders are generally more complex and expensive than strong hybrid counterparts.
As Renault continues to prioritize exports, technologies like strong hybrids and range extenders may become increasingly localized once they are introduced in India. Initially planned to launch around Diwali later this year, the new Duster will now come to India by early 2026. The hybrid version of the new-gen Duster is expected to make its India debut later the same year.
New-gen Renault Duster Hybrid: Expected Powertrain
Internationally, Renault offers multiple powertrain options with the third-gen Duster. For the strong hybrid variants, the French carmaker could utilise a 1.6-litre four-cylinder, naturally aspirated petrol engine paired with two electric motors: a 49 bhp electric motor and a high voltage starter generator. These electric motors derive energy from a 1.2 kWh battery. Total system output stands at 138 bhp.
This powertrain is mated to a multi-mode automatic transmission. Only offered in a front-wheel drive layout, Renault says that the new Duster will operate in electric only mode around 80 percent of the time during a city drive. There’s still ambiguity regarding the availability of either a 4×4 drivetrain or an LPG option.
