Dacia Duster concept to spawn production model?
by Chris Paukert on Mar 16th 2009 at 2:00PM 
Click above for high-res image gallery of the Dacia Duster Concept
Say "Duster" to most auto enthusiasts and you're likely to conjure up images of 1970's Plymouth Valiant-based muscle cars, or perhaps the P-bodied Chrysler buzzbins of the Eighties. What doesn't usually come to mind is the very first concept car from the Romanian low-cost transportation experts at Dacia.
Initially shown at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month, word from Autocar now suggests that a production version of the showcar is on the way. According to the UK publication, the Duster will hit the ground running at next year's Geneva show, and it will launch with a choice of four-cylinder gas and diesel engines, as well as available all-wheel drive.
Interestingly, Autocar suggests that the production crossover will likely retain the concept's trick reconfigurable seats, including a passenger seat that can slide under the driver's seat for extra room. Check out the jump a video that shows the Dacia's trick disappearing seat, as well as the high-res gallery below.
Gallery: Dacia Duster Concept
[Sources: Autocar; Dacia]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mazda FTW! 2:04PM (3/16/2009)
I'm gonna wait for the Dacia Duster "Swiffer Edition"
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Kitko 2:18PM (3/16/2009)
Romanian Dacia releasing a car cooler than its mother's Renault models? Don't think so.
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Jim 2:29PM (3/16/2009)
"Say "Duster" to most auto enthusiasts and you're likely to conjure up images of 1970's Plymouth Valiant-based muscle cars, or perhaps the P-bodied Chrysler buzzbins of the Eighties."
minor nitpick- the '80s "Duster" (i.e. a Turismo with decals) was an L-body. The P-body (Sundance) "Duster" came about in the '90s as a way to use up remaining MMC 3.0 liter V6s.
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steve-o 2:38PM (3/16/2009)
May-"GREAT NEWS!"
Clarkson -"WHAT"
May-"THE DACIA DUSTER IS ALMOST HERE!"
Clarkson -"WHEN?"
May -"NEXT YEAR!"
Clarkson -"GREAT!"
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Ben Badenoch 2:45PM (3/16/2009)
Ahaha! I'm surpized it took four people to get to that. I was going to post the same!
ds 4:27PM (3/16/2009)
Had to beat us to it. Though, I'll chime in with the Series 12 one:
Jeremy: "James, the Dacia Duster!"
James: "The what?"
Jeremy: "The Dacia Duster! It's not being sold in the UK!"
James: "Oh. Well, in other news..."
alexander 3:35PM (3/16/2009)
pure speculation. Many say that the future dacia suv, will be based on first generation of nissan x-trail, and that will have design inspired by nissan quashqai. The design of the duster concept, is to expensive for a lowcost manufacturer. It will be (probabile) a bit faraway from the original "lowcost" aka the logan, but surely it wil be a low cost of the suv, having all the qualities of logan , logan mcv and sandero: value, reliability, price versus what you are getting, low runing costs etc..
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Tzaje 3:39PM (3/16/2009)
Dacia's officials say that's a clear NO: http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.automarket.ro%2Fstiri%2Fdacia-neaga-ultimele-zvonuri-duster-nu-va-fi-produs-in-serie-19203.html&sl=ro&tl=en&history_state0=
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Civisi 4:43PM (3/16/2009)
I think that's a gorgeous-looking concept. It looks futuristic without being straight from a Disney's World-of-Tomorrow video.
Of course, I felt the same way about the Isuzu Vehicross Concept back in the late 90s, but for some reason, the actual production model just didn't do it for me.
And no matter how much I'd love to have a vehicle that looks like this, if they ever made it and sold it in the US, I'd have to wait a few years anyway because I can't afford new.
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