Dacia Duster gets a power and efficiency BOOST

The Dacia Duster get a power and efficiency boost with a new 1.8-litre Hybrid from the Bigster and a more powerful 1.2-litre mild hybrid too.

Despite Renault’s Dacia brand being late to the market in the UK, they’ve managed to build a decent customer base in the UK since they arrived on these shores in 2012, with more than 100,000 Dacia Dusters sold up to last year, accounting for more than a third of Dacia’s UK sales.

Clearly, the Duster is a big deal for Dacia in the UK, so although last year’s new Duster moved the game on it still retained its ‘affordable’ price tag with prices from £18,745, although that’s a big jump on the 2012 entry price of £8,995.

In fact, the real (adjusted for inflation) price increase for the entry-level Duster is in the region of 45% although, to be fair, the latest Duster is much more sophisticated than the original with a modern Renault Platform, more tech and hybrid powertrains.

Now, Dacia is upgrading the Duster’s powertrains with a new hybrid borrowed from the Bigster and an improved 1.2-litre mild hybrid.

The new Duster 155 Hybrid gets a 1.8-litre petrol engine and an electric motor powered by a 1.4kWh battery, delivering electric-only driving at low speeds and official economy improved by 6mpg on the previous hybrid, with emissions reduced by 9g/km to 105g/km. The new mild hybrid option boosts power to 140bhp – up by 10bhp – with a small improvement of 1.3mpg.

As well as the new powertrain options, Dacia has tweaked specs a bit with Adaptive Cruise fitted to hybrid versions of the Journey and Extreme trims, new interior trim for the Journey and new 18″ black alloys on the Extreme.

No prices yet for the updated Duster, which will go on sale in November 2025.