We have video of Red Bull’s Mark Webber playing with the new Dacia Duster in the Desert Dunes of Oman.
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But it’s not the £9k Duster FWD that holds the most appeal, but the 4WD version that starts from £10,995, even if it does come with steel wheels and a very basic spec. At that sort of price it looks like a real bargain; the perfect ‘DoFor’ car for anyone who lives anywhere near anything muddy or susceptible to snow.
And the appeal we see in the Duster seems to be borne out by the order book Renault already has for the Duster in the UK, with 1,000 orders already in place by the end of last month – even though no prospective buyer has probably even seen one, never mind driven it – and many of those for the top-spec 4WD version.
So with Dacia Duster sales rising as Renault sales fall, Renault are pushing hard to make the Duster a credible offering beyond the budget bargain seekers, and have rolled out one of their big PR guns – Red Bull’s Mark Webber – to give the Duster a bit of publicity.
They stuck Mark in the Duster in the Desert Dunes of Oman for the video below and, although he didn’t have much choice, Mr Webber seemed suitably impressed with the Duster’s sand driving abilities, albeit with reference to its bargain basement price.
We’d take one.
wolfie says
You say that no prospective buyer will have seen the Duster in the metal, but I saw one in a Renault dealer’s forecourt in Motherwell back in early August. It was on a raised plinth so it wasn’t likely to have been there for test drive purposes, but it was certainly there for any prospective buyers to view.
Cars UK says
That’s true, but the ones we’ve seen are left hookers on a display plinth. So not the same as poring over a showroom model and taking a test drive.