Tough and cheap? New 2024 Dacia Duster small SUV revealed with off-road intentions, but will it come to Australia as a Renault?

More than a year after Renault's local arm said it hoped to bring the Dacia brand to Australia under its wing, the French brand's Romanian sibling has revealed its newest model, the third-gen Dacia Duster. But is it still part of the plan?

The 2024 Duster was revealed by Dacia overnight, sporting a more rugged but clean design and new hybrid drivetrains, marking a step up from the 'cheap' image the brand arguably sported previously.

Built on the Renault-Nissan CMF-B platform shared with the Renault Captur and Nissan Juke, the Duster is set to come with two engine options: a 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine with pair of electric motors, a turbo 1.2-litre unit with 48-volt mild-hybrid assistance.

David Durand, Dacia Design Director, said the initial design of the new Duster was important to avoid design tricks.

"Before even starting work on all-new Duster's style, we honed its proportions, to find a strong, balanced posture," said Durand.

"When you get the proportions right early on, you don't need artifices to tweak style later."

The result is a self-professed "deliberately taut, self-confident" SUV with relatively rugged looks that telegraph its off-roading intentions.

Inside, the Duster's angular design elements are paired with a 10.1-inch central multimedia touchscreen and a 7.0-inch instrument display screen, while modern (relatively) standard features like USB-C ports and a wireless smartphone charger are found.

Importantly, the new Duster arrives at a time when plans for an Australian launch for the Dacia brand are largely up in the air - the last we heard from its parent company's local arm Renault Australia is that it's an option, but wasn't in motion at the time.

Renault Australia General Manager Glen Sealey told CarsGuide in September 2022 he'd been to see the new Duster ahead of its finalisation as Renault Australia considered Dacia for the local market.

"As with any plan in the current environment, it's a plan. There are no guarantees in the current environment," he said. "But certainly, from our perspective, we see something like Duster would work really well in Australia.

"I've been over, I've looked at the new-generation Duster, we've got input on the vehicle at the moment, so we're very keen to get it.

While the Romanian brand has history in Europe, it's relatively unknown here in Australia and as such the Duster would likely arrive as part of the Renault brand.

"For us Duster sits within the Renault fold, like it does in other right-hand-drive markets today, such as South Africa where Duster is a Renault, if you go to India it is there too. So, we would prefer to keep Duster as a Renault," said Sealey.

Given the timeline, don't expect to wait too long to find out what Renault Australia has in mind for the Duster here in Australia if it manages to lock it in.