2024 Dacia Duster 3 Leaked Photos Reveal Bigster DNA, Hybrid 140 Confirmed

Coming courtesy of a promo video uploaded to YouTube by Dacializate, the attached screenshots reveal a small crossover with big ambitions. Pictured with French rather than Romanian license plates, the sport utility vehicle levels up Dacia's design language to new heights. Looks pretty good, right? Although it has a bit of Sandero Stepway and Jogger to it, the Bigster served as a bigger influence for the Romanian automaker's first sport utility vehicle developed under the ownership of Renault.

Emphasis on Renault ownership because Dacia Duster used to be the UK-specific nameplate of the ARO 10, an off-road vehicle that shared a few bits and pieces with the Dacia 1300. Gifted with black cladding on all four sides, the newcomer also features a roof-mounted spoiler. Two-tone alloys indicate a well-equipped trim level, although it's impossible to tell whether this is a launch edition or not.

Hidden rear door handles also need to be mentioned, a design trick that Alfa Romeo brought into the mainstream with the oh-so-pretty 156 sedan and 147 hatchback. A single screenshot of the promo video (currently set to private on YouTube) shows the instrument cluster, which appears to be digital.

Having mentioned the Jogger a few moments ago, the promo video confirms the Hybrid 140 engine option carrying over to the Duster. Borrowed from Renault, the Hybrid 140 leverages a 1.6-liter I4 referred to as H4M in Renault vernacular and HR16DE by alliance partner Nissan. Unleashed at the Mondial de l’Auto 2022 in Paris, the first-ever hybrid production car from Dacia develops… wait for it… 140 ponies.

Those being metric horsepower, we feel obliged to make the conversion to mechanical, namely 138 horsepower. Slightly punchier in the Clio, said engine is joined by a multi-mode transmission, a 1.2-kWh battery, and two electric motors. The traction motor develops 205 Nm (151 pound-feet), whereas the starter generator offers 50 Nm (37 pound-feet). We could be wrong about the Hybrid 140, though. The only other possibility would be for Dacia to have gained access to the 1.2-liter turbo hybrid setup of the Austral.

Also confirmed with all-wheel drive, the 2024 Dacia Duster won't be available with Renault's long-running 1.5-liter turbo diesel. That's certain to ruffle some feathers in the Old Continent, although those feeling disappointed by Dacia's decision to discontinue the 1.5 dCi should glance over diesel's take-up rate in this part of the world. More specifically, new passenger vehicle registrations for the month of October 2023 in the European Union reveal that diesel vehicles accounted for merely 12 percent compared to 33.4 for gassers, 28.6 percent for hybrids, and 14.2 for battery-electric vehicles.

Based on the CMF-B platform of the Jogger, Sandero, and Logan, the all-new Duster will reach European showrooms in the earliest part of 2024 as a 2024 model. Similar to its platform buddies, the Duster also gets a 1.0-liter turbo I3. The 1.3-liter turbo I4 should be available as well. Prospective customers should look forward to higher prices for every trim level that will survive the transition to the third generation. For future reference, the Duster 2 retails at €17,900 in Romania, €17,400 in Germany, and £17,295 in the UK.

UPDATE

The video has been uploaded to YouTube on a different channel.