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Dacia Duster Gets Autobest Award

The first SUV to roll off the assembly lines of Romanian manufacturer Dacia, the Duster, received its first major prize this week. A jury comprised of people for 15 east European countries decided to award the SUV the Autobest 2011.

This means that for the people in these countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Macedonia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine and Malta), the Duster is the best car available on the market in 2010.

The jury decided the SUV is the best after it managed to score 863 points in the judging grid. It was the highest score, but take into account that the maximum score in the competition is way higher, 3,600 points.

The success experienced by Dacia in all of the countries it is selling has prompted Renault, the mother company of Dacia, into announcing new markets for the model. Starting next year, the Duster will enter even places not usually associated with low cost.

The Gulf States will be receiving the Duster straight out of the Romanian factory, while Russia will manufacture its own at the Avtoframos plant in Moscow. South America, or the first three countries to get the model (Colombia, Mexico and Chile) will be supplied with the Duster from the Medellin plant in Colombia.

Earlier this month, rumors about Renault stepping up efforts to create the right-hand drive version of the model began surfacing. According to rumors, one of the first markets to get this version of the Duster might be Australia, of all places.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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