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Dacia Duster unveiled at Geneva motor show 2009

By Tim Pollard

First Official Pictures

02 March 2009 17:10

Cheap and cheerful is where it’s at in a recession – and Dacia knows a thing or two about affordable, great value little cars. Judging by this new Dacia Duster concept, unveiled today at the Geneva motor show 2009, bargain basement Dacias of yore are about to become a whole lot more exciting.

The new Dacia Duster concept car is a crossover designed to build on the brand’s core values: utility, low cost and robustness, according to Dacia types. It was designed as a collaborative effort by Renault’s eastern European design base in Romania and HQ in Paris.

Dacia Duster: a split personality

Chris Bangle would be proud. The new Duster concept hits new peaks of asymmetry, presenting two different profiles to the world. An approaching driver sees the shape and detailing of a sporting coupe, while passengers will see an MPV with suicide doors. It’s one crazy looking car.

The Duster is pretty compact, stretching to just 4250mm long, making its 21-inch five-spoke wheels look ludicrously big. But there is plenty of big-car, Tonka-like character to the Duster and Dacia has come up with some clever storage solutions. There’s a large 470-litre boot and the front passenger seat can slide under the driver’s pew to free up space to carry a mountain bike. Not many superminis can do that inside the cabin.

Less ludicrous is the engineering that underpins the Duster. It has the Renault-Nissan inhouse 1.5 dCi engine in 104bhp form – enough power to keep up when loaded up with crossover clobber, yet Dacia claims a CO2 figure of 139g/km and 53mpg.

>> Click here for more coverage and news direct from the Geneva motor show 2009