Renault Duster 1.3-litre turbo-petrol showcased at the 2020 Auto Expo.

The French car company Renault's Indian subsidiary Renault India has showcased a more powerful Renault Duster at the ongoing 2020 Auto Expo. The Renault Duster has been one of the most successful products for the company in India and now the manufacturer is prepping-up to launch the more powerful Renault Duster 1.3-turbo petrol with some new features.

Renault India has already announced that it won't sell diesel engine powered cars in India from April 2020, i.e. post BS6 emission norms come into force. The company's popular mid-size SUV Renault Duster is currently powered by both petrol and a diesel engine option, however, post-April 2020 the oil-burner will be discontinued and thus Renault will bring the 1.3-litre turbo-petrol engine to compensate for the loss of the bigger mill.

At present, Renault Duster is available with a 1.6-litre K4M petrol engine that churns out a maximum of 102bhp with 145Nm of torque, mated only to a 5-speed manual transmission. It also gets a 1.5-litre dCi diesel unit which is available in two states of tune: diesel-85 and diesel-110. The former generates 84bhp of power and 200Nm of peak torque, mated only to a 5-speed manual, while the latter develops 108bhp with 245Nm of torque, mated to a 6-speed manual as well as an automatic gearbox. Renault will make the petrol unit comply with stringent BS6 emission norms, however, the diesel unit will be ditched out.

Instead, it will get a new 1.3-litre turbocharged petrol unit, codenamed as HR13, which will develop a staggering 156PS of power and peak torque of 250 Nm, mated with both a manual gearbox and a CVT automatic transmission. The same engine will also power some other Renault-Nissan cars including Renault Captur and Nissan Kicks.

The 2020 Duster will also get some more features on the range-topping RXZ trim, which includes new 17-inch alloy wheels, engine start-stop button, cabin pre-cooling function via remote, along with automatic climate control. It will also get cruise control, dual front airbags with ABS, hill-start assist, and an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment screen with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity.

Renault will launch this 2020 Duster with the new petrol engine in April this year. The current BS4 Renault Duster retails between Rs 7.99-12.54 lakhs, Ex-showroom, and the new turbo-petrol version will be a lot more pricier than current models.