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There’s a brand new Dacia Duster Pickup, nevertheless it’s not as sensible as you may suppose or want.
Developed with Romanian coachbuilder Romturingia, sheet steel and structural adjustments are saved to an absolute minimal. As such, the brand new Pickup shares the identical 4345mm size and 2658mm wheelbase because the SUV.
There’s a chopped roof, a flip down tailgate, and a barrier with a built-in window behind the rear seats. The rear facet window has been changed with a chunkier C-pillar with a bit of shiny black plastic to imitate the lacking window.
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Little doubt preserving the identical wheelbase helps to maintain improvement prices down, nevertheless it limits practicality. The tray measures 1050mm by 1000mm, and contains two steel rails with 4 anchoring rings. Most payload capability is alleged to be 430kg.
Whereas the Duster SUV seats 5, the Pickup solely accommodates 4 folks, with the rear bench gaining a central arm relaxation.
Consumers can select between a front-wheel 104kW hybrid, or an all-wheel drive variant with a 97kW mild-hybrid.
There are three trim ranges to select from, with out there security gear extending to site visitors signal recognition, lane preserving help, blind spot monitoring, and a number of exterior cameras.
The outside palette contains seven colors: Sandstone, Lichen Kaki, Terracotta Brown, Glacier White, Schist Gray, Pearl Black and Cedar Inexperienced.
The Duster Pickup is barely on sale in Romania, with Dacia sellers stocking the ute alongside the SUV. Costs begin from €25,983 (A$46,100) earlier than VAT. That’s significantly greater than the bottom Duster SUV, which begins at €17,100 (A$30,300) inclusive of VAT.
This isn’t the primary time the Duster has been supplied as a ute. In 2016 the first-generation Duster was become the Renault Oroch dual-cab ute. Produced in Brazil and Columbia primarily for Latin America, the Oroch has a stretched wheelbase and longer physique, and continues to be produced to at the present time.
Over in Europe Dacia teamed up with Romturingia to remodel the second-generation Duster right into a ute in 2020.
Not like the newest model, this Pickup mannequin sacrifices the rear seats to create a single-cab ute with a bigger cargo tray, all with the identical wheelbase and general size because the donor automobile.
In the meantime, Dacia UK has additionally this week taken the wrap off the Cargo model of the Duster. This van conversion replaces the rear seats with a flat load space with lashing factors, and a load cowl. The rear home windows have been blacked out, and there’s a mesh bulkhead to separate the 2 entrance seats from the cargo bay.
Whereas the 430kg payload score is identical because the Pickup, the Cargo has a load quantity of 1149L. Consumers can select between a front-wheel 116kW hybrid, or an all-wheel 97kW mild-hybrid.
Pricing begins from £22,995 (A$47,000) earlier than VAT.
The passenger automobile or four-wheel drive van conversion is a distinct segment that comes about resulting from UK laws, which permit house owners to pay decrease annual taxes. They will additionally journey on the posted velocity restrict on motorways, whereas precise vans should journey 10mph underneath the posted restrict.
Van conversions had been as soon as a reasonably well-liked section, with fashions together with the Ford Fiesta Van, Vauxhaul Corsavan and Vauxhall Astravan doing brisk gross sales.
Whereas passenger automobile conversions have largely disappeared, four-wheel drive vans nonetheless exist. The present Suzuki Jimny was offered as a business automobile so as to skirt CO2 emissions guidelines for passenger automobiles, whereas Land Rover sells van variants of the Discovery and Defender, and Toyota launched the LandCruiser Industrial earlier this yr.
MORE: Every little thing Renault Duster
