Renault Captur Launch: Why You Should Consider Duster Again

French automaker Renault India is all geared up to bring a disruption in the SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle) space with the launch of its upcoming Renault Captur. 

Renault Captur launch, which is due for 6 November, is expected to bring the same growth which the automaker’s year 2015 launch - Kwid, brought.

In an official statement, Sumit Sawhney, CEO and Managing Director, Renault India Operations, said “Renault Captur will strengthen our position in the highly buoyant SUV market and will set new benchmarks with its unique styling and unmatched road manners.”

However, this premium SUV might cannibalise the sales of Renault’s another product in the same segment - Renault Duster. 

Related Article:Why Renault Captur Will Face Tough Competition?

Renault did a brilliant job in commencing bookings of Captur just ahead of the festive season with an amount of Rs 25,000. This might help the company in garnering some initial sales, out of the bookings.

Time will tell, out of Renault Captur and Renault Duster, which one captured consumers’ attention and topped the sales chart. But, there exists a valid reason why people should not go gaga over Renault Captur launch, and instead opt for Duster.

Price

The starting price of Renault Duster is Rs 842,500 and it goes up till Rs 13,66,100. If you consider Duster’s Sandstorm Edition, then the prices stood at Rs 10,90,400 (Diesel 85PS RXS variant) and Rs 11,70,400 (Diesel 110PS RXS variant).

Upcoming Renault Captur is likely to be priced within a range of Rs 11 lakh - Rs 15 lakh. This means there will be a gap of around Rs 3 lakh in the starting prices of Duster and Captur. 

Now, the question arises why someone would buy a Rs 11 lakh SUV, when another vehicle with same features and from the same automaker can be bought at a much lower price tag?

To validate the above point, let's take a look at the features and specifications of both the SUVs.

Powertrain

Captur and Duster will come with both petrol and diesel powertrains. 

For the petrol Captur will be powered by 16 valves 4 cylinder 1.5 litre H4K petrol engine mated to a 5 speed manual gearbox, producing 106 PS at 5,600 rpm and 142 Nm of torque at 4,000 rpm. The diesel version will be powered by the 1.5 litre K9K diesel engine (common rail injection), mated to 6 speed manual gearbox, delivering a maximum power of 110 PS at 4,000 rpm and peak torque of 240 Nm at 1,750 rpm.

The Renault Duster has an 1.5 litre petrol engine, offering a power of 106 PS and maximum torque of 142 Nm; mated with the X-tronic CVT gearshift. It also boasts of dCi 1.5 litre diesel engine and offers a choice of two power outputs - 110 PS and 85 PS. The 110 PS version has a 6-speed manual transmission.

Dimensions

The below will give a fair idea of the technical specifications of Renault’s both SUVs:

Features

Globally successful B0 platform designs both Renault Captur and Duster. So, design and feature wise, both the vehicles carry almost the same technology.

Safety wise, both Captur and Duster has Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD) with Brake Assist (BA), Engine immobiliser, Remote central locking, Airbags, Electronic Stability Program (ESP), Hill-Start Assist, Reverse parking camera, among others.