Nissan confirms re-badged Duster SUV

Renault's saga in the subcontinent has seen a change in fortune after launch of mass market cars like the Pulse, Scala and most importantly the Duster. Two of these vehicles are basically rebadged and slightly refreshed versions of the Nissan Micra and the Sunny.

Now Nissan plans to add another model to their lineup through badge-engineering and not surprisingly it will be the compact SUV, the Duster. Autocar India reports that Nissan, will launch a Duster based SUV (code named NH79) and it will be a bit more than just rebadging, changing of bumpers and a new grille.

The NH79 will slot in below the Duster due to the Nissan-Renault hierarchy.  It is likely that the Nissan SUV will fare better than the Duster due to an expected lower price and the fact that Nissan has a bigger presence in the country.  While we expect a late 2013 launch, Renault might delay this further as the Duster is currently their bread-and-butter model with substantial part in their total sales.

Source: Autocar