Ever since the Renault Duster was first launched over a decade ago, the company had been searching for a pickup truck version of this popular SUV for greater practicality. This pickup truck named Duster Oroch was introduced in select South American countries like Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Chile. Now that we have a new version of the Duster, it is also getting a new pickup variant.
Renault previewed the new Duster pickup truck version with the Niagara concept in 2023 and the production version will be called the Niagara. The Renault Niagara has been spotted testing before and now it has been officially teased ahead of its formal launch. let’s take a closer look.
renault duster pickup truck
On September 10, Renault will launch a new pickup truck based on the current generation of Duster. Called the Renault Niagara, it is the production-spec version of the Renault Niagara Concept and will be built in Argentina for the South American continent. In terms of design, it is expected to share some elements with the Boreal SUV, which is a three-row seating version of the Duster.
Unlike traditional pickup trucks deployed on a ladder-frame chassis, the Renault Niagara is a new breed of pickup trucks deployed on a monocoque SUV. Similar monocoque pickup trucks include the Hyundai Santa Cruz, Ford Maverick, Chevy Montana, Ram Rampage, Honda Ridgeline, and others. Even the load bed on these is not physically separated from the passenger cabin.
Only the rear has been teased where we can see a traditional drop-down pickup style tailgate with Renault badges and Niagara embossing in bold. The Renault logo gets black styling elements. The load bed is likely to have wheel well intrusions and it also looks like it has a proper bed liner to protect the metal parts from abrasion and scratches.
what to expect?
In terms of dimensions, the Renault Boreal (Duster 7-seater) measures 4,556 mm in length, 1,841 mm in width, 1,650 mm in height and has a 2,702 mm long wheelbase. The 5-seater configuration has ground clearance of 213 mm and boot space of up to 586L. One can speculate that the Renault Niagara pickup truck will be slightly longer and have a longer wheelbase and larger luggage area than the Boreal.
Similar equipment to the Boreal is likely to be offered with the Renault Niagara SUV. These include up to 19-inch alloy wheels, level-2 ADAS, hands-free parking, 360-degree camera, powered and massaging front seats, panoramic sunroof, 10.1-inch infotainment screen, 10.25-inch instrument cluster, wireless charging pad and more.
Like the Duster, the Renault Niagara is expected to be equipped with a 1.3 liter turbo petrol engine producing up to 163 bhp and a 1.8 liter strong hybrid setup producing up to 160 bhp. A sophisticated AWD system is also expected with the Renault Niagara. Although Renault India has not confirmed a Duster-based pickup truck for our market, we are hopeful given the boom in the lifestyle vehicle segment.
