Frustrated owner gives away Duster for garbage disposal

After its launch in India, the Renault Duster has been the only volume generating model for the French automaker which also sells the Pulse, Fluence and Koleos models in India. The Duster lifted Renault’s fortunes somewhat overnight and the vehicle climbed up the sales chart becoming a volume spinner, competing neck and neck with India’s highest selling SUV, the Mahindra Scorpio. But recently, the Duster has not been garnering many bookings even after launching a mild facelift, as the updates on the Duster are very minimal and vehicle looks a little dated now.

In early 2014, Renault had shifted the production base for right-hand drive Dusters for the export market from its Indian plant in Chennai to Dacia’s Pitesti plant in Romania. Reasons stated by the company were only logistical, but there was more to the shift than just logistics and financial efficiency. Dacia had received many complaints in the UK over corrosion issues on the Duster SUV which were imported from India. Dacia had even stated that the India made Dusters had inconsistencies in the paint process that could cause surface corrosion on the SUV’s door sills and the bonnet.

On another new front in India, one very frustrated Renault Duster owner has donated, yes that’s right, donated his car for garbage and waste disposal duties. Rajesh Parota who is a businessman in Kota, Rajasthan, has donated his Duster for the very meaning of the vehicle’s name. .Parota had given the Duster for servicing as the vehicle was facing troubles with the air conditioning and electrical system unit ever since he purchased the car. The Duster spent a staggering 200 days in the service station, even after which the problems were not resolved.

Parota became very frustrated with Renault’s poor customer and after sales services and hence decided to donate his car to the panchayat in Morak station village, on the condition that they use the car only for garbage disposal purposes. This comes as an image shattering news for Renault who constantly seem to be ignoring the corrosion issues faced by vehicles exported to the UK and problems such as these faced in India. The mass market SUV has something to feel embarrassed about, now that reasons for the same are coming from Indian customers.