Renault Scripts Big Play With Global Modular Platform, India Expected to Be the Duster’s Biggest Market

The Renault Duster, set to be launched in India this month, would qualify as the most crucial model for Renault’s revival strategy in India. The price of the C segment SUV, unveiled on January 26th, is expected to be announced this month, and customer deliveries will begin in April.

The reborn Renault Duster can qualify as the French major’s most crucial product intervention after the Renault Kwid, launched in 2015 as a competitor to the then entry-level car market leader Maruti Suzuki Alto. It will also mark the launch of the Renault Global Modular Platform (RGMP), a heavily modified version of the Common Modular Family-B (CMF-B) platform which was engineered to underpin B and C segment models.

Slew of models, tech options planned for the RGMP platform

“The beauty with the new Duster is that it is based on the Renault Global Modular Platform. This platform is capable of getting smaller cars, bigger cars, higher cars, cars with more payload,” Bruno Vanel, VP, Renault Brand, Product Performance, Renault Group told Acko Drive in an interview earlier. While model(s) bigger than the Duster will come later, a smaller product just teased as the Renault Bridger, will follow soon.

The different top hats or body styles on the RGMP platform will be powered by multiple fuel, technology options. Renault has planned for the platform to have “various types of hybridisation”, LPG, CNG options. Given India’s focus on ethanol adoption, flex fuel models can also be based on the RGMP platform, which is also designed to have an electric four-wheel drive system. The Renault Bridger, expected to be pitted against the Maruti Suzuki Jimny, could be the first to come fitted with that system.

“Indian customers are requesting us not to have the old solutions, but ones which are the future of the automotive industry,” said Vanel.

India to be Renault Duster’s biggest market globally?

The global Coronavirus pandemic, followed by the Russia-Ukraine war, had a major adverse impact on Renault’s overall business, forcing it to prioritise protection of its turf in home market France, and Europe. Under its ‘Renaulition’ strategy, launched in January 2021, Renault Group worked on shifting focus from a volume-driven business model to a value-focused one, in other words, prioritising profitability over volume.    

After consolidating its home market position, Renault is on a drive to revive its international markets. “India is really at the heart” of the global major’s ‘international gameplan’, according to Vanel. The Renault Duster, which enjoys healthy brand recall in India, is expected to be a major driver in executing the gameplan.

India ranked 15th among Renault's global markets in 2025, a drop from the 13th position it held the previous year. Under its renewed international business strategy, which includes a 3 billion Euro investment by 2027, India sits on top even though Renault ended the year 2025 with sales of 38,065 vehicles, translating to a market share of 0.7% only.

However, with a plan to roll out six new offerings (three of them already announced) by next year, a fully owned manufacturing plant with an annual capacity of 400,000+ vehicles, a global engineering team of 4,000 engineers, a design centre, and a revived sales strategy, Renault has big ambitions in India, and sees it as potentially its biggest market globally in a few years.

The upcoming Renault Duster is expected to build the foundation of the new growth phase, and the production version of the Renault Bridger small SUV will have the responsibility to broadbase Renault’s customer base in India.   

India is also seen as becoming the Renault Duster’s biggest market globally. “Definitely, India will be one of the top markets, if not the top market for Duster,” said Vanel, who also added that the third-generation SUV is not the same as the one launched in Europe a year and a half ago. “We re-engineered the Duster completely. The body is different. The platform has been fully re-engineered. We've got a new electronic architecture,” he said.

With a never-before raised bet, Renault gears up for an accelerated drive in India. It will need to have a big tank full of sustained efforts, and a growing portfolio of attractive and value-for-money products to yield the desired benefits in an increasingly competitive and promising market – India.