The Renault group’s best-seller in the world, the Duster SUV did not appear in 2010. The first version of the adventurer of the Romanian brand Dacia was born much earlier, in 1980. Argus offers you a return to your roots.
For the general public, the Dacia Duster was born in 2010 at the instigation of Renault, which became the owner of the Romanian brand in the summer of 1999. But in fact a first version of the Romanian adventurer already existed in the 1980s. It is not Dacia which is at the origin of the project but its compatriot and nevertheless competitor, the Romanian automobile manufacturer ARO (acronym of Romanian Automobiles) founded in 1957. Established in Transylvania, in the center of Romania, the ARO brand has made his hand by assembling in its beginnings a Russian military machine named IMS 57. Then, in the 1970s, ARO offered a real range with the model 24.
>> The history of the Dacia Duster in pictures <<
Dacia Duster: the anti-Lada Niva!
The following decade gave way to the ARO 10, which targeted the Lada Niva, which was still very young at the time (it was launched in 1977). This model is powered by Dacia blocks and moreover imported into France from 1982. In England, it bears the name Dacia Duster. It is the local importer who baptized it thus to offer an alternative half the price to the more accessible of Land Rovers. If the line was born, success is not at the rendezvous. This first Duster, which ultimately only has its price for it, compiles the flaws: 62 hp engine too tight and lack of torque in off-road use, fanciful assemblies of poor quality components… All in all to displease! The Dacia Duster will have a very discreet career across the Channel, where it will nevertheless remain in the catalog until the early 1990s.
A long career for the Duster 1
In other less demanding regions, the ARO 10, which is also called Dacia 10 or ACM Enduro 4×4, remains in the catalog until 2003. Adaptable as desired, it is available in many body styles: three doors, five doors, sheet metal, tarpaulin, hard-top or even single and double cab pick-ups. Variety, he also knows it under its hood, which successively houses various mechanics. Blocks Dacia 1300 and 1400, Clio 1 1.9 D 65 hp, Renault 19, petrol engine from Twingo 1, but also Peugeot 2.5 diesel then 2.1 diesel engines, before returning to an R19 turbo diesel unit in 1999. And for better meet the constraints of local markets, ARO models often change their names. They are called Caro in America, Portaro in Portugal or Hisparo in Spain.
Renaissance in 2010
Also, when relaunching a rustic and affordable backpacker in the 2010s, the H79 project, the Renault managers, surfing on the success of the Logan, very logically took up the Duster surname. He has proven himself!
TO READ. Dacia Duster 1. It could have been the new Renault 4!
