The first-ever Duster Pickup didn’t come from Dacia
or Renault; it was Romanian coachbuilding company Romturingia who first
launched a Duster-based pickup back in October 2014. Regular folks couldn’t
buy it, as it was built exclusively for a major fleet customer in a run of 500
units. About six months later, Renault came out with its own Duster Oroch
pickup for South America.
Said model had a crew cab with four doors and a
rather short bed. Romturingia’s version, on the other hand, was more
work-oriented and adopted a two-door regular cab with a longer bed behind it. Ever since Dacia unveiled the
second-generation Duster a year ago, customers interested in a Duster workhorse
have been wondering when a pickup version would arrive. Well, they don’t have
to wonder anymore as the Romanian coachbuilder is once again the first to
create a Duster Pickup.
At the IAA Hannover Commercial Vehicle Show last
month, Romturingia revealed a 2018 Duster Pickup prototype that follows in the
footsteps of its predecessor. It features a regular cab as well and a bed lined with a
damage-resistant material. It also looks very well-built and could easily pass
as a factory-made model. In fact, everything from the B-pillars rearward is modified
compared to the SUV. The underpinnings stay the same, though.
The Duster Pickup is powered by the 110 PS 1.5-liter dCi turbodiesel that sends power to all four wheels via an on-demand
4WD system. We haven’t got any details on whether this first prototype will be
followed by a model people can actually buy. However, we wouldn’t be surprised
if Romturingia has a production version in the pipeline.
