Renault & Nissan have started working on new SUV models for the Indian market. The alliance partners recently announced huge investments in India and a Hyundai Creta rival is what we will see hit the streets by Diwali 2025. Both, Renault & Nissan will launch a product similar to their Duster & Terrano from the past, but a more modern SUV to fight competition which keeps increasing. A total of 4 vehicles are being said to be in development.
Around Diwali 2025, Renault is expected to launch a 5-seater Duster model. A 3-row 7-seater Duster is expected by June 2026. Soon after each of these product debuts, Nissan will also introduce their derivative in respective segments. This products will be Made-in-India, but will also be exported to key emerging markets. Renault has codenamed their SUV project as P1311-R & P-1312-R while for Nissan, the codenames are P1311-N & P-1312-N.
Based on the CMF-B platform, the shorter 5-seater model will be followed by a 3-row version within 6 months. So both Renault & Nissan are betting big on these projects.
Unfortunately, the diesel game is over for SUVs coming out from Renault & Nissan. All of these new products in development will debut with a petrol engine option, and hybrids are also being evaluated. But sadly, no diesel engine option. Hybrid variant kits could be imported and such electrified variants could sit on top of the variant lineup. Hybrid kits are not under any plan to be localised in India.
With the Renault Kiger & Nissan Magnite, both brands noticed a positive impact in sales numbers after the Global NCAP crash test results where both these SUVs scored very well. So it can be assumed that Renault & Nissan would only try to better their result in such crash tests, so that the market sentiment is positive for their new & highly anticipated SUV launch.
Renault Duster & Nissan Terrano did fairly well when launched in India, but Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos dominated the market back then and now there is even bigger competition in the form of Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara. Pricing will be key, but so will quality, features & performance.
