French carmaker Renault was recently seen testing the new Duster in the high altitude proving grounds of the Himalayas. Duster, which cemented Renault’s position in the Indian automotive scenario like no other Renault before, has seen its sales slow down to a drizzle in the recent past.

The update is a little more than a mere facelift, as we came to know from a quick chat with the Renault guys that came along with the Duster. Among the not-so-apparent updates is the BS-6 and crash safety upgrade. While the underpinnings of the car are the same as the old model, the engine which is now BS-VI compliant is also tuned to make more power. Pedestrian safety in the event of a crash has also been upgraded by increasing the gap between the bonnet and the underlying engine components.

Other upgrades are mostly cosmetic, and the first thing we took notice of is the young blue colour, that wasn’t available on the pre-facelift Duster. Amongst the other things that it receives are roof rails, chunky bumpers with a wider air dam up front, slightly tweaked headlamp cluster and a more pronounced front grille with three discontinuous rows of buttress-shaped chrome embellishments. To fit the more prominent grille, the front skid plate now sits lower and wider, and the fog lamps have bigger and more elaborate housings too. On the tailgate, the most distinct change is the plastic piece that has replaced the chrome garnish wearing the name emblazoned in full. The tail lamps also get plastic pieces that serve to add continuity to the plastic nameplate. The alloy wheels also feature a fresh design, though are slightly undersized for the arches they fill in.

On the inside, the car gets new fabric seats and an updated infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It is also purported to get a sunroof, at least on the top spec trims. Safety employing ABS, parking sensors, dual front airbags, seatbelt reminders and an overspeeding warning is standard across the range.

The updates described above will only be made to the 110 HP diesel and the petrol variants, with the 85HP diesel facing the axe. Transmission duties will be handled by a 6-speed manual / AMT gearbox for diesel and 5-speed manual/CVT for petrol engines.

Apart from the Duster, Renault’s Triber MPV and Kwid hatchback are also expected to carry these design elements and underpinning upgrades.