The Renault Duster has been on sale in Australia for over a year, but it has barely made a dent in the local small SUV market segment. According to Renault, this is due to supply limitations rather than low demand. In the first seven months of 2026, the Duster found 414 new homes, equating to fewer than 60 per month.
This is a far cry from the sales figures of its most direct rival, the Suzuki Jimny, which notched up 4457 sales in the same period, and even the Subaru Crosstrek with 4821 sales. However, Renault Australia general manager Glen Sealey insists the Duster is “selling about right”, and insists that supply from Europe is a greater concern than local interest in the model.
Glen Sealey told media at the Australian launch of the Renault Symbioz that the company has limited stock of the Duster coming into the market. “You see one picture, but we also see the next picture of what we have available coming into the market, and we have not a lot of production on Duster coming through,” he said.
“If I look at our arrivals between now and December, it’s less than 100 cars. So we don’t have a lot of cars coming through between now and the end of the year.” This limited supply is due to the fact that Australian-delivered Dusters are built by the Renault-owned Dacia brand in Mioveni, Romania.
According to the Dacia website, the Mioveni plant produced 175,318 examples in 2025, and per reports, 168,182 Dusters were sold in the same year in Europe alone. This leaves little leeway for the Duster in export markets like Australia.
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The Duster is also produced in Türkiye and, since 2026, India. However, vehicles produced in those countries are generally destined for sale in local regions. As such, Glen Sealey stressed the need for Renault Australia to manage Duster stock carefully and plan ahead.
Glen Sealey said that Renault Australia has to ensure that they have enough stock to meet demand. “That’s how we run the business. We have to ensure that we’ve got enough throughput to keep us going. We don’t get production in December, we don’t get production in June, we don’t get production in August,” he said.
Renault Australia‘s relatively low sales – 2709 units in the first seven months of 2026 – are due in part to issues securing stock. Glen Sealey said Australia remained a key consideration in the production of all of the brand’s right-hand drive models.
Glen Sealey noted that when Renault representatives were in Australia for the Master launch, they ranked Australia as the third-largest right-hand drive market for them. This means that Australia is a consideration in what’s going through.
Despite the challenges, Renault Australia is working to secure more Duster stock to combat the refreshed Suzuki Jimny. They are planning ahead to ensure that they have enough stock to meet demand, but it remains to be seen how this will impact their sales figures in the long run. People looking for a new car may want to consider top new car picks in the small SUV market segment.
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