New Dacia Duster Cargo launched

Rear seats getting in the way of your Amazon boxes? Full factory conversion promises to fix that

By PH Staff / Wednesday, 17 September 2025 / Loading comments

You wait for one quirky van to come along and then two arrive at once. Yesterday, it was the Renault 4, a battery-electric solution to the job of moving moderately chunky items around a city; today, it’s the Duster Cargo, a factory conversion of Dacia’s award-winning compact SUV. Without wishing to dampen anyone’s enthusiasm for the former, it is most likely the latter that will appeal to PHers and the Great British public in general - not just for its laudable approach to value, but because it is also immediately available to buy in the UK and predominantly powered by petrol. Which is nice.

It also looks the part. Vaguely rugged SUVs are halfway to vans anyway, and while Dacia hasn’t gone to the trouble of replacing the rear windows (these are now fixed and get an ‘opaque film’ rather than panelling), the Duster clearly isn’t going to look out of place barreling down a farm track. Indeed, this is most of the point: the mild-hybrid 130 version twins a 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine with a 48v motor and four-wheel drive. At £22,995 (without VAT), Dacia is doubtless hoping to tempt buyers who have out-of-the-way deliveries to make.

For those that do, the Cargo supplies 1,149 litres of fillable space thanks to the removal of the rear seats and the introduction of a nice flat load floor. Built to the same N1 commercial spec as the Renault 4, the load area is separated from the passenger compartment via a new mesh bulkhead, intended to prevent your cargo from turning up on your lap. This is especially convenient as Dacia says the Duster will accept a 430kg payload. Significantly shy of the 790kg a custom-made small van like the Ford Transit Connect will accommodate, of course, but you’d expect that.

There is one spec: the Expression, which will furnish you with mostly everything you need, including 17-inch alloy wheels and the 10.1-inch media display. If you can live with two-wheel drive, there is also the prospect of a Dacia’s latest Hybrid 155 powertrain, which mates a naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine to a 50hp electric motor. This will save you some percentage on BIK and cut some time off the Cargo’s 0-62mph time, but it’s auto only and we much prefer the idea of bounding around in a manual Duster-van. If that thought appeals, the newcomer is available to order now ahead of first deliveries later this year.