New Dacia Duster Spirit of Sand celebrates brand’s Dakar domination
The new Duster Spirit of Sand is available exclusively in Dacia’s home market, Romania
Dacia dominated the 2026 Dakar Rally, winning the brutal off-road event in only its second year competing. To celebrate, the brand has created a special Duster Spirit of Sand, featuring the brand-new Hybrid 150 4x4 powertrain, and it’s only making 500 of them.
There’s no need to drive though big puddles or flooded fields to make this Duster look like it's seen some action, because the Spirit of Sand comes with digital dirt graphics along the sides and on the rear bumper. It also gets black 17-inch rims and copper brown accents, while underneath is a 6mm-thick sump guard for the engine and gearbox.
Inside, the Spirit of Sand comes with all the luxuries of the top-of-the-range Extreme model, including synthetic leather upholstery, adjustable lumbar support for the driver’s seat, a 10.1-inch central screen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and adaptive cruise control.
Most interesting is what’s under the bonnet, because the Spirit of Sand features the new hybrid 150 4x4 powertrain, which pairs a 1.2-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine and six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission with two electric motors – one on each axle – that work together to provide 152bhp and all-wheel drive.
The rear e-motor alone provides 30bhp and 87Nm of torque, and unlike other hybrid SUVs, uses a two-speed gearbox. This allows it to deliver high levels of torque at low speeds in its first gear – ideal for off-roading – but in the second it can still drive the rear wheels at speeds of up to 86mph.
With this mild-hybrid system, it’s claimed that the Duster Spirit of Sand can spend up to 60 per cent of the time driving around town purely on electric power, while two 50-litre thanks for petrol and LPG fuel allow it to cover up to roughly 930 miles between trips to the pump.
However, the Dacia Duster Spirit of Sand is available exclusively in the brand’s home market, Romania. But there are plenty of deals available on the award-winning Duster through the Auto Express Buy A Car service, which can help you save more than £3,000 on a brand-new model.
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