Just yesterday, we brought you news about Nissan’s plans to rework and re-badge the Dacia Duster into a new small SUV named the Terrano. Now it’s official with the Japanese carmaker also releasing a teaser sketch previewing the looks of the new model that is scheduled to launch initially in India before the end of the year.

The single rendering suggests that Nissan, a partner of French automaker Renault that owns Dacia, will apply a new fascia together with a re-sculptured hood and profile lines to the Duster, but we’ll have to wait for the actual car to see the changes as sketches can be deceiving…

The new Nissan Terrano will be more expensive than the Dacia model it is based on with the Japanese brand calling it a “premium SUV”. It will be built at Nissan’s Oragadam Plant alongside the Micra hatchback, Sunny sedan and Evalia van.

President and CEO of Nissan India, Kenichiro Yomura, said the new Terrano will play a key role in increasing the brand’s sales in the country.

“I am delighted to reveal both the name and the very first image of what will be a very important model for Nissan,” he said. “You can see from the sketch that Terrano has a bold and distinctive design that I am confident will appeal to our growing customer base in India, as will its driving performance and range of other features that will be revealed at a later date.”

Nissan did not provide any information on the engine range (though, expect four-cylinder gasoline and possibly a diesel as well), nor did it say if the Terrano will be offered in markets outside of India.

Story References: Nissan via Indianautosblog

PHOTO GALLERY

Nissan-Terrano-Sketch2013-Renault-Duster