What Van? Britain's biggest and best van buyers' guide

Budget Renault-owned brand Dacia is pushing its factory HQ for a converted light commercial version of the Duster small off-roader.

One of the brand’s dealers in Northern Ireland has undertaken a local conversion for a delivery company that enquired as to the possibility, but Dacia brand manager Andy Heiron admitted that the UK subsidiary has requested a factory-fit conversion to be sold as part of the UK line-up. Officially converting the car version would require work including permanent removal
of the seatbelt mountings and blocking of the door handles, as well as removing the rear seats and replacing them with a load cover and potentially slotting in a bulkhead.

“It’s very drawn out, we’re asking them to do something for relatively low volumes; it’s on the table but won’t happen overnight,” Heiron told What Van? “My view is that it will happen, but asking factories to do things is difficult.”

Though the Duster would be an official factory conversion, Dacia is also looking at the possibility of local conversions of its Logan MCV, with a view to the cavernous estate filling the hole in the market left by the Vauxhall Astravan.