Nissan has teased the Tekton, a new SUV that leans heavily on the Patrol, as well as its alliance partner Renault.
Designed primarily for India, the Tekton is clearly based on the Dacia/Renault Duster. To convert it into a Nissan, the front and rear ends have been redesigned without touching any of the Duster’s sheet metal.
At the front there’s a new headlight stack with graphics borrowed from the ‘Y63’ Patrol, which is due to launch in Australia some time in 2026. The faux metal pair of stripes that bisects the grille and runs the width of the car is also inspired the next-generation Patrol.
The facial makeover also includes a new bumper with silver highlights around the lower air intakes, and massive Tekton lettering on the leading edge of the bonnet.
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Around the side, the Tekton features new alloy wheels and a redesigned fake vent where the front door meets the fender.
At the back, Nissan has replaced the Duster’s angle bracket tail-lights with something a little more traditional. Again, the graphics are pay homage to the new Patrol, as does the reworked tailgate, which, like the Patrol, has a red light bar stretching across it.
The Tekton will be built in the Renault-Nissan Alliance factory in Chennai alongside the Indian-market Renault Duster, which has yet to debut.
When the Tekton goes on sale in India, it will be positioned above the locally built Magnite, a SUV that takes advantage of tax breaks offered to sub-4m vehicles. The only other car in Nissan’s Indian showrooms is the fully imported X-Trail, which is not only significantly larger, but burdened with tariffs.
Nissan says the Tekton will be sold in “select global markets”, although it has yet announce which. Most likely these will include countries in the sub-continent, and perhaps parts of Asia and the Middle East.
While Nissan has been keen to unwind its financial and development ties with Renault since the arrest and ouster of former CEO Carlos Ghosn, the Japanese brand is still making use of its Alliance partner. In addition to the Tekton, the latest Nissan Micra EV for Europe is a rebodied Renault 5 E-Tech.
No word yet on whether the Tekton is heading to Australia, but if it did head this way, it would slot in underneath the Qashqai. While there’s just a 9mm difference in their wheelbases, the Qashqai is 4425mm long, while the Duster measures 4343mm from nose to tail.
The Qashqai is based on the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance’s larger CMF-CD platform, while the Duster/Tekton uses the ‘low specification’ version of the Alliance’s CMF-B architecture.
The Renault Duster was launched in Australia in August, and is the first Dacia-designed model to be sold Down Under.