While we await the verdict of the 2025 European Car of the Year award, Dacia Duster’s latest generation has come home with a less hefty but gratifying victory in Poland. The brand new model of off-road vehicle, which originated in Mioveni, Romania, has been officially declared as the 2025 Car of the Year in Poland, having stiff competition from the Audi A5 and Renault Rafale. As will be elaborated in this article, the fact that Duster has emerged as a winner in this national competition is testimony to the improved quality of, as well as the value and aesthetic appeal offered by this model.

The 2025 Car of the Year of Poland is actually an event organized every year by a group of Polish auto journalists. The goal of the contest is to identify which new car that has been released within the last year is the most innovative, of the highest quality and has the greatest appeal. This year the panel dissected not less than 40 new vehicles currently on the market and chose those with the highest performance.

But what’s special about the Dacia Duster? In fact, the Duster has always been loved for its superb purchase price ratio as well as wonderful practicality points. In terms of the interior, it is quite large, comfortable to ride in, and also gives a great ride for families that are searching for an affordable car to use. It thus goes without saying that it has managed to sell itself to the Polish populace.

Since its launch, the new generation Dacia Duster has received much critical appreciation, and more features have been lauded for its excellent design, better functionality, and HFC that embodies efficiency. This tuning program, in fact, shows steps between the basic design of the little Duster upon its launch and the second-generation model, which is more elegant than the first. However, the latest model had recently received such a prestigious title as the Car of the Year in Poland for the 2025 model, which proved that Duster has grown up.

Nevertheless, the Duster has been experiencing some strong competition from other B-segment automobile manufacturers, especially from Audi A5 and Renault Rafale. But as the expert jury has given its verdict, the Duster has emerged as the winner. Indeed, the Duster got 69 points in the contest and 6/6 in four spheres at that. Furthermore, the Mioveni model was the first favored by not less than eight of the 21 jurors who are journalists. The Audi A5 was second with 55 points, and the Renault Rafale took third place with 52 points.

This makes the Dacia brand ranked 10th in sales within Poland, where it sold around 15000 cars in 2024. Dacia Duster alone would have contributed to making up that figure since it won a place in the Car of the Year competition. The success of the Duster shows that the appeal for both build quality and affordability has struck home with the Polish consumer, maybe especially with families in mind.

It is also important to add that Dacia has known success in the Polish market, which was indicated by the fact that it sold more than 80000 vehicles in Poland in the year 2022. However, it must be pointed out that Dacia has achieved fairly good progress in the highly competitive Polish car market, and it has been growing as a producer of cars of good quality at relatively low prices.

Finally, the new generation Dacia Duster was awarded the 2025 Car of the Year in Poland, where the SUV recorded excellent sales and performance. The current Duster is more stylish, more spacious, and cheaper than the average car, which stimulates the demand for the model among Polish consumers and international buyers.

We shall be waiting to see the overall results of the 2025 European Car of the Year tournament, in which the Duster has set the pace for the other competitors. And while the fight is tough, few would want to deny the Duster a similar triumph on the European market. To my mind, the Duster is still a clear winner, and it will be interesting to follow how this car will evolve and perform in the following years.