Renault is considering an electric MPV to rival the Volkswagen ID Buzz – and it could reprise the radical seating arrangement from the Mk1 Espace.
Unwrapping the new Trafic E-Tech electric van alongside the closely related Goelette and Estafette (below) at The Commercial Vehicle show in Birmingham, Renault van design chief Yannick Bignon told Autocar that a people-carrying version is under consideration: “Today, it’s under study. We have not yet confirmed it, but it's under study.”
Asked whether the skateboard-style EV platform that underpins the trio of vans could allow for more radical seating arrangements, such as the swivelling ‘captain’s chairs’ from the Espace, Bignon replied: “Everything that you say will be the way that we are working on.”
However, he added that it was “too early” to talk in detail about such a version of the Trafic E-Tech, saying: “If we confirm the people mover, it will be [later].”
An MPV is understood to be just one of more than 35 different derivatives of the Trafic, Goelette and Estafette that have been pitched to Renault Group boss Luca de Meo, alongside a camper van and a food truck.
Heinz-Jürgen Löw, senior vice-president of Renault’s van arm, said that such a vehicle “could be a good idea – not yet, but of course we’re looking”.
Hinting at how the van’s design might lend itself to a more conventional passenger vehicle, Löw elaborated: “The beauty of the skateboard is that you can scale it. And we have [prioritised] the manoeuvrability. I think this is the only one-tonne [payload] van with the turning radius of a Clio [supermini].”
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