Unlike the Renault Trafic panel van, the pickup version is as rare as hens’ teeth. The little truck looks a bit odd, like some handy man’s one-off project. Very well executed for sure, but still. Dimension- and weight-wise, the Trafic is comparable to the Mercedes-Benz Vito~Metris.
Neatly parallel parked, owned by a landscaper. A second gen Trafic, powered by a 2.0 liter, 90 DIN-hp turbodiesel. The registered payload capacity is 1,095 kg (2,414 lbs), so it’s a genuine one-tons truck.
The proven recipe, a fully flat truck bed with detachable dropsides. Bonus points for the storage box with a hinged lid, the ladder rack and -especially- the man powered hoist.
The current, third generation of the Renault Trafic was introduced in 2014. Recently, it got an upgraded interior with a new dashboard and a redesigned face.
Nissan’s Renault Trafic is called the NV300. Here’s the new NV300 Combi with its revised facade. Presumably, the panel van will get this front too, soon enough.
In New Zealand and Australia, the Trafic is marketed as the Mitsubishi Express.
Once upon a time, not that long ago, the same van was also offered by Opel and Vauxhall, called the Vivaro. PSA took over Opel~Vauxhall and soon after, the Vivaro moved over to PSA genes.
Then along came Stellantis. Yet the contemporary Fiat Talento van is still very much based on the Renault Trafic. Now how long will that last? My bet is on a Renault/Nissan/Mercedes-Benz partnership for the development of an all new generation of mid-size commercial vans.
Although this style of van-based pickup/flatbed has never been really popular in the US, I’ve started seeing a few on the RAM ProMaster (nee FIAT Ducato) chassis/cab. Less often on the Ford Transit.
With the exception of the VW Transporter, the light trucks are normally based on the “full-sizers”: Ford Transit, MB Sprinter, VW Crafter (and the identical MAN TGE), Renault Master (and the identical Nissan NV400), Iveco Daily plus the Grand-Stellantis-Collection (Fiat, Peugeot, Citroën, Opel, Vauxhall)
Below a Fiat Ducato single cab flatbed truck. Naturally, a double cab is also available.
I knew of the Reanult, Vauxhall (Opel) and (slightly less common) Nissan versions, but Fiat is a surprise!
They can even make it look race track-proof!
My proposal was chosen by Patrick Le Quement for the design of the original W83 way back in 1997 when working at Opel, having just finished the Zafira A. We had collaborated on the “Bridge Van” Opel version of the old Trafic – Johannes, you are probably one of the only people who even knows of that one – (how many of those were sold or survive?) and the Opel designers were asked to submit sketches for its replacement, which was to be a larger vehicle, competing with the T4 and Transit.
It is always assumed that Renault was responsible entirely for the design, but this is not true – there was a complete GM Opel team based in Paris during development. I ended up spending a wonderful couple of years there working with the great Renault team, with Patrick Le Charpy as my opposite number. My blue ’66 Corvette 427 is apparently still remembered.
The original W83 as Opel Vivaro, Renault Trafic and Nissan Primastar became the best selling van in its class for a number of years.
One of my favorite projects!
Here are some of the sketches…
Opps! Too big – here they are…
Thanks Huey, great stuff! I remember from one of your previous comments that you were seriously involved (to say the least) in the whole project, so thanks for chiming in again.
Ditto. I always liked that design, as it was distinctive and unique. By having the cab be curved and a bit taller than the rest of the body, it really broke the usual mold for boxy vans.
Congratulations.
There was a reason for that beyond styling. Because vans sit “tail up” unladen and have to be under 2m garage height in Europe, it means that the area above the driver is around 60mm under that height. The “Jumbo roof” takes the height back up to 2m and seats the driver 60mm higher and about the same further forward. The gas tank situated under the driver can then be higher and shorter allowing the front of the side door opening to come forward just enough to make an aperture wide enough to be able to load a Euro pallet from the side – a first in this class for the normal wheelbase vehicles and a huge logistical advantage for operators.
Splendid! And I always thought it was about giving the driver more headroom, but now I learn the secret was in making the side-door opening wide enough for Euro-pallets…
Great stuff – I love it when a practical benefit leads to style like this. Thanks for letting us in on the secret and well done.
+1, congrats on the van design.
Hi Johannes, have you ever seen one of these original Trafics badged as an Opel? I did a new grille for it, but can’t even remember what it was called! Can you? They were a whole class smaller and used the 1400cc gas or 1.9l Diesel motors. The larger Renault van at the time was the Master which was done at Bertone, which was quite a bit larger than T4 and Transit.
The great thing about W83 was that Le Quement was not afraid to have a product that was polarizing as Renault was not established in that market. they liked the non-automotive “tool like” quality in my sketches and M. Le Charpy really helped to keep that character. GM marketing would never have chosen my design – they would have pushed for a T4 copy and we would have had a “me too” rather than a trendsetter.
Funnily enough, when I was new in the Style Porsche one of my colleagues saw one of the first W83 delivery vans arriving at our canteen and I remarked that I had been involved with it. His reply was that he thought it was horribly ugly, would never sell and that I should only do interiors at Porsche!
I never saw them with an Opel badge, I’m certain about that.
Starting from the German-Renault Trafic-Wikipedia site, it turned out it was called the Opel Arena:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel_Arena_(Kleintransporter)
That’s right! Thank you Johannes – I had totally forgotten that!
I have seen vauxhall badges versions, remember it standing out as odd at the time.
It’s completely new to me that Opel was involved in the design as I’d always assumed it was a purely Renault project.
Any other hidden gems you’re allowed to share?
I’m currently studying at the RCA, intelligent mobility after an automotive design degree at Swansea. Have met a few former Citroen designers along with the usual UK based stuff.
Hi Nathan, Opel only changed the grille on the Arena – I think it was only sold for a couple of years (hence our project name – “Bridge Van”) leading up to the W83 Vivaro/Trafic/Primastar, where the theme sketches came from Opel. I also worked on a new grille for the Movaro – the GM version of the Master. In Paris we had a great team working on it – Bibi Sec on the interior and an excellent exterior guy whose name escapes me at the moment (its along time ago!). I even forgot that we actually started in 1996, looking at dates on sketches. Patrick Le Charpy worked brilliantly with the engineering team and Le Quement fought to prevent the design being watered down. I was privileged to experience Renault at a period where it really set and lead design trends. GM didn’t publicize the design process for the Vivaro, whereas Renault did, hence the sketches shown were from their designers and the assumption that they were responsible for the complete design. There are many designs that one finds out were created by people other than the ones they are commonly attributed to.
The then new campus at Guyancourt was pretty amazing , too, having 5 espresso bars and 3 restaurants, one being run by a 2 Michelin star chef – the one I regularly dined at as it was ridiculously cheap and the wine was excellent! It had a great road around it that proved ideal for demonstrating the acceleration of a Big Block ‘Vette. Fun times!
I’ve had the pleasure (and pain) of working on lots of vehicles from Smart sized to Class 8 Trucks, so yes, there are other “gems” – some I can share, others still under embargo.
I see you are going down the route I travelled and getting onto the RCA course shows you have talent – Design is one of those callings requiring great passion and commitment and you will have highs and lows, but keep believing in yourself and make sure you take on board any constructive criticism offered and you will be fine.
I’d forgotten about the Arena too, to the extent I had to google it.
Being on the smaller side this is THE truck for me. Every time I’ve rented one from the orange colored big box home store it’s been a F450/ F550 and a mega PITA to load. They do have drop sides roughly 4.5′ ft/ 1.4 mt high so good luck schlepping up something heavy. They also have ramps but then you have to find a triple space large enough to accommodate everything. I’ll take a VW though as it just looks beefier even though we all know it’s not even close.
Talk about great truck designs! – The Bulli you show and the Citroen HY are seminal postwar European examples, along with the mid ’60s Transit. I think they reflect their origins with 3 totally distinctive layouts and styles.
Our wedding Barouche was a ’59 Splittie surf bus, so I guess I am biased!
That one-piece-design went out of the window with the introduction of the T4 (the switch from rear to front engine).
Since then, all Transporter pickups look like below, everything exposed, just like the full-sizers. Needless to mention that such Transporters (single or double cab) are all over the place.
Huey mentions the Bulli. The most dressed-up edition of the current generation (T6.1) is also called Bulli.
It’s odd how Home Depot has such a wide range of vehicles across its stores but not always in the same store. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen an F550 but ours has an F250, a couple of vans and recently got this Transit Flatbed with dropsides that worked out perfectly for some 16ft lumber I needed. Low liftover and a joy to drive.
I don’t think this is a handy man’s job. There is a sticker clearly visible of the Van den Born Carrosserie company. Van den Born builds quite a lot for major clients like municipalities and for example ‘Rijkswaterstaat’ the Dutch interstate and waterboard management office.
You can compare the sticker to this website: https://www.conam.info/images/stories/carrosseriebouwers3/Born%20carrosserie%20125%20jaar%20jubileum%20boek.pdf about a publicaties of a book about there history.
It most certainly isn’t a handy man’s job. But the whole configuration looks a bit disjointed/incoherent, so to say. Unlike the VW Transporters of yore, as the blue one above.
Thanks for pointing out it’s built by Van den Born, I overlooked the sticker.
Neat van, and the locally built Vivaro was a big hit in the UK.
I think you’re right about a consolidation in the van market – Stellantis are already building the Toyota Proace in Europe based on the Citroen Dispatch/Vivaro/Fiat Scudo, and on smaller vans too. Ford and VW are partnering on the next transit/Transporter.
Renault/Nissan and Mercedes have history (Kangoo/Citaro), so that match seems likely.
But it’s a low margin, volume dependent business