Renault could take on ID Buzz with Espace-style electric MPV
Renault’s van-making arm is evaluating an Espace-style people carrier based on new Trafic E-Tech van
New Trafic E-Tech is smallest of three new electric vans revealed by Renault
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2 mins read
29 April 2025
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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.”
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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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The comments reaffirm Autocar’s previous report that a Renault MPV in the vein of the original Espace, after the Espace name was reprised for a seven-seat SUV based on the Austral.
Olivier Brosse, Renault’s global leader for the Ampr Medium EV platform, last year told Autocar that a new model in the vein of the seminal MPV was “something we are contemplating”.
“Technically I think it is possible, but after that we would have to consider if an MPV would be accepted by European customers,” added Brosse.
Notably, Volkswagen has made headway with its ID Buzz since Brosse spoke to Autocar: according to data from analyst Jato Dynamics, it has sold nearly 5000 in Europe so far this year, more than double what it had managed at the same point in 2024.
Kia is also angling for a slice of the market, priming a passenger version of its forthcoming PV5 electric van.
Elsewhere in the world, MPVs are undergoing a revival. They have exploded in popularity in China, for example, where notable recent entrants include the Zeekr Mix, Li Mega and Maxus Mifa 7.
