New Renault Trafic here soon, ute next

Renault Australia will complete the renewal of its three-model light commercial vehicle range before the middle of the year with the introduction of its all-new Trafic van, leaving only a pick-up style utility based on the new Nissan Navara to follow.

The Trafic has attracted more than 1.6 million buyers since 1981 and the new third-generation model – revealed in March last year — will again compete with the likes of the Ford Transit, Hyundai iLoad and aging Toyota HiAce.

Sold only in second-gen form in Australia, the Trafic has performed well in the fiercely competitive medium van segment, accounting for 10.3 per cent of sales in its segment last year – up 46 per cent on 2013 despite its age.

Speaking at the launch of the French brand's new Captur small SUV this week, Renault Australia Managing Director Justin Hocevar told motoring.com.au he expects big things from the new mid-size van.

"It's a completely new vehicle," explained Hocevar. "I think we're going to maintain our focus on this being a very competitive vehicle in the segment. We've reached a point where we'll now have new small, medium and large vans, which really helps our focus on LCV."

"The Trafic, given its lifecycle, did incredibly well, and we're really pleased the new van is already winning awards in Europe and we absolutely think it's going to continue to do really well [here]."

For now, Renault's van-based LCV segment will maintain course, though it is anticipated a pick-up style utility will follow within the next few years.

Following the preview of the Dacia Duster Oroch concept in Brazil last year Renault has indicated it may seek to develop its first one-tonne ute, with global markets including Australia an obvious target.

"I think the most important message is that Renault wants to cover more areas of the world and we want to cover more segments," Renault design head Laurens van den Acker told motoring.com.au last year. "That’s the big strategic thought also about going into pick-ups… If you don’t have it you don’t play."

It was a sentiment echoed by Renault Asia-Pacific chairman, Gilles Normand, last October when he told motoring.com.au a Thai-sourced one-tonner would assist in growing Renault's local sales share to four per cent [Ed: Renault sales currently account for one per cent of all vehicle sales in Australia].

"We are developing a one-tonne pick-up offer. This is in the plan [and it will] definitely be based on an alliance product," Normand said previously. "It will take a little time because we want to have a significant styling differentiation. It needs to have its own identity at a public level."

Renault has also previously expressed its interest in maintaining its own identity with the 'ute', saying it will not simply be a badge-engineered copy of alliance partner Nissan's next Navara.

It is expected the Renault pick-up will share its platform and mechanical packaging with the new D23-series Navara, which itself is due for release locally within the next couple of months.