Renault Definition
Source (google.com.pk)The Renault Espace is a large MPV from French car-maker Renault. Generations 1–3 were sold under the Renault brand but manufactured by Matra. The current fourth generation model, which seats seven passengers, is an all-Renault product; the Renault Grand Espace is a long-wheelbase version with increased rear leg room and boot size. The name "Espace" means "space" in French.
The Espace is often credited as being the world's first MPV (a claim Renault themselves encourage). However, the 1950 Volkswagen Type , also known as the Kombi, and the 1956 Fiat 600 Multipla, popularised the versatile multi-seater concept some 30 years prior to the Espace, and the concept had been tried several times before that, an early example being the 1935 Stout Scarab, and there was the very similar in concept Plymouth Voyager which Lee Iacocca claims was proposed by himself in 1973 when he was working at Ford, although he never got the chance to build it until he went to Chrysler in 1984, the same year the Renault Espace was launched.
In December 2011, Renault announced that the Laguna, Espace, Kangoo, Modus, and Wind lines would be axed in the United Kingdom as part of a cost-cutting plan to help the company earn a profit.
This change took effect in February 2012. The Laguna, Espace, Kangoo, Modus, and Wind lines are still available in Europe.
The Espace's design was originally conceived in the 1970s by the British designer, Fergus Pollock, (at around the same time as Giorgetto Giugiaro's 1978 Lancia Megagamma concept MPV), who was working for Chrysler UK (formerly the Rootes Group), at their design centre at Whitley, (now the Jaguar design centre) in Coventry. Later Matra, who were affiliated with Simca, the then French subsidiary of Chrysler, were involved in partnership in the design, spearheaded by Greek designer Antonis Volanis.
The Espace was originally intended to be sold as a Talbot, and to be a replacement for the Matra Rancho leisure activity vehicle. Early prototypes used Simca parts, and hence featured a grille reminiscent of the Simca 1307 (Chrysler Alpine).
In 1978, six years before the Espace went into production, Chrysler UK and Simca were sold to the French company PSA Peugeot Citroën (PSA), and the Espace design was given to Matra.
PSA decided the Espace was too expensive and too risky a design to put into production, and Matra took their idea to Renault (PSA finally ventured into the minivan sector eleven years later with the Citroën Evasion/Peugeot 806).
In 1982, Pierre Heymann who was working on the comparative testing for automobiles at the French National Consumer Institute, made his design for an ideal car and proposed it to Renault.
The Matra concept became the Renault Espace. The design featured a fiberglass body mounted on a warm-galvanized steel chassis, using the same technique and assembly line at the factory as the Talbot Matra Murena. In fact, the introduction of the Espace required the relatively small factory to cease the production of the Murena, to make room for the Espace.