Renault should have stuck with the Espace in the UK

This is true of the very latest Renault Espace, for example, which is currently entering Renault showrooms in France and mainland Europe as I write. Not destined to be sold in the UK or other key global RHD markets, the new sixth-generation Espace is based on the Renault Austral, a new larger SUV that made its dynamic debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard.

The new Renault Espace shares its frontal styling and body panels with the Austral, but is 21cm longer to accommodate a third row of seats and up to seven occupants with a more upright squarer rear end. All fine in principle, but the all-new Espace lacks the innovation, versatility and practicality of the 1984 original, plus most of its successors.

The original glass-fibre-bodied Espace made its debut almost 40 years ago in 1984 with the Matra-invented one-box ‘van with windows’ people carrier. It created a whole new vehicle segment, just beaten to the ‘first modern MPV’ title by the Chrysler Dodge Caravan/Plymouth Voyager combo, launched as a flexible seat ‘Mini Van’ (MPV) in the USA. But it was the Matra-built Renault that defined this important new MPV market sector, ultimately spawning many copy-cat competitors over the years.

Matra originally conceived the one-box people carrier concept way back in 1978. It was intended as a potential replacement for the rugged Matra Rancho, an influential tough-styled Simca 1100-based ‘off-roader’ that long anticipated the crossover vehicle trend and largely influenced the design of the first 1989 Land Rover Discovery. Matra was aligned to the PSA Groupe (now Stellantis) at the time, so initially offered that original concept to Peugeot-Talbot, basing its pre-production development prototypes on contemporary Peugeot 505 running gear. In its questionable wisdom, PSA rejected it, so Matra went to Peugeot’s arch rival Renault, which snapped up the idea.

Espace sales were slow initially, as would-be buyers took a moment to get their heads around this clever new concept, with seven rearrangeable and removable seats in a car with a footprint no longer than a regular mid-size family saloon. Once the flexibility of this pioneering car was understood, however, sales really took off. New Espaces were flying out of Renault showrooms faster than Matra could build them.

You could argue, though, that the Espace was not the very first one-box MPV. That honour could be given to the coachbuilt Castagna bodied A.L.F.A. 40/60 in 1914, created as a one-off for Count Mario Ricotti. This hand-beaten aluminium machine forecast the shape of things to come, some 70 years ahead of the Espace.

Fiat pioneered the mini MPV with its small but versatile rear-engined 600-based Multipla in 1956. There were also concepts such as architect Mario Bellini-s unique Citroen-based 1972 ‘Kar-a-sutra,’ plus Bertone’s Fiat 850 ‘Visitor Bus’ prototype and Giorgetto Giugiaro’s influential Alfa Romeo New York Taxi concept of 1976 and follow-up Lancia MegaGamma of 1978.

Actual mass-production competitors to the Espace quickly began to be built in the mid-1980s. There was the Nissan Prairie, Toyota Space Cruise, Ford Galaxy, VW Sharan and Seat Alhambra. Ironically, the PSA Groupe saw the success of Matra’s pioneering concept that it had rejected and introduced its own MPV segment rivals: the Peugeot 806 and Citroen C8.

Before long, the MPV sector was booming. Mercedes-Benz got in there with the Vito/V-Klass, there was the Mazda MPV, Nissan Elgand, Toyota Previa/Alphard, Mitsubishi Grandis, GM Pontiac TranSport, Oldsmobile Silhouette, Buick GL8, and so on.

Following its tardy Series I launch in 1984, just four years later Renault successfully facelifted the Espace with a more aerodynamic front end – resembling France’s high-speed TGV train – to create the popular Series 2. This updates included the introduction of the useful four-wheel-drive Quadra derivative (now a much sought classic). In 1991 Renault launched the larger Mark II Espace, still conceived and built by Matra at its Romorantin factory. It used a stand-alone separate modular construction with laminated fibreglass panels and a fully-galvanised steel frame. In 1996 the fourth-generation Matra-made Espace was introduced, with a longer wheelbase Grand Espace added in 1998, still conceptually true to the original 1984 concept. 

As a distraction, in 2001, Renault introduced the answer to the question nobody ever really asked; a range-topping high-roof two-door coupe based on the Espace platform. Called Avantime, the car failed to win over customers, the Matra factory struggling to overcome the challenge of building the model with its exceptionally-long and complex doors. Partly due to the troubling and failed Avantime experience, for the Mark IV Espace of 2002 Renault abandoned Matra and chose to build the new version itself in-house at its Sandouville plant. It was based around the Vel Satis platform, and ended the model’s innovative GRP bodyshell construction.  In late 2014 Renault presented the fifth-generation Espace, lowering the model’s roofline to give the it a sportier and more premium look whist shifting production over to its Douai factory in Northern France.

Now with the all-new Espace 6, production of the model has finally left France, moving south of the border to Palencia in Spain, where its Renault Austral sibling is also made. The Espace name has been retained, but the format and style of the car now reflects the changing tastes of today’s market by becoming more of an SUV than an MPV.

The Espace isn’t the only pioneering model to now be abandoned by Renault. Inspired by the huge popularity of the Espace during the mid-1990s, Renault launched a smaller sister high-roof MPV model, the Megane Scenic, in 1996.  The Scenic was an instant hit, the model soon became the best-selling new car in France, and once again informed a response from many rivals. These included the Vauxhall/Opel Zafira, the award-winning Ford S-Max, the VW Tiguan, Fiat Multplia, Toyota Verso, Nissan Serena, Mazda 5, plus PSA’s own Citroen Zsara, C4-based Picasso and Peugeot 3008/4008.

That junior mid-MPV segment still exists, and thrives today, despite its inventor, Renault, temporarily and unwisely leaving it for its rivals to make hay while it prepares its new Scenic, based around the latest Megane E-Tech. Sure, Renault now offers other SUVs, such as the Captur and Arkana, just like every other mainstream manufacturer, but changing the once influential concept of its innovative MPVs model and withdrawing from the market sectors that it single-handedly created seems a great loss in my view.