The new Trafic is making its UK debut at the CV Show today
I WENT along to a Renault dinner the night prior to the CV Show to preview the new Renault Trafic and new Renault Master vans.
Darren Payne at Renault’s pre-CV Show dinner
The new Renault Trafic features a fantastic ‘office on wheels’ cabin environment, really usable load capacity and lower running costs thanks to new engines that improve fuel economy.
The new Renault Master features a new front face, the same style office on wheels functionality and a new model – a rear wheel drive long wheelbase model with single rear wheels aimed squarely at the courier business.
Over dinner I sat opposite Renault’s sales director, Darren Payne and I asked him how important the new Renault Trafic was to Renault. Over at Ford, I said, the Transit Custom is the company’s number 3 best selling fleet model overall. Where does the Trafic sit in Renault?
As it turns out, the Trafic is the number 3 Renault fleet product, but Darren said he preferred to see it in terms of the Renault Group of products, including Dacia. So here’s Renault’s top 5 fleet sales vehicles:
Renault Clio
Renault Captur
Dacia Sandero
Dacia Duster
Renault Trafic
No word yet on whether Renault would introduce a range of good value Dacia commercial vehicles – answer ‘not yet’ although judging by the times readers ask the question, there appears to be pent up demand for a no-nonsense good value product that Dacia could deliver.
One other piece of news from Darren was that Renault’s contract hire offering now has a new funder. From July, all Renault contract hire business will be underwritten by its own bank, RCI, rather than using a white label version from Arval.
Either way, contract hire remains a good way to fund a vehicle without depleting your cash reserves. Next time you want to buy a van you should consider it.
