Tatas may roll out a new truck on Renault platform

By: NANDINI SEN GUPTA & PARVATHY ULLATIL

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: A renault from Tatas? It’s a Trafic-stopper. If you thought the Logan will be the only Renault vehicle due in ’07, think again. A volume product from Tata Motors’ commercial vehicles stable may roll out on the well-known Renault Trafic platform.

According to auto industry sources, Tata Motors has acquired and is productionising the jigs and dies of the last-generation Renault Trafic. The company is reportedly working on a panel van based on that.

A Tata Motors spokesperson said: “Tata Motors is working on several innovations on its product portfolio. However, we cannot share any details on our future launch plans for confidential purposes.”

Sources, however say, in what was a bargain deal, Tata Motors acquired the Trafic jigs and dies for around Rs 80 crore. The company plans to use the Trafic platform to plug the current gap in its product portfolio between the Ace and the 407, say auto analysts.

The Trafic platform is an extremely flexible architecture and can be used to crank out everything from pick-ups to panel vans in the three to nine seater range, say sources.

The current generation of the Renault Trafic and its stablemate the Opel Vivaro light commercial vans debuted at the ’00 Frankfurt auto show in both panel van (for goods transportation) and combi (people-carrier) versions. Currently, the duo are available in multiple engine options including 1.9 litre Crdi and 2 litre petrol.

The Trafic-Vivaro was the result of a special $600m cooperation project between Renault and GM in the mid 90s. The two firms signed a ‘cooperation agreement’ in 1996-end to jointly design, engineer and produce the vehicles, which were then badged and marketed separately.

Under the deal Renault supplied the engines and the platform, while Opel took care of the production. After Renault’s tie-up with Nissan it was sold in a third avatar — the Nissan Primastar.