Promoted by online sales platforms, freight transport has experienced exponential growth at a time when urban centres are increasingly restricting access. In this new equation, it is clear that traditional freight vans will be less and less suitable for the needs of drivers, professionals and traders. Thanks to the new FlexEVan electric commercial vehicle platform developed by Flexis (a company in which the Renault Group is a partner), Renault has designed the ideal new van for the city, 65 years after Estafette revolutionised the van world in its day.
A worthy heir to the legendary small van born in 1959, the Estafette Concept shares much more with Estafette than the sympathetic round headlights. Both vehicles convey innovation and practicality. If the ancestor had inaugurated for all the brand’s models an architecture completely shifted to the front – engine and transmission – to free load volume, the new Estafette 4.0 introduces the new FlexEVan electric platform destined to revolutionise the commercial vehicle offer. Designed to make life easier for professional operators, drivers, craftsmen and tradesmen, both play the compactness card.
Spacious on the inside and compact on the outside, they are capable of carrying generous loads while being easy to park. Both are equipped with two practical and secure sliding doors. Finally, both were designed for and with professional operators in mind. In 1959, Renault even organised a national trucking championship to launch the Estafette. The model was presented as a concept car, but in two years it would become a production vehicle.
