In the summer of 1944 the French Ministry of Industrial Production set out a prescriptive plan to make the most of scarce resources for the post war motor industry. It was headed by
Paul-Marie Pons and so it was known as the
Plan Pons. Under the Plan Pons,
Peugeot, Renault and
Chenard & Walcker were restricted to making vans for 1000–1400 kg while
Citroën was to make small trucks for 2 and 3.5 tonnes. However,
Pierre-Jules Boulanger at Citroën ignored the
Plan Pons and went ahead with the design of the
Citroën H Van, which launched in 1947. This
unitary body with no separate frame design, with four-wheel
independent suspension, and
front-wheel drive, offered a powerful motor, capacity, and an exceptionally low loading floor. It was an immediate success, and continued in production to 1981. Renault obeyed the
Plan Pons instructions and designed the 206 E1 following general pre-war design ideas. It had a fixed chassis onto which the van body was bolted and the body was made by fitting metal panels to a wooden frame. This old-fashioned method paid off in terms of the time it took to build and overall production costs, because at the time stamped body panels were relatively expensive and it also saved weight. In this period of material shortages Renault did the best they could and the
1000 kg as it became known was a success, but not on the scale of Citroën's H Series that was selling to small businesses such as shop keepers and tradesmen. It was for this reason that Renault decided to fill the gap between the 300 kg
Renault Juvaquatre and the 1000 kg 206 E1. This position was previously held by the
Renault Colorale van that had ended production in 1957, and left for 2 years without a successor, until the Estafette came over. It was clear that they needed a front-wheel-drive van, but the company had just signed up to a policy of rear-engined, rear-drive models with the 4cv and the Dauphine, then under development for 1957. The only example of a rear-engined van was the
Volkswagen Type 2, and it did not offer load-space or a low floor to rival the Citroën. Reluctantly
Fernand Picard, the designer of the 4cv, agreed to give the go-ahead to the team headed by Guy Grosset-Grange to try something new. As a question of production logic, they had to use existing Renault parts, and that meant the new engine being developed for the Dauphine, but adapting it for a front drive van was not simply a matter of moving it and turning it around, and therefore they had to match it to a new gearbox, which gave them the opportunity to choose gear ratios to suit the van's needs. In 1968 a series of 70 vans were issued to the police at the
Winter Olympics held in Grenoble, and this led to a long-term contract, but Renault's biggest customer for the Estafette was PTT, the French telephone company. In 1968 it gained the 1,289 cc engine developed for the not-yet released
Renault 12 to give a full 1000 kg capacity. In 1973 the grille was updated, with a plainer modern look. The Estafette continued in production until 1980 when it was replaced by the Trafic, having sold over 500,000 units. In Romania, a version of the Estafette was produced for the
Romanian Post between 1975 and 1978, by
Automobile Dacia, in only 642 units (842 by other sources).
Revival At the 2024
IAA Show in
Hanover, Renault revealed the
Estafette concept. Created under the new Flexis Group (a partnership between Renault and
Volvo Trucks), the Estafette is the first vehicle to use the company's newly developed 'FlexEVan' platform, which enters production in two years time. The new Estafette will serve as a replacement for the
Trafic and, according to Flexis CEO Philippe Divry, will serve "as the first example of what electric utility vehicles will look like tomorrow". ==Versions==