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Renault Espace

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{| border=1 align="right" cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 width=250 style="margin-left:3em; margin-bottom: 2em; color: black; background: lightyellow;" |colspan=2|Image:Espacegeneology.jpg 250px|Four Generations of Espace |- !colspan=2 style="color: white; background: darkgreen;"|Renault Espace |- |width="40%"|Manufacturer:||Renault |- |Production:||1984–present |- |Car class:||Multi-purpose vehicle MPV |- |Body Styles:||FF layout FF van |- |Predecessors:||None |- |Successors:||still in production |- |Competitors:||Chrysler Voyager
Citroën C8
Ford Galaxy
Peugeot 807 |- |colspan=2|Image:Originalespace.JPG 250px|Renault Espace I |- !colspan=2 style="color: darkgreen; background: white;"|Espace I |- |Production:||1984–1991 |- |Engines:|| |- |Built in:||Romorantin-Lanthenay Romorantin, France |- |colspan=2|Image:Renault Espace II.JPG 250px|Renault Espace II |- !colspan=2 style="color: darkgreen; background: white;"|Espace II |- |Production:||1991–1996 |- |Engines:|| |- |Built in:||Romorantin-Lanthenay Romorantin, France |- |colspan=2|Image:Renault Espace III.jpg 250px|Renault Espace III |- !colspan=2 style="color: darkgreen; background: white;"|Espace III |- |Production:||1996–2002 |- |Engines:|| |- |Built in:||Romorantin-Lanthenay Romorantin, France |- |colspan=2|Image:Renault espace 1.jpg 250px|Renault Espace IV |- !colspan=2 style="color: darkgreen; background: whiten;"|Espace IV/Grand Espace |- |Production:||2002–present (time) present |- |Engines:|| |- |Built in:||Sandouville, France |} {{commonscat|Renault Espace}} The '''Renault Espace''' is an Multi-purpose vehicle MPV originally designed by Rootes Chrysler UK in Coventry, in collaboration with Matra of France. It was manufactured by Matra in France, and marketed by Renault. Originally launched in 1984 and currently in its fourth generation, it seats seven passengers; the '''Renault Grand Espace''' is a longer-wheelbase version which seats seven and holds their luggage too. Along with the Dodge Caravan, the Espace was the original minivan.

History
The Espace's design was originally conceived in the 1970s by the British designer, Fergus Pollock, who was working for Rootes Chrysler UK, the UK subsidiary of Chrysler Corporation Chrysler, at their design centre in Coventry {{cite book .html">Matra, who were affiliated with Simca, the then . Later . Later French.html">France|French subsidiary of Chrysler, were involved in partnership in the design. The Espace was originally intended to be sold as a Talbot, and to be a replacement for the Matra Rancho station wagon. Early prototypes used Simca parts, and hence featured a grille reminiscent of the Chrysler Alpine/Simca 1307 Simca 1307. In 1977, before the Espace went into production, Chrysler UK and Simca were sold to the French company PSA Peugeot Citroën (PSA), and the Espace design was given to Matra. PSA decided the Espace was too expensive and too risky a design to put into production, and Matra took their idea to Renault (PSA finally ventured into the minivan sector 11 years later with the Citroën Evasion/Peugeot 806). The Matra concept became the Renault Espace. The design featured a fiberglass body mounted on a warm-galvanized steel chassis, using the same technique and assembly line at the factory as the Matra Murena Talbot Matra Murena. In fact, the introduction of the Espace required the relatively small factory to cease the production of the Murena, to make room for the Espace. The Espace was launched by Renault in 1984 (incidentally, the minivan that Chrysler had also been developing in the US was released a year earlier than the Espace in 1983). Building upon its success, the Espace was revamped in 1988 with most of the Talbot/Simca content being replaced by equivalent Renault parts (the chassis and mechanical components of the car remained largely unchanged). The most obvious cosmetic exterior difference between the very first Espaces and the revamped post-1988 models were the changed headlights: the forward-slanting lights with orange indicator casing of the original Espace were replaced with backward-slanting lights with a clear indicator casing. An all-new Espace was launched in 1991, which updated the concept of the original with an all-new chassis, all-new mechanical components and an all-new aerodynamic body. The third generation of the Espace arrived in 1997, its most notable feature being the radical futuristic interior (with a centrally-mounted digital speedometer). In 2002, Renault goals were to deliver 450,000 units of the fourth-generation Espace before 2009, which will account for 20% of the European market for Multi-purpose vehicle MPVs/minivans. This 2009 target for Espace sales figures suggest that the fifth-generation Espace will be released that same year. The fourth-generation Espace arrived in 2003 and was the first Espace designed and built entirely by Renault. All of the production of the earlier Espaces was built by Matra in their Romarantin factory. The new vehicle was also the first all-steel Espace. In exchange for giving up design and production of the Espace, Matra were allowed to design and build the upmarket Renault Avantime model. However, due to delays in getting the Avantimes pillarless construction safety-approved, caused Renault to push their Renault Vel Satis model - whereby the Avantime when finally introduced subsequently sold so poorly that Matra ultimately shut down their automotive production altogether. In good French statemanship, Matra has since then been very active in helping the 1,500 employees finding new jobs, and by summer 2005, that ambition was fulfilled.

Espace IV engine specifications
{| class="wikitable" !Engine !Energy !Displacement (cc) !Power
hp (kW) !Torque
newton metre N·m (m·kgf) !Top speed
km/h !0-100
seconds |- |1.9dCi |Diesel |1870 |115 (85)
at 4000 rpm |270 (28.0) |180 |13.2 |- |2.2dCi |Diesel |2188 |150 (110)
at 4000 rpm |320 (33.3) |188 |11.5 |- |3.0dCi |DMAX V6 engine DMAX Diesel |2958 |180 (130)
at 4400 rpm |350 (36.4) |205 |10.9 |- |2.0 16v |Petrol |1998 |140 (100)
at 5500 rpm |? |185 |? |- |2.0T |Petrol |1998 |170 (125)
at 5000 rpm |? |205 |? |- |3.5 V6 |Petrol |3498 |245 (177)
at 6000 rpm |330 (34.3) |225 |8,1 |} The 2.0 16V engine is not available for the Grand Espace. A 2.0T model with 165 hp was also available from September 2002 to sometime first-half of 2005. As usual with car models, version availability varies across the different markets. Renault forecasting for worldwide sales split by engine was: * 5% for the 2.0 16v * 5% for the 3.5 V6 * 5% for the 3.0 dCi * 15% for the 2.0T * 17% for the 1.9dCi * 53% for the 2.2dCi

Espace F1
In 1995, Renault displayed a show car called the Espace F1 - to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the Espace and Renault's involvement in Formula One racing. It was a V10-powered Williams Formula 1 racing car with an Espace J63 lookalike body made of carbon-fiber. The Renault-Williams engine powered it from 0-200 km/h in 6 seconds, and helped by the carbon brakes, it did 0-270 km/h and back to 0 in under 600 meters.

References

External links

- Gallery and historical data Category:Renault vehicles Espace {{Modern Renault vehicles}} de:Renault Espace fr:Renault Espace ja:ルノー・エスパス sv:Renault Espace

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