Renault Espace Review

The Renault Espace is a mid-size luxury crossover (minivan in its first four generations) from Renault. Generations 1–3 were sold under the Renault brand but manufactured by Matra. The Renault Grand Espace is a long-wheelbase (LWB) version with increased rear leg room and boot size. The name "Espace" means "space" in French. The car is often considered to be the first MPV, but previous vehicles had similar designs.

In February 2012, the Espace was retired in the United Kingdom, as part of a cost–cutting plan.

The Espace's design was originally conceived in the 1970s by the British designer Fergus Pollock, who was working for Chrysler UK, at its design centre at Whitley in Coventry. Later, Matra, which was affiliated with Simca, the then French subsidiary of Chrysler, was involved in partnership in the design, spearheaded by Greek designer Antonis Volanis.

The Espace was originally intended to be sold as a Talbot, and to be a replacement for the Matra Rancho leisure activity vehicle. Early prototypes used Simca parts, and hence featured a grille reminiscent of the Simca 1307 (Chrysler Alpine). In 1978, six years before the Espace went into production, Chrysler UK and Simca were sold to the French company PSA Peugeot Citroën, which phased out Simca within a decade because of falling sales. PSA decided the Espace was too expensive and too risky a design to put into production, so it was given to Matra, which took the idea to Renault.

The Matra concept became the Renault Espace. The design featured a fibreglass body mounted on a warm-galvanised steel chassis, using the same technique and assembly line at the factory as the Talbot Matra Murena. 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 eventually launched by Renault in July 1984. After a slow start - a mere nine Espaces were sold in the first month- consumers realised the benefits of the MPV concept and the Espace became popular. It was sold in the United Kingdom from August 1985.

In 1984, American Motors Corporation (AMC) announced it would begin to market the front-wheel-drive Espace in the United States. The minivan was exhibited to consumers at the 1985 Chicago Auto Show, but AMC's negotiations with Matra continued over the vehicle's import pricing. Plans for the Espace to be launched in the U.S. ended with the purchase of AMC by Chrysler.

In 2004, BBC's motoring show Top Gear set up a race between two Espaces, a Toyota Previa, a Toyota MasterAce, a Mitsubishi Space Wagon, and a Nissan Serena. The Espaces came first and second.