Miguel Sánchez
Until the massive emergence of SUVs, minivans played an essential role in family ranges. In fact, thanks to combining the comfort of a saloon with the habitability of a van, they achieved a good sales rate despite their price. All this together with advantages such as the modularity offered by its seats or the access given thanks to the sliding doors. Two features especially visible in the Renault Espace. A benchmark in Europe for these cars since it was launched on the market in 1984 after painstaking studies by Matra.
However, the genesis of the minivan can be traced back decades. In this sense, the ideas contest called by the Paris City Council in 1944 is striking. With the French capital recently liberated from the Nazi yoke, it sought to promote a new taxi model in which the largest possible number of occupants could fit. Thus, the active body scene in the city responded in a notorious way.
Furthermore, reviewing the proposals presented means inquiring into an exhibition as interesting as the one organized by MOMA in 1976. The one in which, reflecting on urban mobility, Italdesign presented its Alfa Romeo Taxi. Undoubtedly, one of the clearest precedents for future compact MPVs so popular in the Japanese market. Thus, of all the designs presented possibly it was that of Lucien Rosengart the most enduring. Not in vain, thanks to its large interior space, it marked a milestone in terms of habitability.
In fact, based on a Renault Juvaquatre, this new type of taxi contained two different cabins. On the one hand the driver's side and, separated from it, another where up to four passengers could be accommodated thanks to the mixture of bench and folding seats. However, the most important thing in that proposal by Lucien Rosengart was the way in which the whole was integrated into a single compact volume. Thanks to this, one of the defining points for the minivans that would appear decades later was unconsciously established.
Of course, before reaching the eighties we must make a stop at the end of the fifties. And it is that in 1957 Renault presented one of his most daring and extravagant concepts. We are talking about the 600. A prototype that, beyond its truly original lines, represented one of the most experimental moments in the trajectory of the diamond house. Now, what did this design respond to? Well, although it may be striking, the truth is that it was intended to offer a new top of the range capable of replacing the Frégate.
Presented in 1951, that saloon discreetly fulfilled its function as a superior option to the 4CV until at the end of the decade it began to need a replacement. Relay for which Yves Georges -head of the development department- thought the installation of a V8 engine. Of course, in a clear operation to save costs, that mechanism would not be considered from scratch. Far from it, its definition is at the junction of two blocks from the four-cylinder mounted on the Dauphine. At the time, launched on the market a year before the appearance of the Renault 600.
RENAULT 900, A SECOND TOUR OF THE SAME CONCEPT
When it comes to explaining how the Renault 600 could exhibit such a groundbreaking design, the appearance of Sergio Coggiola in its history helps to explain many issues. Formed in Ghia, until 1952 He worked as head of prototypes in this company. By the way, especially receptive to the futuristic ideas put forward by American designers like Virgil Exner. Something that, in the case of the Renault 600, is quite visible in the angled headlights at the rear.
At this point, when Renault entrusted Sergio Coggiola with the design of this prototype, it knew exactly what it was risking. Searching, precisely in originality, the main asset for its new concept for the high-end. However, the truth is that putting the driver and co-driver on the front axle was a real audacity. In fact, beyond the debatable aesthetics -one does not know if the Renault 600 is coming or going- this was the main problem detected by Yves Georges. In fact, although this solution was common in trucks and other industrial vehicles, it could not be found in any other tourism model of the time.
Thus, that prototype remained in the trunk of memories until, in 1959, it was rescued again receiving the name of Renault 900. With some changes in the bodywork, This one took up the idea expressed in the 600, now being reflected in two fully functional units.. Of course, they were not the same. In this way, while one mounted the engine in the central-rear position, the other carried it hanging behind the rear axle.
Something that, in truth, did not have so much to do with the distribution of weights as with access to the trunk. And it is that, while in the second it could only be accessible from the inside, in the first allowed it to be opened from the outside by being placed behind the engine. However, in both cases its capacity was reduced. If we add to this the extravagant design and, in truth, little habitability gained compared to a car even mounting such a provision, the truth is that the Renault 900 did not add points to reach series.
Also, from a safety point of view, the position of the front seats was especially dangerous. Without the possibility of mounting a defense structure against frontal crashes. Exposing the legs of the driver and his co-pilot as it happened in a much simpler and flimsier Isetta. With all that, It is not difficult to understand how the Renault 900 was finally stored in the warehouses of the French house No chance of getting to dealers. Of course, today no one can take away its role as a peripheral piece in the genesis of minivans.
Photographs: Renault Classic
