[iraghava]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

Pretty close to the Renault Espace found in France.I wonder if its the same Trafic which is sold as Espace in France. Generally these are used as taxi's there .

Renault Espace & Grand Espace

No the Espace is a passenger oriented luxury vehicle & is aimed at large families & taxi segments ala MPV. The Traffic on the other hand was designed purely as a commercial van to maximise space & carrying ability, the passenger version has been introduced to mainly satisfy the demand for a cheap people-hauler.

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by GeekSrik

with that kind of roof it looks like a media broadcasting van rather than any passenger carrier!

This one is a RV conversion. There are various bodystyles and wheelbases available.

Originally Posted by GeekSrik

The government should start banning bigger vehicles driving with just one person like the innova for instance. This should bring in some sanity among car buyers and commuters alike.

Think car pool lanes !!!!!!
PS: I heard there is some kind of lane system for autos in Bangalore now.

Originally Posted by salilpawar1

India would get the older generation Renault Traffic (I had mentioned this in some Tata Indiva thread) with a lower roof. Test mules are seen around Pune. The December Overdrive issue has a small report on it. It will be an out and out goods carrier/ people mover a la Force Traveller/Excel.

Should be in interesting fight. Traveller itself is a Merc Sprinter from the same generation (early 90s) or maybe older. Its supposed to be getting the 220CDI engine from the E class (how they can afford it I dont know). There is simply no worthy competetion for the Traveller now and they have the market all to themselves.

[directinjection]

Originally Posted by condor

The magazine CV has shots of this one being tested. It says that this vehicle is going to be between the Ace and the 407. So - it would lean towards being a commercial vehicle, and IMO, may fall a little short on refinement that I would look for in a personal vehicle.

That's right. That's what the recent press reports say. And its engine is going to be the 70 BHP 1948 CC unit from Sumo, not the 3.0 litre DI from 207 or DICOR from Safari.

Around 1990, Tata had indigenously developed a similar van with monocoque construction. It was called the Calypso and had the same 1948 CC engine as the Tatamobile. However, it was never launched, probably due to technical problems which perhaps could not be successfully overcome.

This launch is interesting not from the point of view of the product (an insipid CV) but because it constitutes a major departure from the traditional Tata Motors' philosophy of developing products indigenously. That too when the product isn't particularly sophisticated. Never before has Tata Motors launched a foreign-origin, phased-out, hand-me-down product manufactured from second hand dies and machinery imported from abroad. I wonder why they're doing this, even if it makes sound economic sense.

[rahul_intlad]

Hope tata's keep in mind mahindra's not so pleasant experience with the Mahindra voyager




Also there is the Premier sigma in the markets ,which again I dont think is doing well:

Premier sigma

[condor]

IMO, Sigma and HM's RTV will remain in a category of their own. Dont think they will be able to come anywhere close to more main-stream vehicles

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by directinjection

constitutes a major departure from the traditional Tata Motors' philosophy of developing products indigenously. That too when the product isn't particularly sophisticated. Never before has Tata Motors launched a foreign-origin, phased-out, hand-me-down product manufactured from second hand dies and machinery imported from abroad. I wonder why they're doing this, even if it makes sound economic sense.

I wondered about the same. Its well within TATAs capabilities even though its a monocouqe chassis. I think they simply dont have the human resources with all the projects on hand and this was the quickest and cheapest way of bringing a tried and tested product to market. A case of head rules over the heart.

[redcandle]

Oh Man!!! It is the old Traffic that we are getting.. What on earth does companies like Tata think while making such decisions. It doesnt take a genius to work out that there must be some reason why Renault stopped making this model and shifted to a new model. And....Ok agreed that India is (still a bit) behind as per world markets in terms of vehicle designs, i.e. the manufactures have sometimes got away with launching old generations of their cars here....but that is almost as boxy as the Mahindra Voyeger was. This van looks so ugly that even that Tata new logo doesnt go with the rest of the body.

[v1kram]

Totally agree with Redcandle!! if it's the final product that we are going to get, then it's not a good move by Tata. Hope atleast they change the front part of the vehicle

[sajo]

Nice pics there redcandle!! Looks like the perfect replacement for the highly versatile and popular Matador.

[1100D]

How many tempo travellers sell each month? If this product cater to a certain segment, why is that segment doing when we already have an offering from one of the most famous van manufacturers in the world. Even the Traveller had to get into the open bed architecture to actually rake some sales numbers, however loosing the fact that the Monocoque structure was lost. However the travellers low sales numbers could also be attributed to inadequate marketing of it. Going by Tata's command in marketing CV product, they could however rope in the Call centre cab, school-cab, delivery van market. Given its size it could freely be allowed in the city limits and would come into play for applications where the Ace's size would be considered too small.

However the Voyager failed because it never had the right engine or the size going for it, on top of it, it was initially marketed as a personal use Van for which it had too agricultural an engine. This one if it gets the Dicor will actually not suffer from that disadvantage.

[amtak]

Its a nice van...if priced appropriately, TATA has a winner...!

[sumitkalindi]

Hi, its time for a fact check. how many 407/207 gets converted to a closed encloser van??? Quite a few. Now this conversion segment is unregulated, each private company charging anthing from 60-80k. Now if I get a vehicle with a prebuilt body, and with the TATA proven mechanicals, at arond the total price after conversion, I would surely go for the vehicle with a factory body. also the shape suggests that the repairs would be fairly low cost option in case of accidents. So guys looks this vehicle is another winner if priced and marketed rightly.

[directinjection]

Originally Posted by sajo

Nice pics there redcandle!! Looks like the perfect replacement for the highly versatile and popular Matador.

Replacement for Matador? Does it still exist? 407 decimated it years ago.

[condor]

Redcandle, nice pics there.

Originally Posted by MPower

There is simply no worthy competetion for the Traveller now and they have the market all to themselves.

There's enough choices there - Swaraj Mazda's, Tata Starbus, Mahindra Tourister

And its engine is going to be the 70 BHP 1948 CC unit from Sumo, not the 3.0 litre DI from 207 or DICOR from Safari.

Pls, Tata, Noooooooo!

[abdul 65 amg]

what a pity that TATA is putting on the market the old Renault Trafic.They should have reshaped it, improve the current model or the best solution was to take licence to produce the new Renault Trafic