The owner of the millionth Renault Trafic made in Sandouville is Dutch

After building the Trafic I in France (Creil) then the Trafic II in Spain (Barcelona) and the United Kingdom (Luton), Renault decided in 2010 to produce the Trafic III back in France – in Sandouville this time – starting in 2014.

The Sandouville plant opened in 1964, manufactured most of Renault’s high-end models over the following 50 years, specialised in this LCV in 2014 and delivered its millionth Renault Trafic, to a Dutch customer, on 23 May 2023.

Renault Trafic is exclusively made in Sandouville.

An extensive choise of versions

Renault has sold 2.4 million Trafic vehicles in more than 50 countries around the world since 1980. The Trafic ranks among the three best-selling light-duty vans in Europe (Medium Van segment).

Trafic is hard-wired to be perfect for pros: its payload capacity is ample, it is eminently modular and it has a wide range of ICE powertrains – plus a full-electric variant coming this next few months.

Whether it's a commercial vehicle (Trafic van, crew cab, floor cab) that can be customised ad infinitum thanks to more than 350 Renault Pro+ approved bodybuilders, a passenger vehicle (Trafic Combi, Spaceclass) or a leisure vehicle (SpaceNomad camper van), Renault can offer a solution adapted to each of its customers with Trafic.

HEKSTRA buys the millionth Renault Trafic

Hekstra is a family-owned thatched-roof specialist that has remained true to its roots while branching into building original, responsible homes.

It was established in 1929 and Romke Hekstra, a fourth-generation Hekstra, is now at the company’s helm. Since many years, it uses Renault Trafic vehicles every day to travel to and from its projects across the Netherlands.

Heinz-Jürgen Löw, Renault brand SVP Light Commercial Vehicles, and Philippe Sourget, Sandouville plant Director, handed Romke Hekstra the keys to a black Renault Trafic crew cab this Tuesday 23 May 2023. This is the millionth Trafic III made since Renault started production to Sandouville in 2014.

Sandouville continues to recruit in 2023

As a result of Renault Trafic’s market success, and to sharpen and broaden its skills, Sandouville will hire 360 people in under two years in 2022 and 2023.

After recruiting 205 people in 2022, Sandouville announced on 4 May last that it will hire an additional 105 people on permanent contracts and 50 on fixed-term contracts in 2023 to work as managers, technicians and operators. Its goal is to fill 30% of its vacancies with women in 2023.

This recruitment campaign is part of the Re-Nouveau France 2025 agreement on anchoring the Group’s operations in France, which Renault signed with its three representative unions (CFE-CGC, CFDT and FO) in 2021.

Renault decided to make the Trafic in Sandouville in 2010 and invested €230 million to revamp the plant to produce the LCV along with the possible combinations now available.

Production started in 2014 and 600 Renault Trafic vehicles now emerge from production lines in Sandouville every day. The two teams, in other words, build one every 80 seconds. Around 75% of Renault Trafic produced are exported out of France.

The Sandouville plant has always been at the cutting edge and is now preparing to launch Trafic E-Tech Full-Electric. The first of these models will be manufactured this year.

The 1,677 people at Sandouville also produce vehicles for Nissan (Primastar) and Renault Trucks (Trafic Red Edition), and are tackling several challenges around energy transition and decarbonisation (the plant earned ISO 50001/Energy management systems certification in February 2023), process digitalisation and innovation.