Millionth Renault Trafic from Sandouville is for a Dutchman!
Renault Trafic production
The first Renault Trafic was produced in France (Creil) and the second generation in Spain (Barcelona) and the United Kingdom (Luton). In 2010, Renault decided to bring production of the Trafic back to France. This time in Sandouville where production began in 2014. The Renault Trafic is now produced exclusively in Sandouville.
Light commercial vehicles
The Sandouville plant was opened in 1964 and for the first fifty years produced mainly the higher-end Renault models. In 2014, the factory shifted its specialization to light commercial vehicles. On May 23, 2023, the millionth Renault Trafic rolled off the assembly line, ready for a Dutch customer. Who that is, we’ll tell you in a moment!
2.4 million copies of the Trafic
Since 1980, Renault has sold more than 2.4 million units of the Trafic in more than 50 countries worldwide. In Europe, the Trafic is among the three best-selling vans (Van 1 segment). Moreover, an all-electric variant will be added to the range in the coming months.
The Dutch owner
But then again, who is this Dutch owner of the millionth Renault Trafic from Sandouville. That’s Hekstra, a family business specializing in thatched roofs. The company was founded in 1929. Meanwhile, with Romke Hekstra, the fourth generation of Hekstra’s is at the helm. For many years, the family business has used the Renault Trafic for trips to their projects throughout the Netherlands.
Heinz-Jürgen Löw, SVP Light Commercial Vehicles at Renault, and Philippe Sourget, plant manager in Sandouville, hand Romke Hekstra the keys to a black Renault Trafic double cab on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. This is the millionth third-generation Trafic produced since production began in Sandouville in 2014.
Heinz-Jürgen Löw: “I am very pleased to personally hand Romke Hekstra the keys to the millionth Renault Trafic produced at the Sandouville plant. Most of our customers have a story with our light commercial vehicles. It is of great importance to us to offer them cars with a long service life that they can always count on with their business. Hekstra focuses on the customer as a person, innovates and anticipates today’s challenges with a sustainable approach. Something we fully support.”
Expanding factory
Due to the success of the Renault Trafic, and in order to expand further, the Sandouville plant is hiring an additional 360 workers over two years (2022 and 2023). An additional 205 workers have already been hired by 2022. On May 4, 2023, the plant announced that it will hire another 105 workers on a permanent basis, plus 50 workers on temporary contracts in 2023. These workers operate the machines and perform the functions of managers and technicians. The goal is also to fill 30 percent of these vacancies with female workers by 2023.
Since 2010
In 2010, Renault decided to produce the Trafic in Sandouville. It invested 230 million euros to make the plant ready to produce light commercial vehicles. Production began in 2014 and now six hundred units of the Renault Trafic come off the assembly line every day. That’s one Trafic for every eighty seconds. Some 75% of all Renault Trafic units produced to date have been manufactured in France. The advanced plant is now also getting ready to produce the Trafic E-Tech electric. The first of these will be produced as early as this year.
Also other models
The 1,677 employees at the Sandouville plant also produce models for Nissan (Primastar) and Renault Trucks (Trafic Red Edition). In addition, these employees take on the challenges around energy transition, CO2 emission reduction, process digitization and innovation.