Renault ends the Express LUV for the European market
- To replace its N1-1 segment light utility vehicles Renault Kangoo II (launched in 2007) and Dacia Dokker (launched in 2012), the Renault group had decided to launch two different models in 2021, the Kangoo III (modernized version of the Kangoo II) and the Renault Express (modernized version of the Dacia Dokker), thus doubling the range of N1-1 segment vans sold under the Renault brand, a fairly rare proposition among European carmakers.
- Dokker-based Express was technically less sophisticated than the Kangoo III, which is why it was sold for less than the Kangoo III. This feature gave the Express a good start in Europe, as the model sold almost as much as the Kangoo III in Europe for several months in 2022. In 2023, the Renault Kangoo finally took over from the Renault Express in Europe. And in the summer of 2024, Renault decided to withdraw the Express from sale in Europe, due to the obsolescence of its technical base and the inability to comply with the new European GSR2 (General Safety Regulation 2). Renault therefore only retains one model in the N1-1 segment in Europe, the Kangoo III.
- The Express, however, continues its commercial career in North Africa and in some emerging countries, its production being carried out in Morocco, on the Tangier plant where the Dacia Sandero is produced for the European market. The Renault Kangoo III is produced in France, in the Maubeuge plant, like all previous generations of the Kangoo. On this site are also produced rebranded versions of the Renault Kangoo III, such as the Nissan Townstar and Mercedes Citan II.