Société des Véhicules Automobiles de Batilly

Société des Véhicules Automobiles de Batilly
legal form	Société Anonyme ( public limited company )
founding	1979
Seat	France , Batilly
Number of employees	~ 2300
Branch	Commercial vehicle manufacturer
Website	www.sovab.com

The Société des Véhicules Automobiles de Batilly SA from Batilly , France in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department is a commercial vehicle manufacturer that has existed since 1979 . The company is part of the Renault group. With around 2,300 employees, the plant is the largest private employer in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department. Often the company name is abbreviated with the acronym SoVAB . Production at the Batilly location was 123,202 units in the record year 2006.

With the construction of the new plant, Renault had placed an important partner in particular for the then troubled steel and mining industry from the Briey basin. Work began in August 1980 with the production of the Renault Master and Renault Trafic . These replaced the outdated Renault Estafette . Both models were launched in France in March 1981. The right-hand drive model followed in the course of 1981 under the name Trafic Propulsion . Over 3000 different accessories were available due to the high demand. Based on the Master, Renault Véhicules Industriels launched the Renault B70 in October 1982 . The off-road version called B90 followed in 1986. For commercial use it was available under the designation B110 .

Licensed products were then built in Argentina from 1986 by Renault Argentina SA as Renault Rodeo Trafic , followed by the joint venture of Compañía Interamericana de Automóviles SA . In 1993, the identical Chevrolet Trafic was added for the Brazilian market . The assembly of this was outsourced to a second plant of General Motors do Brasil SA in 1997 , where it then rolled off the assembly line for a few years as the Chevrolet Space Van . In France, the model was revised in 1994. Only in the following year was the new design adopted by the Argentine assembly plant.

A joint venture with Van Doorne's Automobiel Fabriek NV was established in 1990 under the care of the parent company . Due to discrepancies, this broke up a few months later. Another joint venture came about in 1996 under the name Renault-General Motors Enterprise under the direction of General Motors Europe AG . Under this there were efforts of General Motors to take over the production of the Trafic in badge engineering also for Europe. In Europe, the model should not only be available as a Renault, but also be represented under the brands Opel and Vauxhall . About einkommend this proposal, the production of the model between 1998 and 1999 gradually completed by was Luton into the work of the IBC Vehicles Ltd. relocated. Only the production of the Master remained largely at the Batilly site. Since then, only the right-hand drive units have been manufactured in the English factory. In Batilly, on the other hand, the second-generation Renault Master was built as a left-hand drive parallel to its sister model, the Opel Movano . Renault has now closed the gap with the new Renault Mascott based on the Renault Master . In 2003 a facelift took place , which was not taken over by Mascott until October 2004.

After the Renault-Nissan Alliance was founded, Renault has granted further licenses. This also included that of the Master, which has been built by Nissan Motor Ibérica SA in Barcelona since 2002 as Nissan Interstar . Since then the Spanish company has also been the official manufacturer and supplier of the engines used by SOVAB. In February 2002 SOVAB started assembling the Nissan Interstar for Central Europe. As in the British Isles, assembly was discontinued in 2010. The model remains in production in Spain.

The current generations of the Renault Master and the Opel Movano have been built in Batilly since 2010 . The sister model built in Barcelona is called Nissan NV400 . The Mascott has remained unchanged so far.