Signs suggest that Fiat is planning a new van model based on the Renault Trafic, to replace the outgoing Scudo model.

Renault issued a fabulously tight-lipped press release today, stating that:

Renault and Fiat have signed an agreement under which Renault will supply Fiat with a light commercial vehicle based on a Renault platform.

The styling of the Fiat vehicle will be developed by Fiat and will feature unique and distinctive elements on the model, branded Fiat Professional.

The vehicle will be manufactured by Renault in France starting from the second quarter of 2016.

So what can could Renault provide from its current range, that Fiat doesn’t already have?

All things considered, there’s only one possible candidate: the new Renault Trafic, which would make a perfect replacement for the current Fiat Scudo.

Choosing the Trafic as a base vehicle would provide Fiat with a popular medium van, that can compete directly with the Trafic, Ford Transit Custom, VW Transporter and Mercedes-Benz Vito, filling the gap between Fiat’s Ducato large van and the Doblò small van.

Vans A2Z highlights that the manufacturing agreement for the current Scudo ends in 2017, and suggests that ‘unique and distinctive elements’ of the new van may refer to its drivetrain — something that makes sense to me, too: Fiat tends to use its own engine and drivetrain components in joint venture vans, as in the current and previous model Ducato, as well as others.

The question now is whether PSA Peugeot Citroen will stick with the slightly smaller format of the Expert/Dispatch (currently also sold as Fiat Scudo and Toyota Proace), or whether when the model is next updated, PSA the model will be enlarged to fit the mould created by the Trafic, and its rapidly growing peer group.