Renault Sherpa: Military Vehicle

Motoring Channel Staff - 4/August/2008

Boulogne-Billancourt, France — The American Army buys Humvee military vehicles from General Motors, while the French military buys the Sherpa.

Built by Renault, the Sherpa is an army vehicle built for rugged, remote applications.

Though Renault has no plans to follow GM's lead and create a civilian version of its rugged military vehicle, the European army vehicle is rumoured to have made its way into a number of civilian garages.

The Sherpa or 'French Humvee' is a 4WD vehicle powered by a turbo diesel engine that generates 160kW or 215hp @ 2300rpm, and is designed for remote postings.

The armour-plated vehicles ride on large off-road tyres and have lots of ground clearance to give them a go-anywhere capability.

It has a tactical range of 900 kilometres (560 miles) when driven at 70km/h and has a top speed of 120km/h.

Renault builds two Sherpa models; one is a standard SUV type vehicle that can seat four combatants and can carry around 2.5 tonnes of cargo, and the other is a ute-type model with a rear flat bed tray and can carry more weight, up to 4 tonnes.

While the vehicle is built for the rigors of war, it still has a low carbon output and is Euro 5 compliant.

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