Renault TRM 500

The Renault TRM 500, or Saviem TRM 500, is a light four-wheel-drive off-road vehicle that Renault proposed in March 1978 in response to the call for tenders issued by the French army to replace the very old Willys Jeeps that it had recovered from American surplus after the liberation. The vehicle is based on the Fiat Nuova Campagnola, presented in 1974 and used by several armies in the world. In the end the army chose the Peugeot P4, a variant of the Mercedes-Benz G-Class. Of very modern design, the Campagnola 2 or Renault TRM 500 had a self-supporting body with four independent wheels on torsion bars. The main difference from the Fiat is that the TRM 500 has a Renault engine taken from the Renault 20 TS, a 2 litre four-cylinder with a Weber carburettor, with a four-speed gearbox and a two-speed transfer box.