Renault
Renault, established in 1899, was in 2011 the third largest European automaker in production after Volkswagen Group and PSA (Peugeot/Citroën) and the ninth largest in the world. The Renault Group comprises the namesake Renault brand and subsidiaries Automobile Dacia from Romania and Renault Samsung Motors from South Korea. Renault has a 43.4-percent controlling interest in Nissan Motor Company and a 25-percent interest in AvtoVAZ of Russia. As part of the Renault–Nissan Alliance, Renault is the fourth-largest automotive group.
Louis Renault and his brothers Marcel and Fernand founded the Société Renault Frères in 1899. Louis handled design and production, Marcel and Fernand company management. In 1903, Renault began to manufacture its own engines. The first major sale was to the Société des Automobiles de Place, which bought Renault cars in 1905 for a fleet of taxis. By 1907, Renault had built a significant number of London and Paris taxis. In 1908 the company produced 3,575 vehicles and became the largest French car manufacturer.
Renault earned a reputation for innovation very soon with mass-production techniques and scientific management. The company manufactured buses and commercial cargo vehicles as well as cars and taxis in the early years. It sold its first real commercial truck in 1906.
Louis Renault expanded the scope of his company after the end of World War I in 1918 to agricultural and industrial machinery, introducing new products derived from military developments during the war. The first Renault tractor produced from 1919 and 1930 derived from the Renault FT tank.
In the 1920s, Renault produced a range of cars from small to very large. Iin 1928, when Renault produced 45,809 cars, there was a range of factory bodies of up to eight styles, and the number of models varied with size, the smaller more popular, the larger less so. The most expensive body style in each range was the closed car. Open roadsters and tourers were cheapest.
Renault also introduced in 1928 the designation “Stella,” an upgrade specification for larger cars. Vivastellas and Grand Renaults had upgraded interior fittings designated by a small star above the Renault diamond logo on the hood. The small star proved to be a winner as a market differentiator, and in the 1930s all car names changed to the -stella suffix from the previous two-letter model identifiers.
After World War II, on untried accusations of collaboration the government expropriated the company from Louis Renault after his death in 1944 and nationalized it as Régie Nationale des Usines Renault, the only factories so expropriated.
During the war, Renault had developed the rear-engine 4CV launched in 1946. The 4CV competed with the Morris Minor and the Volkswagen Beetle and sold more than half a million cars during its production run to 1961. After the 4CV success, Renault defied the Ministry of Industrial Production, which wanted Renault to manufacture trucks only, by developing the Dauphine, which sold well as the company extended sales abroad to Africa and North America.
The Renault 4, a two-door, four-door, or hatchback economy car produced between 1961 and 1992, was the company’s first-front-wheel drive family car. Eventually Renault built over eight million, a commercial success due to fortuitous timing and meritorious design.
The Renault 12 family car launched at the 1969 Paris Motor Show and stayed in production in France until 1980 and under license in many countries into the early 21st Century. The European press praised its spacious, comfortable interior, styling, performance, and low fuel consumption. In sales, 2,500,000 vehicles, the Renault 12 was successful.
In North America, Renault entered into a partnership with American Motors (AMC) in the 1980s. The first Renault model sold through AMC dealerships was the Le Car. When the four-wheel drive truck market collapsed in early 1980, Renault bailed AMC out at the price of a 47.5-percent controlling interest in the company.
The Renault Alliance, which debuted for the 1983 model year, received Motor Trend’s domestic Car of the Year award in 1983. Assembled at the AMC Kenosha, Wisconsin plant, the Alliance’s 72-percent American content qualified it as a domestic vehicle. Renault sold some interesting models in the USA during the ’80s, the Alliance GTA and GTA convertible, the Fuego coupe, and the Encore, an Alliance-based hatchback. Eventually, Renault sold AMC to Chrysler in 1987. The Renault Medallion sedan and wagon sold from 1987 to 1989 through Jeep-Eagle, the new division Chrysler created from AMC.
After 50 years of government ownership perhaps detrimental to its growth, Renault obtained privatization in 1996. In 1999 the Renault–Nissan Alliance followed, the first of its kind between Japanese and French companies. In 2000, Renault acquired a controlling stake in the Samsung automotive division.
