Renault

There have been vehicles of very different kind during the more than one hundred-year-old history of Renault, very big with approx. 13 litres cubic capacity and very small with approx. 0.3 litres and less than 2 HP (type A). Louis Renault, the son of a draper and racing driver, starts constructing and selling cars together with two of his brothers in 1899. And now that we have something for the first time, the company has remained true since its inception, the racing. Just think of the turbocharged engines - in earlier days still with carburettor. Just recently elected (2005) with the crown of Formula 1, this commitment permeates the story of the successful beginning to the present.Already quite early the focal point are engines, first for rather small carriages suitable for everyday life with front engine, gear and cardan shaft, but also with six cylinders for the superclass. Soon engines for utility vehicles and aircraft follow. In the new century Renaults prove themselves primarily as taxis. Considering that the french car industry is leading in european mass production after the turn of the century and partially between both world wars, one can imagine what it means to be one of the country`s three biggest!



Nearly no other car manufacturer faces so many innovations after the Second World War like Renault. Louis Renault is in prison and dies soon, the factory is nationalized and heavily damaged. Indeed the re-start after the war was planned completely different. For, in addition to war production, a new model was developed, the 4 CV. In spite of all problems, it becomes a success and later serves as basis for a whole range of rear- and later also front-wheel driven vehicles. As an example for the first ones the Dauphine and for the latter the R4 and the R16 are to be mentioned. Even if the french importance on the european and world market shrank a little bit,in their own country Renault always remained one of the first two or three and number one in export, e.g., also to Germany. Even until today (2005) nothing changed these facts. Engagement in sporting continued as well, not only by the merger with Alpine in 1973 and victory in the Rallye Monte Carlo. In the nineties they won six formula 1world championships. Also competitions for hobby racers were promoted thoroughly resulting in bizzarevehicles, e.g. estate cars with middle-mounted engines. By mass production of several parts these cars remained affordable and were even registered for standard road traffic.In 1990 Renault was privatised again and turned into a corporation. The model range had to be extended and changed. The company intensely worked on a new image as 'createur d'automobile'. It comprised small "single room" cars (Twingo and Scenic), a somewhat deviating design (Megane), very good results in safety standards for compact cars and a cheap car, but the security of the car body can not really be guaranteed. A special coup was proved with the acquisition of Nissan, reaching in an unexpectedly short time a profit. 05/10