Louis Renault (1877-1944) was one of the pioneers of automobile manufacture. Before the turn of the 20th century, he built a car for himself that was so successful that he and his brothers, Marcel and Fernand, set up a family company - Renault Frères in 1899. They began to build front-engined, small cars (voiturettes - cars up to 400 kg in weight) with clutch, gearbox, and rear-wheel drive. Twenty five of these virtually modern cars were built. The early Renaults used a single cylinder 1.5 hp de Dion engine. They had full elliptic leaf springs on all four wheels, and handlebar steering.

Racing was important to many automobile companies at the start of the 20th century, particularly in city to city races. In 1900 Louis and Marcel entered and won the Paris-Bordeaux race. Louis won the voiturette class in the Grand Prix de Pau in an 8 hp car. In the 1902 Paris - Vienna 'race of races', over a distance of 1,060 miles, Marcel won, driving a 3.7 litre, 4 cylinder, 16 hp car, averaging about 40 mph. This was at a time when huge engined cars dominated the automobile racing scene, with many cars of 12 litres and more (eg Panhards' 4 cylinder 13,700 cc). The Paris - Madrid race of 1903 attracted hundreds of thousands of spectators. This race became infamous for the great number of drivers and spectators killed during it, including Marcel Renault, driving his 30 hp car. The first (international) Grand Prix was run at Le Mans in 1906, with 32 starters. The Hungarian driver Szisz won the 769 mile race in a 13 litre, 90 hp Renault (wooden spoke wheels, no differential, and brakes on the rear wheels only), with a race average of 63 mph.

Since 1901, Renaults were using a 3.5 hp water-cooled de Dion engine, the cars were fitted with a steering wheel, and Michelin pneumatic tyres. By 1905, two cylinder, 8 hp Renaults were used as Parisian taxi-cabs. There were about 1 500 of them, and on September 7 1914, they covered themselves in glory in the 1914-1918 war, when they were used to carry French army reserves from the French capital to the front-line where the German army was advancing on the River Marne. These cars became famous as les Taxis de la Marne.

Beautiful and luxurious coachwork was a feature of many ‘belles voitures’ produced before and after the first world war. In 1908, a 50 hp, 6 cylinder Renault made its appearance, with a self-starter system operated by compressed air. In 1925 Renault produced a 40 hp car to rival the best of its competitors - Bugatti, Peugeot, Citroën. The car had superb bodywork, and an engine of 9.1 litres. By 1922 the family business had become the Société anonyme des Usines Renault. The ‘new’ diamond-shaped logo appeared on the cars in 1925.

The Renault Reinstalla of 1931 was a straight eight, 7.1 litre luxury vehicle, popular with movie stars and other grands personages of the day. It was designed to be chauffeur-driven.

Aerial bombing in the second world war wiped out half the old Billancourt factories. Louis Renault died in 1944, and the company was nationalised in 1945, when it became known as la Régie Nationale des Usines Renault. The 4CV, (quat’ chevaux) a 750 cc rear-engined car with all independent suspension, appeared soon after, and was an immediate success. Selling for 4,472 NF, it went on to become the first French car to sell more than a million (1, 105,543). It was successful in competition, including the Monte-Carlo Rally in 1950 and 1951. Many 4CVs were modified for competition by the Alpine company.

The 4CV continued through to 6 July 1961, when it went out of production. Unlike the rather similar-looking, but larger, Volkswagen Beetle, it had a water-cooled engine, and four doors (four doors for four people). The Renault Dauphine, an 845 cc, 30 bhp saloon followed it in 1956. It was fitted with disc brakes, and was also used successfully in competition. Some good press was obtained when Gina Lallobridgida showed to the public a Dauphine still covered in mud from its successful run in the Monte Carlo Rally. The publicity helped European sales considerably.

The Floride (40 bhp) convertible appeared in 1960. The rear-engined R8 appeared at the same time, and was developed by Amédée Gordini into a successful rally and racing machine. The Caravelle was the first post-war Renault to be fitted with an engine of over 1000 cc (1,108 litre).

Toward the end of the 1950s, Renaults began making front-engined, front-wheel drive cars. The R4 (750 cc) was introduced in 1961, the R16 (1,470 cc) in 1965, and the R6 (845 cc) in 1970. Also in 1970, the R12 appeared, and was produced from 1970 – 1978. The small and extremely successful R5 came out in 1973. A turbo version of the R5 was one of the earliest pocket-rocket cars, and was known as ‘le car’. In 1982 an R5 turbo won the Monte Carlo rally.

Alpine, distributed by Renault since the mid-1960s, entered into competition partnership. With a Gordini modified 1,600 cc engine, the Alpine/Renault combination continued into the 1970s, and became one of Europe’s most successful championship rallying cars – the European Championship was won in 1970 (by Jean-Claude Andruet), and the World Championship in 1971 and 1973. In 1974, Alpine was taken over by Régie Renault.

Le Mans in 1970 saw Renault victorious with the A442B. A V8 engine was designed for the brilliantly streamlined Alpine/Renault by Amédée Gordini. In 1983 Alain Prost had three F1 wins in Renault-powered cars. In 1991 seven F1 Grand Prix races were won by Williams-Renault. Then followed six years of winning the World Championship title – 1992, 1993, 1994,1995, 1996, and 1997. Renault has now left F1 racing.

These days, Renault produces highly innovative new age cars like the Clio, Espace, Scénic, Twingo, and Trafic, which stand side by side with the bigger touring cars such as the Laguna II – with a multivalve, 4-cylinder petrol and V6 24V engine (extended to include the 2.0 16V IDE with direct injection.) It has an array of highly technical equipment, which includes an electronic stability program system, enabling the driver to keep control over the vehicle during an emergency manoeuvre despite loss of grip.

Renault sold 2.3 million vehicles worldwide in the year 2000, and is continuing its strategy of international expansion.