A Brief History of Louis Renault

Louis Renault was born in 1877. The youngest of five he had a very priviledged childhood and developed an interest in mechanics early on in life. It was in a garden shed that the young Louis began his first workshop.

By the age of 20 he converted his tricycle into a four wheeled car and added his new invention, the very first gear box.

His two brothers Fernand and Marcel set up the Renault Brothers company in 1899.

It was through racing that the brothers became really famous with Louis and Marcel doing the racing. They won many races one of the most important of which was the Paris to Vienna race which was won by Marcel in 1902.

Their sales in cars accelerated rapidly and they were sold at 3,000 francs which is equal to ten years average salary at that time. By 1902 the first saloon car and later that year the first Renault engine with four cylinders and 24 horse power. Not long after this the 1st turbo engine was patented.

However in 1903 Marcel was tragically killed in a race from Paris to Madrid. He was only 31 years old. This was devastating for Louis and it made him give up racing for good.

By 1919 the motor car in France was regarded as a luxury and was heavily taxed. Louis reorganised his business and started to manufacture everything that had engines, from cars, vans, light commercial vehicles, buses, trucks etc. He managed to aquire his own foundries and ironworks enabling him to reduce his dependence on other companies although he did buy components when they were cheaper than he could manufacture himself.

In 1998 Renault celebrated its centenary by opening two major sites.
The Renault Technocentre close to Paris was to be the driving force accommodating Renaults 6500 engineering and design personnel.
The Scenic assembly plant based in Brazil is a huge complex including a powertrain plant and also a light vehicle assembly plant.

I wonder if Louis Renault could ever have imagined right at the start when he converted his bicycle that his empire would grow into such a large industry. Nowadays it is often more viable to lease vans and indeed in years to come Renault van leasing companies would be spread worldwide.