A Brief History of Renault
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 the young Louis set up his first workshop.
By 20 years old he converted his bicycle 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 famous with Louis and Marcel doing the racing. They won races one of the most important of which was the Paris to Vienna race won by Marcel in 1902.
Their car sales accelerated rapidly and they were sold at 3,000 francs each 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 very long after this the first turbo engine was patented.
In 1903 Marcel was tragically killed during a race from Paris to Madrid. He was 31 years old. This was heartbreaking for Louis and it made him give up racing for good.
By 1919 the motor car in France was regarded as a great luxury and was heavily taxed. Renault Louis reorganised his business and started to manufacture everything that had an engine from cars, vans, light commercial vehicles, buses, trucks etc. He managed to establish his own foundries and ironworks which enabled him to reduce his dependence on other companies although he did buy components when they were cheaper than he could make himself.
In 1998 Renault celebrated their centenary by opening two major sites.
The Renault Technocentre near Paris was to be the driving force accommodating Renaults 6500 engineering and personnel.
The Scenic bodywork assembly plant based in Brazil is a huge complex including a powertrain plant and also a light vehicle plant.
I wonder if Louis Renault could ever have imagined right at the start when he converted his tricycle that his company 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.
Citizens Automobile Finance
Tags: renault, renault van lease, renault van leasing, van lease, van leasing
