History Of The Renault Empire

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30045, 1 February 1963, Page 7

History Of The Renault Empire

PENAULT, now one of the largest, oldest, and rooat-up-to-date automobile manufacturing concerns in the world, started, as was so often the case, in a modest ■way.

It came about due to the birth in 1877 of Louis Renault, the son of a button manufacturer. All through his school-day* he showed signs of being more interested m things mechanical in preference to anything else and by the time that he was in his "teens” his father looked upon him as a ne’er-do-well. In 1888, at the age of 21, Louis, with the moral support of his brother, Marcel, decided to build a car of his own, based on a De DionBouton tricycle that he owned. His workshop was a small shed in the grounds of his father’s house at Billancourt This shed is still preserved in its original setting, in front of the main office of the Regie Renault at Billancourt In producing his first small car, Renault decided to use a direct-drive gearbox of his own design and was particularly careful to see that the power-to-weight ratio was very favourable. This was most important as the De Dion engine was rated at If h.p. which was very small compared to the other cars available in France at the time. First Car By the end of 1898 the Renault car was ready and incorporated many characteristics considered revolutionary at that time, hut which are basically still in use today, such as a universallyjointed propellor shaft, a bevel pinion, and differential complete with housing, instead of the generally accepted practice of usmg outside chains to drive the rear wheels.

So popular was this Voiturette amongst Louis Renault’s own circle of young friends and acquantances, who saw at last a chance of enjoy motoring in an inexpensive way, that he had to accept orders to produce more cars.

Obviously he could not possibly cope with these with the available production resources, but fortunately his brothers Marcel and Fernand now came to his rescue, and in 1899 there came into being the flrm of Renault Freres.

Naturally enough the constructors of the larger and costlier type* of automobiles simply shrugged off the entry of Renault Freres into the market, because the Renault Voiturette was considered by them to be no more than a toy and no real competitor.

However, Renault car* were now entered in the main races of the day. and to the surprise of everyone the little Voiturette* were not only competing favourably against the bigger can, but they were actually beating them. Race Victories

In 1899 Renault cars with 1| h.p. single-cylinder engines won the first two places in the Paris-Trouville race at an average speed of 28 m.ph., toUowing this a few months later with victories in both Paris-Ostend and ParisRambouillet events. In 1900, Renault won the ParisToulouse race at an average speed of 40 but by this time the engine rating had been increased to 3i h.p.

In 1901 four Renault Voiturettes of 9 h.p. entered the Paris-Bordeaux race and secured the first four places after covering the distance at the average speed of 53 m.p.h. In 1902 a further victory was gained in the “Paris-Vienna” at an average speed of 39 m.p.h. The Renault cars were now being fitted with four cylinder Renault engines in place of the De Dion; the ParisVienna model, being of 16 h.p, was entered in the light car class and came in in front of 40 and 70 h.p. Panhard, Darracq and Mercedes cars. As a result of this win and the consequent rush of orders, the factory at Billancourt again had to be increased in size. Event Stopped In 1903 during the ill-fated Paris-Madrid race there were so many accidents that the event was stopped by the authorities at Bordeaux.

Louis Renault at this stage, finished first in his class ana second in general classification. to Gabriel’s 70 hp. Mors. Marcel Rensadt received injuries as a result of a crash and died within a few hours, and Renault Freres withdrew from racing.

In 1004 only one racing car was built, for an American, but in 1905 the Renault firm came back once again to racing, although Louis himself never drove in a race again. During this period of racing, normal car production was continuing to increase rapidly, with orders pouring into Biktancourt where the Renault works were constantly being enlarged. By 1904 the works covered an area of 12,000 square meters; a very small area indeed when compared to the pre-

sent area of 10 million square meters; but at that time it was considered a big plant Off the production lines rolled a stream eight and 12 h.p. cars, soon to be followed by a range of bigger models. One of these in particular, the 20/30 four-cylin-der, was in considerable demand in Great Britain where it was usually supplied in chassis form to be fitted with bodies, by many well known coachbuilders, to the owner’s particular replacements. Some very good examples of these are still to be seen on occasions on the British roads. Rugged

These early Renaults were very rugged vehicles, although they had little to commend them in the way of silence. They were, however, reliable and seemingly incapable of wearing out. In 1909, Fernand Renault died at the early age of 44,

leaving Louis, the surviving member, to carry on the huge works. Some of the first taxi-cabs to be put into service in the capital cities, Paris, London, New York, and Berlin, were built by Renault. Apart from their popularity as taxis, these cabs won fame during the 1914-1918 war when they were used to rush allied soldiers to the front during the battle of the Marne, hence their nick-name "Marne taxi.” In 1914, the Billancourt factory was converted to war production and manufactured shells, guna, and gun and rifle parts, army lorries, and other vehicles, and later, aeroplane engines and light tanks. These were the famous "Whippets” which were in action in the fiercest battles of the last year of the war. After the cessation of hostilities, production once again started on peace-time requirements and continued so until 1639. During this time many famous Renault models were produced and at the same time aircraft engines of 300 h.p., which had helped win the war in the air, were developed with further engines of 450, 500 and 550 h.p. These engines were instrumental in winning many world records for France. Rapid Growth

During the period between the wars Renault continued to grow until the town of Billancourt became to all intents and purposes Renault The factory became selfsufficient with, amongst other things, its own foundries, rolling mills and presses. Renault products were many and varied, including vans, lorries, buses, coaches, fire engines, trailer pumps, agricultural tractors, marine engines, diesel engines, aeroplane engines, stationary and semi-portable lighting sets, petrol locomotives, oils, and, of course, cars. In 1926 one of the 45 h.p. cars with a standard sports chassis, completed a 24 hours speed and endurance test at Montihery breaking 13 world records, including the 12 and 24 hour record. Speeds for the 12 and 24 hours run averaged 97.55 m.p.h. and 87.61 m.p.h. respectively. For 300 miles the car averaged 105.6 m.p.h. In 1935 a 5i litre eight cylinder Nervastella won the Monte Carlo Rally in the hands of Lahaye and Quatresous. This remains to this day

the largest ear to win thii event.

In 1939, the works were turning out 250 vehicles daily, but the invasion of France in 1940 caused the concern to pass under German control Three heavy allied air-raids destroyed a large portnon of the factory and several thousand machine tools. After the liberation of France in 1944, the firm came under the control of the French Government Because of the continued growth of the firm it was realised that there was no further room for expansion at Billancourt and therefore a new factory was built ‘at Flins, 30 miles west of Paris. This plant, which was built during the years of 1950-52, is still growing. Dauphine

From 1948 the main production was concentrated on the 750c.c. model and from 1956 on the Dauphine. In 1965 Renault joined forceh with Latil and Somua to set up the •■SA.V.I.E.M.” (Societe Anonyme de Vehkules Industriels et d’Equipements Mecaniques) to group the production facilities of the coach and commercial vehicle divisions of the Regie Renault with the plants operated by Latil and Somua. Renault hold the majority shares.

In 1958 the Dauphine won the Monte-Carlo Rally, becoming the smallest car to have done so. In this same year Renault made an agreement with Peugeot for the sales of both makes to be carried out by the same sales organisation in the United States.

A further agreement was drawn up between Renault and Alfa Romeo for cooperation between the two great firms both industrially and commerically as a means to lessen trade tariffs.

In September 1958 work was set in hand for the building of a new factory at Cleon near Rouen for the production of gear boxes. In December 1958 the millionth 750c.c. and 500,000 th Dauphine were produced. In 1959 agreements were signed with Kaiser Argentina and Willy Motors for the fabrication of Dauphines in Argentina. The first Dauphines were assembled in Brazil and record numbers of Dauphines were shipped to Britain, Canada and the United States, by Renault ships.