Renault: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Renault S.A. is a French automobile manufacturer. They manufacture small to upper-midsize cars, vans and trucks. It is properly pronounced "Rhen-oh" but some people incorrectly pronounce it "Reh-nought".

Renault is known for car concepts like the Renault 16 or the one-box concepts of Twingo, Scénic and Espace, the latter of which was the first MPV. Currently Renault is the car manufacturer with the highest scores in EuroNCAP crash tests.

History

The Renault corporation was founded in 1898 by Louis Renault (1877-1944), a pioneer of the automobile industry and the man who introduced Taylorism in France.

His taxicabs were a success. During WWI, Renault manufactured ammunition, military airplanes and vehicles such as the Renault FT-17 tank.

Between the two world wars, Louis Renault enlarged the scope of his company, producing agricultural and industrial machinery.

During WWII, Louis Renault's factories worked for Nazi Germany. He was for this reason arrested during the liberation of France in 1944 and died in prison before having prepared his defense. His industrial assets were seized by the government, and the Renault factories were therefore a public industry (known as the Régie Renault).

From 1979 to 1987, Renault held majority ownership in the American Motors Corporation (AMC), which it sold to Chrysler Corporation in March 1987.

On April 9, 1986 the government of France ruled against the privatization of Renault.

In 1996, the company was partially privatized.

On January 2, 2001, Renault sold its industrial vehicle subdivision (Renault Véhicules Industriels) to Volvo, which renamed it Renault Trucks in 2002.

Renault competed, as a constructor, in Formula One racing from 1977 to 1985 and again from 2002 onwards. In between these years they supplied engines to various Formula One teams, notably having successful partnerships with the Benetton and Williams teams in the 1990s. For more information, see Renault Sport.

The government of France owns 15.7% of the company. Renault is a private company. Louis Schweitzer has been the Chairman and CEO of Renault since 1992. In 2005 Carlos Ghosn (actual CEO of Nissan) will become Renault's CEO and Louis Schweitzer will retire.

Renault has a stake of 44.4% in Japanese automaker Nissan together with which they form the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Further stakes are in Samsung Motors (Renault Samsung Motors), Volvo Trucks and Dacia.

Both the Renault logo and its documentation (technical as well as commercial) use a specially designed typeface called Renault. This font is said to have been designed not for prestige reasons, but mainly to save costs at a time where the use of typefaces was more costly than now.

Current models

• Clio (1991- )
• Espace (1985 - )
• Kangoo (1999 - )
• Laguna (1993 - )
• Mégane (1996 - )
• Mégane Scénic
• Modus
• Safrane (1992 - )
• Scénic (1996 - )
• Twingo (1992 - )

Numeric Models

• 3
• 4 (1961-1992)
• 5 (1972-1996)
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9 and 11 (1982-1988)
• 10
• 12
• 14 (1976-1979)
• 15 (1971-1977)
• 16 (1965-1979)
• 17 (1971-1977)
• 18 (1978-1986)
• 19 (1988-1995)
• 20
• 21 (1986-1993)
• 25
• 30

After WWII (1945-1960)

• 4CV (1947-1961)
• Caravelle (1959-1968)
• Colorale (1950-1957)
• Dauphine (1956-1968)
• Dauphinoise (Break Juvaquatre) (1946-1960)
• Floride (1959-1962)
• Frégate (1951-1960)
• Ondine (1961-1962)

Between World Wars (1919-1939)

• Celtaquatre (1934-1939)
• Juvaquatre
• Nervastella (1930-1937)
• Primaquatre
• Reinastella (1929-1933)
• Viva Grand Sport (1934-1939)
• Vivaquatre
• Vivasix

Pre WWI (1899-1914)

• 12CV
• 40CV (1908-1928)
• Type A (1899-1903)
• Type AG/Type AG-1 (1905-1910)
• Type AH/Type AM (10CV) (1905-1909)
• Type AI/Type CF/Type DQ/Type ET (35CV) (1906-1914)
• Type B (1900)
• Type C (1900)
• Type D (1901)
• Type E (1901)
• Type G/Type H/Type J (1902)
• Type L/Type M (1903)
• Type N(a)/Type N(b)/Type S (1903)
• Type N(c)/Type Q/Type U(a)/Type U(e) (1903-1904)
• Type R/Type T (1903-1904)
• Type U(b)/Type U(c)/Type U(d) (1904)
• Type V/Type AS (1905-1913)
• Type X/Type X-1 (1905-1908)
• Type Y (1905-1906)

Alpine-Renault

• A-106
• A-108
• A-110
• A-305
• A-310
• A-610

Concept Cars

• Argos (1996)
• Avantime (1998)
• Espace F1 (1995)
• Fiftie (1996)
• Fluence (2004)
• Initiale
• Koléos
• Laguna (1992)
• Mégane (1988)
• Next
• Racoon
• Scénic
• Talisman (2001)
• Velsatis (2000)
• Wind (2004)

Vans and trucks

• Renault 4 Fourgonette 1963-1971
• Renault Estafette 1965-1978
• Renault Kangoo Express 1998-
• Renault Trafic
• Renault Master
• Renault Magnum
• Renault Kerax
• Renault Mascott
• Renault Midlum