What You Need to Know- Renault

Renault has always been the wild one of the 3 big French car companies. Whilst Citroen was always pushing the technological boundaries and Peugeot building exciting cars, Renault was doing everything, it had an F1 team, built safe cars, fun cars, practical cars, cheap cars and even strange cars. Renault has done it all.

Year Founded: 1899

Founder: Louis, Marcel and Fernand Renault

Important People:

Louis Renault- One of the 3 founders of Renault, it was under his watch that Renault contributed to the war effort in World War 1 with it's tanks, though he later ended up dying under suspicious circumstances following cooperation with Nazi Germany.

Georges Besse- He joined Renault in 1985, planning to turn the company around, though his plans to layoff 21,000 staff and invest in AMC over in the States did not go down well, whilst he did turn Renault and AMC around he ultimately ended up gunned down.

Fernando Alonso- Upon Renault's return to F1 in 2002, having taken over the Benetton team, Alonso quickly showed promise as a then young driver, he got his first win in '03 (the teams first since '97) and soon after, he narrowly got them 2 world titles and constructors in '05 & '06.

Important Cars:

4- The humble 4 was Renault's riposte to the Citroen 2CV, the 4 was practical and adaptable, capable of being a van, pick-up or convertible, both it and the 2CV also saw military usage as well. It was so popular Renault recently brought it back as a small EV.

5- The 5 continued the legacy of the 4, including it's long lifespan. The Turbo provided rally wins and huge performance, and just like the 4 it's now returned as an EV as well.

RS10- The first F1 car to win with a turbo engine that would eventually snowball into the fire spitting 'Turbo era' of F1 that saw Renault battle it out with Ferrari and co for wins before pulling out as a constructor in '86.

Espace- Not the first people carrier but certainly the car that got people buying them. Don't forget the Espace F1 complete with the V10 engine from the '92 Williams F1 Car and that could do 0-60 in just 2.8 seconds.

Alpine A610- Whilst it was not a sales success, the A610 offered great performance from it's turbocharged V6 engine and good value despite it’s rear-engined handling quirks and lack of practicality.

Clio- The long awaited successor to the 5, the Clio has done it all. From the estate to the exhilarating Williams, 182 Cup, V6 and 200 Cup hot hatches that show Renault can do safety, practicality and fun that doesn't break the bank (well except the V6).

Scenic- The car that launched the mini MPV market, tall and with only 5 seats, as opposed to 7 it offered practicality and storage without the size of the bigger Espace.

Laguna BTCC- Alain Menu & Jason Plato piloted the yellow and blue cars to the 1997 BTCC title and gave Renault a big sporting image boost.

Twizy- Proof Renault can do crazy, ingenious and useful in one package. The Twizy was one of Renault's early EV's, but unlike the Fluence and Zoe it was anything but normal, complete with scissor doors and tandem style seats, it was small and perfect for big cities yet mad and crazy in the Renault way, hopelessly impractical and slow yet very likable. 

Ones to Forget:

9- Voted European Car of the Year 1982 and was built in a variety of territories including the USA and Turkey, there was a Turbo version but was ultimately a very dull car.

Safrane- Renaults poor excuse for an executive car, a V6 engine couldn’t save it and a late facelift made even the Ford Scorpio look good by comparison. Only saving grace was a Biturbo version.

Avantime- A coupe come MPV, frankly no one wants to spend upwards of 30k on a coupe that looks like an Espace and whilst it has got a cult following, sales were dismal.

Vel Satis- The successor to the even more poor Safrane, built from the Intiale concept car and whilst it did offer a unique choice to an E-Class or S-Type, outside of comfort it was outclassed by everything in the field.

Fluence- Renault’s attempt at an electric family saloon came too early and was a sales disaster that sounds like a disease.

High Point: In the early 80s, Renault was everywhere in motorsport, the 5 Turbo was incredibly fast on tarmac rallies and in F1, Renault was very competitive whilst offering a variety of cars from the humble 5 to the Alpine A310.

Low Point: The infamous 'Crashgate' scandal that occurred in the wake of the 2008 Singapore GP. Essentially, team principal Flavio Briatore ordered Nelson Piquet Jr to crash so Fernando Alonso could pit early and take the win, only after Piquet Jr was dropped the following year did he come clean to the FIA which lead to Briatore being banned from the paddock, and sponsers pulling support from the team. 

 

Fun Trivia

Renault is the only car maker that can say it's head was assassinated. 

The company that built the bodies for the Avantime was called Matra, who previously made cars including the Murena. 

When the Espace was first launched it was called "the Silk underpants car" as the designers believed it would sell so quickly. 9 were sold in it's first year.