The founder and main brains behind Renault was the gifted Louis Renault who from an early age developed a lot of interest in engines and electrical engineering.

Renault History

Although he was never anywhere near the top of his class, it was clear from a very early age that the young man was a very gifted engineer with ideas that were ahead of their time.

At the tender age of 20 Louis invented the world’s first gear box. Car makers quickly dumped the cumbersome chains and cogs of the time and took up Louis’ invention.

He later patented it and it was this invention that made him his fortune and ended up financing the Renault car company. In setting up the company Louis and his brothers got heavily involved in car racing where their superior cars easily won races and rapidly increased the popularity of the cars that they sold to the public.

It did not matter that Renault cars were priced very highly because customers were convinced that they were worth every franc. Even if they had to pay what was at the time the equivalent of 10 years of an average salary for a single Renault.

But even then Louis was not finished with his inventions and went on to patent the very first Turbo in the early 1900s. Renault, the company went on to manufacture a wide range of different cars after the First World War. The company had its’ hand on everything from cars to vans buses, trucks and even farm tractors.

Ship engines and aircraft engines were also churned out. To be able to keep up with this massive undertaking Louis purchased foundries ironworks and anything that reduced his reliance on outside suppliers. This also helped him maintain very high quality products from Renault.

After his death in 1944, the company became government-controlled but remained very successful. Today Renault and Nissan are partners and the car maker continues to be highly successful in the market.