Louis Renault: The Man Whose Business Idea Gave the World a Great Automotive Brand

The brand "Renault" can confidently be called one of the pioneers of the modern automotive industry. The largest corporation today originated from the garage experiments of a single enthusiast. Thanks to the successful implementation of a bold business idea, young engineer Louis Renault managed to create a true automotive empire. If you also dream of successfully implementing your own business idea, you should explore the history of this great brand and use the knowledge gained to build your own company.

How It All Began

The history of the birth of the Renault brand is one of those rare cases where a powerful corporation grew from the talent of a simple person without any initial bonuses or advantages. The founder of the automotive company, Louis Renault, was born into a family of ordinary bourgeoisie. From early childhood, the boy did not have much interest in acquiring a classical education but spent days on end in a shed that became his technical laboratory, where he began conducting experiments to develop new cars.

At the age of twenty, Louis Renault made his first serious technical innovation by fundamentally redesigning the construction of a simple three-wheeled vehicle from the De Dion-Bouton company. He transformed the three-wheeled transport into a full-fledged car with rear-wheel drive and was the first in the world to use a gearbox of his own invention. Prior to this, torque in cars was transmitted using chains, but in this invention, a driveshaft with universal joints was used. A similar design is still successfully used in car manufacturing.

A year later, in 1889, Louis Renault created the first car completely manufactured by him. It was a light two-seater with an engine power of only 0.75 horsepower. This car marked the beginning of Renault's history as a company.

Subsequently, years of work on a new car model followed. The result of Louis and his two elder brothers' work was the "Model A" - a car that combined the latest technological achievements of that time. With a high power for those years (1.75 horsepower), Louis Renault was able to win a bet by climbing a steep 13% street. The car's performance caused a sensation, leading to orders for 12 similar cars for Louis Renault. This marked the beginning of mass production.

Establishing Renault in the Market

The success of the "A" model allowed the brothers to found a company named "Société Renault Frèresin Boulogne-Billancourt." A workshop was set up on the outskirts of Paris for assembling cars. Production capacity was enough to create 15 cars within a year. Around the same time, a gearbox was patented, which became almost standard in all cars of that period.

For further advertising of their cars, the Renault brothers chose the most convincing way to prove that their cars were the best. In those times, cars were still an unfamiliar mode of transport, and car races caused huge excitement. Renault put tremendous effort into winning the most significant races of that time. Winning a race in Paris-Berlin brought the young company an order for 350 cars - massive volumes for the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The reason behind numerous victories was their unconventional approach to creating racing cars - the brothers focused on lightweight constructions with small engines that easily outperformed the powerful but heavy competitors' cars. Each new victory brought hundreds of new orders to the company.

In 1903, a tragedy occurred - one of the Renault brothers, a former racing car driver, died in a car accident. After this, Louis Renault stopped personally participating in races, but the company's cars continued to set new records in motorsport.

By 1904, "Société Renault Frèresin Boulogne-Billancourt" had 120 dealerships in France and abroad, and production capacity had reached nearly 1000 cars per year.

In the following years, the company started collaborating with the French army, developing engines for airplanes, military vessels, and even designing a tank that was relevant for that period.

Government orders allowed for such an expansion of production that by 1913, the company's workforce had grown to 5200 employees, producing 10,000 cars per year.

Years of Prosperity

By 1919, Renault had become the leading industrial company in France. This bold business idea led its creator to astounding success. In 1925, the legendary diamond-shaped logo appeared, adorning the Renault 40CV model.

Two years later, the company introduced another significant innovation - installing brakes on all four wheels of the RenaultNN car.

By 1930, independent front-wheel drive, folding seats, and luggage space adaptations were invented. Renault cars were beginning to resemble their modern form.

A Fatal Mistake

Renault thrived until the start of World War II. During the occupation of France, the company's leader made a fundamentally erroneous decision - in a bid to preserve his creation, he collaborated with the Nazi forces.

However, he failed to save the company. Productions working for the German war effort were destroyed by Allied airstrikes, and after the war, Louis Renault was prosecuted and ended his days in prison. Society turned its back on him, and all productions were nationalized, with the government controlling the company's further development to this day.

From the story of the Renault company, two lessons can be learned. The first is that with perseverance, hard work, and business intuition, it is entirely possible to build an industrial empire with minimal starting capital. The second lesson is that by trying to save your business at any cost, you can go too far and lose everything.

So if you have your own business idea that you dream of realizing, start taking action today, and perhaps you can build your own automotive empire like Renault or Citroen.

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