Miguel Sánchez
It is one of the best-selling brands in Europe, being rare not to find in its sample a suitable model for the mobility needs you need. In its trajectory there are from trucks and industrial vehicles to F1 engines, passing through energetic mid-range sports such as the 8 Gordini or large minivans like the Space. In sum, If something has characterized Renault during these 120 years, it is to provide answers to all types of drivers.
That is why it has become one of the most representative brands in motorsports worldwide, stepping on both the asphalt of competitions and the mud of French roads. Paths for which it was developed its legendary 4L, a car that rivaled the 2CV in utility, one that was designed to transport "four French and a 50-kilo sack of potatoes”. As you can imagine, summarizing the history of this brand in a few models ... It is a somewhat complex selection task. But nevertheless Renault has tried through 20 mythical models that recently has exhibited in Paris to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the rhombus brand.
THE SIMPLICITY OF DRIVING
At the end of the 1898th century, driving was still something strange, almost magical, for most of the European population. Huge cars that still looked like simple cars endowed with thunderous ingenuity occasionally fascinated pedestrians and peasants unaccustomed to living with these machines on their roads. However, all that began to change - or at least in France - when in XNUMX Louis renault climbed the steep slopes of Montmartre with ease aboard a revolutionary vehicle: the Type A. It made driving easier, thanks to inventions like its gearbox.
That boast of making driving easy met with rapid success, turning Louis Renault's company into a dream. of any accountant. In addition, with the launch of the type B just a year later… Drivers were finally able to transport themselves inside a closed cabin, forgetting to gear up like whalers in a blizzard before taking a winter ride in their car. Of course, although it was a breakthrough in comfort ... aesthetically, the hand of a good designer was still missing. Unless you like the gothic aesthetic of an old casket on wheels ...
Quickly, Renault followed in the wake of putting the car at the service of the needs of the majority public, appearing vehicles such as the Type AG1 -the first Paris taxi, decisive in the French defense in World War I- or the Type BD -one of the first delivery vans in history, which contributed decisively to the improvement of the postal service-. In fact, in this sense "democratizingOf technology, the milestone came with its Type KJ1 in 1923: a vehicle that, even with innovative elements for the time such as the electric starter or the three-speed gearbox, had a relatively affordable price and enormous habitability. In short, one of the clearest predecessors of today's passenger cars. As far as possible, an authentic "Car for everyone".
THE RENAULT RISE IS THE RISE OF FRANCE
After the Second World War the automobile industry, in devastated areas such as Europe or Japan, had to make itself available for reconstruction work. They were not times for great bragging, or spectacular sports. Rather, they were designed to develop simple, practical and affordable vehicles that would help resurrect a middle class necessary for the settlement of peaceful and developed societies. So things 1947 saw the birth of the mythical 4CV, a four-seater flat-floor utility vehicle suitable for almost any situation. A great success that returned to motorize a nation devastated by war, managing to sell more than a million units.
Years later Renault launched the 4L, continuing with that trail of affordable and popular cars although ... anyone who has ridden or driven one of these will know about their main virtue: they are practically unbreakable. You can put it on the rockiest path and the only thing that will not come out unscathed will be your buttocks, because the 4L will resist it without problems.
A whole car in its most primitive sense, without accessories or anything that is superfluous or susceptible to damage easily. One of the specialties of the rhombus brand, which manufactured in 1950 the Corollary, possibly one of the "first" SUV of history. Of course, much rougher than the current ones; it was praised by farmers and not by drivers who use four-wheel drive to get to the mall or to the school gate.
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TOURISM AND SPORTS: THE HAPPY 60'S
The establishment of the consumer society in Europe after the post-war period allowed the growth of a middle class that demanded large passenger cars. Thus was born in 1965 the Renault 16, a display of technology for the masses, making available to its passengers a large cabin, central locking, electric windows in the front ... Groove that in 1975 continued to run through the Renault 30, this time insisting on safety, equipping itself with deformable areas and a body prepared for the most frequent crashes.
However, if we have to stay with two of the models of this time ... We are left with two utility vehicles that are actually full of rabid sportsmanship. The mythical Renault 8 Gordini, or our TS, with a rear engine and a sporty behavior that its numerous track records speak of ... And the Renault 5 from 1972, one of the first compact designed for both city and highway, and that due to its size, performance and price allowed thousands of young people access to their first car. A little boy who, over the years, would give rise to versions as rabid as the 5 Turbo Cup, a real beast of the asphalt.
And, let's not fool ourselves. Although the 120 years of Renault are 120 years marked by the implementation of a utilitarian and comfortable sense of driving ... In the history of the diamond brand there are authentic sports gems such as the Gordini, the 5 Turbo or all the models that came out of the collaboration with Alpine. What to say about Alpine A-110! Or the A-310 and its seventies lines, unfortunately not represented in this exhibition at Rétromobil 2018.
"VEHICLES TO LIVE IN" AND THE ELECTRIC FUTURE
Sports aside ... the truth is that Renault's broader range has focused on what they call themselves "vehicles to live”, Of which perhaps the Space be the biggest example. The European adaptation of an American concept, with a multitude of spaces, comforts and accessibility typical of a family in need of a vehicle for everything. This line that the brand continued with the manufacture of compacts as striking as the Twingo -a car that for better or for worse we have seen it steal almost as many glances on the street as a Ferrari crossing the Gran Vía- or its current SUV.
In addition, it is currently one of the European brands that investigates the most in electric vehicles. However, as we are more the classics than the models of the future ... Before electricity reaches all engines, we are going to celebrate 120 years of Renault by listening to the harsh roar of a Renault 5 Maxi Turbo that, far from being powered by electricity, spits fire ...
