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Louis Renault became interested in technology early on. In 1888, when he was just eleven years old, he installed an electric light in his room. At the age of 14, his father gave him an old engine, which he spent hours tinkering with. His technical interest outweighed that of school, which he left without taking his final exams. In 1896, the nineteen-year-old constructed a steam boiler for which he applied for a patent. Renault began his military service after school. There his enthusiasm for machines continued unabated. In 1898, Renault built its first car in a wooden shed in Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris. With the money he saved, he bought a used Dion-Bouton four-wheeler. He made fundamental changes to the vehicle.
In the end, Renault's first prototype, the Renault Type A, was released. Renault presented the Type A car on its 21st birthday in 1898. It was the world's first car with a 3-speed gearbox and direct drive by cardan shaft instead of chain drive. In the same year, together with his brothers Fernand and Marcel Renault, he founded the company that bears the family name and laid the foundation for what would later become the modern Renault car factory. The first Renault was equipped with a 270 cc engine and produced 1.75 hp. It could carry two people at a maximum speed of 50 kilometers per hour. Renault enlisted the financial help of his brothers, who supported him in founding and developing his car company. He designed a direct gear shift system, which he patented.
This technical innovation was soon used by other European and US car manufacturers. Thanks to his penchant for technical inventions, Renault obtained further patents, such as for the turbo compressor. The Renault engines were then used in racing cars driven by the brothers Louis and Marcel Renault. The vehicles proved to be fast and successful racing cars. In 1902, a Renault won the race from Paris to Vienna ahead of 138 competitors. The average speed was 60 kilometers per hour. The following year, 1903, Marcel Renault had a fatal accident. In 1905, Renault received the exclusive contract to build the Paris taxis. Production of trucks, buses and commercial vehicles began in 1906; Aircraft engines also followed in 1908.
In 1906, Renault founded its first foreign factory in New York; 1907 in Berlin. Fernand Renault died in 1909 at the age of 44. Renault now ran its company, which had expanded into an industrial company, according to Taylorism, i.e. a scientific management system named after its inventor Frederick Winslow Taylor. By 1910, Renault had become the largest European automobile manufacturer. The company manufactured weapons during the First World War. In 1918, Renault married his wife Christine, the daughter of a Paris notary. This union resulted in the only son named Jean-Louis. From 1919, Renault was France's largest private industrial company. For cost reasons and to remain competitive, Renault manufactured all of the car's parts itself.
In 1925, the 40 CV luxury sedan appeared. This was the first to have the trademark of the rhombus on the car radiator. The poor working conditions led to frequent strikes. In 1931, Renault founded the S.A.F.E steelworks. Under pressure from the Popular Front government, he introduced the 40-hour week in 1936. When German troops occupied Paris in 1940, Louis Renault was obliged to cooperate with Nazi Germany. The so-called "strength through joy car" caused great fascination at Renault. Renault therefore decided to work with Germany. This "tank affair" and a handshake with Adolf Hitler in Berlin in 1939 gave rise to accusations of collaboration. After the liberation of France, Renault was arrested and sentenced to death in 1944.
Due to the poor physical condition, the execution of the sentence was suspended.
Louis Renault died on October 24, 1944 in Paris. The exact circumstances of his death remained unclear and led to numerous speculations.
The family's immense private assets and the entire Renault company were expropriated and nationalized in 1945 under the name Régie Nationale des Usines Renault. In 1990, the group was converted into a stock corporation, with the French state remaining its sole shareholder.
