RenaultS.A is a Frenchautomobile manufacturer. They manufacture small to upper-midsize cars and vans.
Renault is known for car concepts like the Renault 16 or the one-box concepts of Twingo, Scénic and Espace, the latter of which was the first MPV. Currently Renault is the car manufacturer with the highest scores in EuroNCAP crash tests.
Between the two world wars, Louis Renault enlarged the scope of his company, producing agricultural and industrial machinery.
During WWII, Louis Renault's factories worked for Nazi Germany. He was for this reason arrested during the liberation of France in 1944 and died in prison before having prepared his defense. His industrial assets were seized by the government, and the Renault factories were therefore a public industry (known as the Régie Renault).
From 1979 to 1987, Renault held majority ownership in the American Motors Corporation (AMC), which it sold to Chrysler Corporation in March 1987.
On January 2, 2001, Renault sold its industrial vehicle subdivision (Renault Véhicules Industriels) to Volvo, which renamed it Renault Trucks in 2002.
Renault competed, as a constructor, in Formula One racing from 1977 to 1985 and again from 2002 onwards. In between these years they supplied engines to various Formula One teams, notably having successful partnerships with the Benetton and Williams teams in the 1990s. For more information, see Renault Sport.
