From Hero To Zero: The Painful Legend Of Louis Renault
Renault rarely speak of the the founder of the company that bears his name. So, why's that?
Louis Renault, the founder of the eponymous car manufacturer, is well-known for having his name on one of the worlds biggest automotive companies. Renault themselves, however, avoid mentioning the man whose name they proudly put on their cars. Whereas Ferrari are eager to tell Enzo's story to everyone who will listen, and even Mercedes-Benz, despite their own history, are still ever so proud of Carl Benz, the French don't mention Louis Renault even half as often as they speak of the legend of André Citroën or Armand Peugeot. So, why aren't Renault proud of their founder?
The First Renault
Being born in a upper class Parisian family as the youngest of five children, young Louis had more than enough time to devote to his favourite pastime: engineering. In a shed in the backyard of the family's second home in Billancourt, Louis Renault tinkered away endlessly, regularly skipping school to have more time to play around with all sorts of mechanical creations. He did, however, finish school, together with classmate André Citroën, and served in the army. But when he came back, Renault knew what he wanted to do - build his own car. There were cars in France already, tottering past the Renault home in Paris, but they featured chain transmission, like a bicycle. The first Renault, however, featured a critical component of any car since - a modern gearbox with direct transmission, for which Renault got a patent. At just 21 years old, Louis Renault had laid the foundation for all modern cars to follow.
The first ever Renault, the Voiturette Type A, via https://fr.renaultclassic.com/la-collection-automobile-renault/les-pionniers/renault-type-a/
Together with his brothers, Marcel and Fernand, they started their own company, Renault-Frères. Marcel Renault died in 1903 after crashing in a car race, and Fernand died of illness in 1909, but the company itself flourished, making Louis Renault one of the richest industrials in Europe at the start of the Second World War. He even met with Adolf Hitler in 1938.
The War
When the Germans invaded, Renault was in the United States, visiting Henry Ford. When he came back, the Germans had conficated his factory. Renault was now faced with a difficult choice. He could refuse to work for the Germans, which would mean his factory would be disassembled and moved to Germany, or cooperate and keep his factory and his life's work. He chose the second option. Despite now working for the Germans, Renault wasn't sitting by idly. He worked, in secret, on his new 4CV model, which was launched in 1946. His production facilities were, however, severely bombed during the war, meaning that he wan't actually a great help to the Germans.
Renault 4CV, the car Louis Renault devloped in secret during the war, via classiccarcatalogue.com, - http://www.classiccarcatalogue.com/RENAULT%201952.html
Death And Controversy
When the Allies liberated France, Renault chose to stay in France despite being accused of collaboration with the Germans. He was arrested in September 1944. Despite now being a frail, 67-year-old man, Louis Renault was incarcerated awaiting his trial for industrial collaboration. His health deteriorated quickly in prison, and despite being moved to a private clinic, it was to no avail. Louis Renault died on October 24th, 1944, an incarcerated and disgraced man, just 4 weeks after his arrest. Rumours have since circulated that Louis Renault did not die a natural death, but was severey mistreated during his incarceration. The offical cause of death is urine in his blood, but his family and friends have always disagreed and sued the French government, without sucess so far.
By Giogo [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons
Louis Renault isn't a non-controversial man, to say the least. Throughout his life he has maintained right-wing views, opposing labour unions and underpaying his employees. He also purportedly refered to André Citroën as 'the little Jew'. Time Magazine described Renault as 'rich, powerful and famous, cantankerous, brilliant, often brutal, the little Napoleon of an automaking empire — vulgar, loud, domineering, impatient, he was a terror to associates, a friend to practically none.' But for all the controversy that surrounded Louis Renault, he was an extremely hard-working man. He built his automotive empire practically on his own, often going against advice of others, to pursue his own dreams and visions. And at the very least, he deserves respect for that.
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Comments (13)
AT&T designed and installed all of Hitler's telecommunications. Ford supplied half of the German tank fleet engines, Churchill invested in the concentration camps' railways (US installed) and mustard gas suppliers. All the big companies collude, run and make money from wars. Picking sides is so naive.
Very interesting stuff. Whether or not Louis Renault did collaborate (it seems in his opportunist nature), certainly a lot of firms, including car firms did. I think BMW used concentration camp labourers, and certainly Philips radios and Siemens did.
Obviously we don't hold this against them today, but it strikes a warning that there are ethical limits to business behaviour. I heard a story about a Chinese woman who escaped from a camp in China and went to live in the US. Years later, she saw some Christmas lights on a tree, and she was able to pull them apart and put them back together in seconds - she'd been used by a factory to produce them. So arguably this kind of thing continues today.
IBM made the super computer that sorted all the files of the camp prisoners. That's the reason they all have that tattoo. Nowadays they're one of the biggest companies in the world. m.huffpost.com/us/entry/1301691
I did not know that.
Was interesting, but you could have had someone to proofread your article. There were a spelling errors. But not the point, really interesting
You're completely right, thanks for your feedback. Glad you liked it!
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Thanks for that. Very interesting.
Glad you enjoyed it!