Renault

Renault S.A. is a French vehicle nanufacturer producing small to upper-midsize cars, vans, buses, tractors and trucks.

When its cars were imported to and sold in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s, it was decided to pronounce the name as "Ren-ALT" in marketing to the American public, and the Anglicized pronunciation continues in common usage. However, Renault is correctly pronounced "Rhen-oh" (as it is commonly in the United Kingdom).

History

The Renault corporation was founded in 1898 as Société Renault Frères by Louis Renault and his brothers Marcel and Fernand. Louis was a bright, aspiring young engineer who had already designed and built several models before teaming up with his brothers, who had honed their business skills working for their father's textiles firm; Louis handled design and production, Marcel & Fernand handled company management. The brothers immediately recognized the publicity that could be gotten for their vehicles by participation in motor racing and Renault made itself known through achieving instant success in the first city-to-city races held in France, resulting in rapid expansion for the company. Both Louis and Marcel Renault raced company vehicles, but Marcel was killed in an accident during the 1903 Paris-Madrid race. Although Louis Renault never raced again, his company remained very involved, including their Renault AK 90CV winning the first ever Grand Prix motor racing event in 1906. Louis was to take full control of the company as the only remaining brother in 1906 when Fernand retired for health reasons.