Innovations of Renault

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While writing an article about a French midsize car in the fifties, it is impossible to ignore Citroën. As innovative as their in 1934 introduced 11CV (Traction d'Avant) was, even 23 years later it was far more succesfull than any other French midsize car. It makes me forgot that there were also other French car manufacturers in that time. Like Renault.  After being accused of collaborating with the Germans, Louis Renault was arrested in 1944 and died in a French prison. His company was nationalised as Régie Nationale des Usines Renault On 16 January 1945. During the war, Louis Renault had secretly developed the rear-engine 4CV, which was launched in 1946. In Tough to crack Puzzle 145 you can read more about the 4CV prototype. Besides the 4CV, Renault needed a new, modern, luxury model, both to improve its image and to meet the needs of middle class consumers in the hope of economic recovery. Initially the car was designed to have a rear-engined layout as in the 4CV, but Renault switched to a front-engined configuration late in the design process.  After unveiling the Frégate at the 1950 Paris Motor Show, sales did not go that well. Production figures were easily outnumbered by Citroen, whose 11 CV was still very succesfull 16 years after its introduction. There were also complaints about a lack of power from the 2 litre engine. The car in the picture has the in 1957 introduced three-speed 'Transfluide' semi-automatic transmission, combined with a more powerful version of the new 2141 cc Etendard engine, producing 80 bhp. It would not help Renault, when in 1955 the futuristic Citroën DS had been introduced, followed by its lower priced ID version, sales figures were dropping dramatically. On 18 April 1960 the final Frégate left the factory, after just 1,158 cars had been built during that last year. In total, 163,383 Frégates have been built.  To add some more drama in this story, the successor of Louis Renault, director Pierre Lefaucheux, died in a car accident near Saint-Dizier when he lost control of his Renault Frégate. Text and photography: Marius Hille Ris Lambers (www.onestop.photo)      

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