Renault Car Production By Model : 1945-59

The company was started by a man named Louis Renault in 1899. When France was occupied by Germany from 1940, he claimed he put the plant under the control of the Vichy government so that it would not be moved to Germany instead. For this he was viewed as a Nazi collaborator and the company was seized by the French government in 1944. He died at that time while under arrest.

As a nationalised company, it started producing cars quite quickly. They will be explained as we go. First the production numbers, then a brief summary of the models.

		Juvaquatre	4cv	Colorale	Frégate	Dauphine
	45	5	-	-	-	-
	46	8,536	-	-	-	-
	47	17,671	1,300	-	-	-
	48	2,663	29,917	-	-	-
	49	6,688	63,920	-	-	-
	50	17,800	86,077	-	-	-
	51	19,651	99,886	11,504	579	-
	52	16,756	103,308	10,307	18,153	-
	53	10,893	95,268	6,371	25,192	-
	54	11,954	123,593	5,628	34,258	-
	55	14,349	138,632	4,970	37,631	-
	56	13,897	112,050	1,871	28,943	78,007
	57	16,749	71,068	2,620	10,546	187,926
	58	13,262	73,951	1,406	13,649	280,604
	59	10,226	44,710	-	7,461	395,827

Data source: Freyssenet.com

Juvaquatre: A compact car inspired by the Opel Kadet was started in 1937, and resumed after the war. It soon became just a wagon model, with the saloon car dropped. It was also sold as a commercial van, sales of which may be included here. 

4cv: This compact car replaced the Juvaquatre saloon model. It was secretly designed during WWII, and was soon introduced after the war.

The 4cv. Quite streamline for it's time

Colorale: It was a large car for it's day, with a wagon look to it in profile but it wasn't overly popular.

Frégate: The need for an upmarket car led to this model being released. It was later joined by a wagon. 

Dauphine: While it replaced the 4cv, it was larger and both models continued for a time in typical French fashion. Other variants were introduced in time, including a sport and luxury versions.

The Dauphine. I remember seeing these as a child in NZ 

Summary: The post war years were a time of rebuilding a shattered Europe. The car industry was to become an important part of that, but in this period it was still early days.