Renault 4CV- the car that people had been waiting for

In 1940 Louis Renault was alleged to hide weapons, gold and jewelry. Because of that fact he was forced to work in

Germany for four years
after the 6 hours interrogation made by Gestapo. So, the major part of the workers from his factories was ttransported to

Germany
by force. The others who remained  in France were forced to construct trucks for the German army. One of them was Fernand Picard who was Head of Development at Renault. Among the first post-war designs was his large car with the size of a CitroenTraction Avant and a very small one, which looked a bit like the German “Kraft durch Freude Wagen,” later known as the VW Beatle. All this was kept secret from the Germans and from Louis Renault as well. Picard called the model- 4CV. On February 7, 1942, the engine was tested for the first time in conjunction with the hydraulic brake. A month later the factory was bombed by the RAF but the little engine and the other passenger vehicles survived the attack. The Renault 4CV actually was first tested on April 26, 1942. Most people did not like the new model-too high in the front and with  an ordinary rear end. Picard started working again. The factory was bombed by the Americans in 1943. But the 4CV survived the attack again and a second prototype, this time with much more attractive body, was designed. On September 23, 1944 a month after the Liberation, Renault was arrested as a collaborator and he died under very mysterious circumstances. In 1946  it was ordered the nationalization of the Renault concern, which has been called Regie Nationale des Usines Renault ever since. The first Renault 4CV was presented at the automobile salon in Paris in October 1946. The four-door vehicle was enthusiastically welcomed. It was the car people had been waiting for- big enough for the whole family, economical with gas, but fast and maneuverable.  The result was demands for two years. The most modern automobile factory in

Europe was built in Billancourt.It had premises for 29 pro­duction lines with a total length of 2 kilometers. The interesting fact is that the technological 28 different kinds of processes could be performed with two hundred different kinds of tools. And only two people worked there, doing the same work which required at least a hundred workers. Renault was constructing approximately 300 4CVs a day in 1949 and in June 1954 had increased to 500. For about  15 years, the factory had produced 1,150,550 4CVs.