The Sandouville Renault Factory is a car plant belonging to the Renault Group, established in 1964 at Sandouville in the Seine-Maritime department, not far from the port of Le Havre. Work began on its construction in July 1963 and the factory was in most respects completed by December 1964.[1]
History
Initially it was constructed for the assembly of the Renault 16 which was formally launched in March 1965 at the Geneva Motor Show, but not available for sale, even in its home market, till June 1965.[1] Initially the plant, which enjoyed excellent communication links, notably by rail and river, focused on final assembly, while most of the sub-assemblies and other components arrived from older Renault plants located along the River Seine between Le Havre and Paris.[1] For the early Renault 16s running gear and suspension sub-assemblies came from the company's old Billancourt factory.[1] Also on the banks of the Seine is Cléon from where another Renault plant supplied Sandouville with power trains.[1]Flins supplied Sandouville with stampings and chromed components.[1]
Subsequent models built at Sandouville include the Renault 17, Renault 20, Renault 30, Renault 18, Renault 21, Renault 25, Renault Safrane, Renault Laguna and Renault Vel Satis, meaning that of the three major Renault plants in France, this is the one that concentrates on the larger models. Since 2003, when the Renault Espace switched from a composite body shell (manufactured on Renault's behalf by Matra) to a more conventional pressed steel body shell, the Espace has also been manufactured at Sandouville.
At its peak, the plant employed 12,000 people, but by 2006 this had fallen to just 4,650. Since the Second World War Renault traditionally concentrated on smaller cars, and many of the company's mid-sized and larger models have encountered difficulty establishing significant market share against competitor offerings. Employees looked to the Renault Laguna III, launched at the end of 2007, for an upturn in their prospects. Le Monde on 30 September 2006 reported Renault as saying that if the Laguna III, intended to revive Sandouville's fortunes, failed to take off in the market place, there would be [adverse] consequences for a site currently operating at only 40% of its design capacity.[2])
The new Laguna was not an instant hit with customers, and in July 2008 Renault announced that one of the two work teams would be cancelled, which would involve about 1,000 of the workforce.[3]
As of 2024[update] the Sandouville plant is producing the following models:
1 2 3 4 5 6 Bellu, René (2003). "Toutes les voitures françaises 1965 (salon Paris, Oct 1964)". Automobilia. 25. Paris: Histoire & collections: 71.
↑ Banzet, Etienne; Lauer, Stéphane (2006-09-29). "Désoeuvrée, l'usine de Renault-Sandouville place ses espoirs dans la future Laguna". Le Monde. Si la première voiture que l'on essaie de faire revivre à Sandouville ne marche pas, cela aura des conséquences pour ce site qui ne tourne déjà qu'à 40% de ses capacités. Notre plan est réaliste, mais pas idéaliste.
Groupe Renault is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company currently produces a range of cars and vans. It has manufactured trucks, tractors, tanks, buses/coaches, aircraft and aircraft engines, as well as autorail vehicles.
Simca was a French automaker, founded in November 1934 by Fiat S.p.A. and directed from July 1935 to May 1963 by Italian Henri Pigozzi. Simca was affiliated with Fiat and, after Simca bought Ford's French subsidiary, became increasingly controlled by Chrysler. In 1970, Simca became a brand of Chrysler's European business, ending its period as an independent company. Simca disappeared in 1978, when Chrysler divested its European operations to another French automaker, PSA Peugeot Citroën. PSA replaced the Simca brand with Talbot after a short period when some models were badged as Simca-Talbots.
The Renault Trafic is a light commercial van produced by the French automaker Renault since 1980. It has also been marketed as the Fiat Talento, the Nissan NV300, the Nissan Primastar and the Mitsubishi Express. Until 2019, it was also sold as the Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro by Opel and its associated company Vauxhall. From early 2022 onwards, the van is also marketed by Renault Trucks as the Renault Trucks Trafic.
The Renault Espace is a series of automobiles manufactured by Renault since 1984. For its first five generations, the Espace was a multi-purpose vehicle/MPV (M-segment), but it has been redesigned as a mid-size crossover SUV for its sixth generation.
The Renault 12 is a mid-size family car introduced by French automaker Renault at the Paris Motor Show in October 1969 and produced in France until 1980. Available as a saloon (Berline) and estate (Break), it was also produced under licence in many countries around the globe into the early 21st century.
The Renault 4, or R4 in short, is an economy car built by the French company Renault from 1961 to 1994. Although the Renault 4 was first marketed as a short estate or wagon, its minimal rear overhang, and its top-hinged, single-piece tail-gate made it the world's first mass-produced hatchback car, as well as the first time Renault had used a front-wheel-drive layout in a family car. A bare-bones, entry-level Renault 3, or R3 was also offered in 1961/1962.
Berliet was a French manufacturer of automobiles, buses, trucks and military vehicles among other vehicles based in Vénissieux, outside of Lyon, France. Founded in 1899, and apart from a five-year period from 1944 to 1949 when it was put into 'administration sequestre' it was in private ownership until 1967 when it then became part of Citroën, and subsequently acquired by Renault in 1974 and merged with Saviem into a new Renault Trucks company in 1978. The Berliet marque was phased out by 1980.
The Renault 16 (R16) is a D-segment family hatchback manufactured and marketed over a single generation by French automaker Renault between 1965 and 1980 in Le Havre, France — and widely noted as the first French winner of the European Car of the Year award.
The Renault Dauphine is an economy car manufactured by Renault from 1956 to 1967. Like its predecessor, the Renault 4CV, the Dauphine is a rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive four-door sedan with three-box styling. More than two million Dauphines were built and the design was produced under licence by other manufacturers outside of France. Along with such cars as the Citroën 2CV, Volkswagen Beetle, Morris Minor, Mini and Fiat 600, the Dauphine pioneered the modern European economy car. Renault marketed numerous variants of the Dauphine, including a luxury version, the Renault Ondine, a decontented version as the Dauphine Teimoso, sporting versions marketed as the Dauphine Gordini and the Ondine Gordini, the 1093 factory racing model, and the Caravelle/Floride, a Dauphine-based two-door coupé and two-door convertible.
The Renault 4CV is a car produced by the French company Renault from August 1947 through July 1961. It is a four-door economy car with its engine mounted in the rear and driving the rear wheels. It was the first French car to sell over a million units, and was superseded by the Dauphine.
The Renault Caravelle is a sports car manufactured and marketed by Renault for model years 1958–1968 in a single generation — as a rear-engine, rear-drive open two/four-seater designed by Pietro Frua of Carrozzeria Ghia, using the floorpan and engine of the Renault Dauphine.
The Renault Frégate is an executive saloon car produced by the French automaker Renault between 1951 and 1960. Estate variants, the Renault Domaine and the Renault Manoir, were introduced in 1956 and 1958 respectively.
The Renault Talisman is a large family car manufactured by the French car manufacturer Renault since 2015. It replaced the Renault Laguna, as well as the larger Renault Latitude, for which no direct replacement was scheduled. It was produced by Renault's Douai Renault Factory from 2015 to 2022 and it is produced by its South Korean subsidiary Renault Korea since 2016 and marketed as the Renault SM6(until 2024, it was marketed as the Renault Korea SM6. And until 2022, it was marketed as the Renault Samsung SM6).
France was a pioneer in the automotive industry and is the 11th-largest automobile manufacturer in the world by 2015 unit production and the third-largest in Europe. It had consistently been the 4th-largest from the end of World War II up to 2000. It is 16% of sales of French manufactured products.
The Stellantis Poissy plant is a car plant belonging to Stellantis located in Poissy, Yvelines, France. It is dedicated to the manufacturer's Platform 1 cars, which are cars in the subcompact class, with an annual output of approximately 200,000 cars. Together with the R&D Centres at Carrières-sous-Poissy and at Vélizy, it is one of three major establishments that the company runs in the department.
The Stellantis Sochaux Plant is one of the principal car plants in France - in 2007 approximately 326,000 cars were produced there, and as of May 2011 the staff numbered 11,972 permanent workers, approximately 2,000 temporary workers, as well as over 800 employees from other companies working at the Sochaux plant. The plant was created by Peugeot in 1912, initially as a truck factory, but by the 1930s it had become the company's principal car manufacturing plant, and the main production site for all principal Peugeot models from then until 1972, when the company established a second major French car assembly plant in Mulhouse.
The SOciété des Véhicules André Morin (SOVAM) is a French company that specializes in mechanized handling equipment for airports. In the mid-to-late 1960s they also operated an automobile manufacturing division that enjoyed a modicum of success but that was never profitable.
Renault Agriculture S.A.S. was the agricultural machinery division of the French car manufacturer Renault established in 1918 from its armored military vehicles division. While in operation, Renault Agriculture had various partnerships with major manufacturers and focussed production on tractors. The company was sold between 2003 and 2008 to German rival Claas. Renault Agriculture was dissolved in 2008 and its facilities became part of Claas' tractor division. Claas' tractor division and Renault's Auto Châssis International are Renault Agriculture successors.
The Renault 8 is a rear-engined, rear-wheel drive small family car produced by the French manufacturer Renault in the 1960s and early 1970s. It also formed the basis for the larger Renault 10, introduced in 1965.
Mobilize is a business unit of the French car manufacturer Renault established in 2021 and it is mainly specialized in mobility-related services. It focuses on subscription services, leasing, loans, data, and energy management, offering Mobilize-badged vehicles for car sharing and delivery services.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
