Renault people

Marcel_Renault

Marcel Renault (14 May 1872 – 26 May 1903) was a French racing driver and industrialist, co-founder of the carmaker Renault. He was the brother of Louis and Fernand Renault.
Marcel Renault, Louis Renault, and Fernand Renault co-founded Renault Frères based on a automobile prototype built by Louis. The brothers took orders to construct new automobiles as early as 1899.Renault was born in Paris; he and his brothers jointly founded the Renault company on 25 February 1899. He and Louis raced the cars it built starting the next year. He died in Payré, at the age of 31, of severe injuries he sustained during the Paris-Madrid race.
After his death, a statue was built in Renault's memory which later would be destroyed by the German attacks during World War II.

Jean_Rédélé

Jean Rédélé (17 May 1922, Dieppe, Seine-Maritime – 10 August 2007 Paris), was an automotive pioneer, pilot and founder of the French automotive brand Alpine.
With a HEC diploma, he was the youngest Renault dealer in France, with a dealership installed in Dieppe. Rédélé first started (1950) rallying Dieppe-Rouen with a 4 CV, because he considered the small French car had a great rallying potential. This first race was a first victory, and he decided to continue. After a failed Monte Carlo Rally Rédelé started racing in the French Alps. In the Alps he had his greatest victories. That's why his cars bore the brand "Alpine" as a memento of his first victory in the 1954 Coupe des Alpes.
Jean Rédélé's first car was a 4CV coach, in 1952. Then the second special 4Cv spéciale "The Marquis" was presented at the New York car show in 1954, without posterity.
He created the brand Alpine on 1955. The first model is the A106 coach. The 106 is a reference to the power pack of the 4CV of the 1060 series. In 1971 Alpine won its first European title for European rallies. In 1973 Alpine was the first world champion of rallying with 155 points followed by Fiat (89) and Ford (76).

Pierre_Dreyfus

Pierre Dreyfus (18 November 1907, Paris — 25 December 1994, Paris) was a high French civil servant who in 1955 became a wealthy businessman.
Between 1947 and 1955, he occupied senior administrative positions in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and in 1951 he became 'directeur de cabinet' at the ministry. Between 1948 and 1955, Dreyfus combined his civil service duties with the vice-presidency of the newly nationalised Renault auto business. On 11 February 1955 Pierre Lefaucheux died in a road accident and Dreyfus was appointed CEO of Renault. He retained the position until his retirement from the company in 1975.
Like Lefaucheux, Dreyfus secured his reputation in the top job at Renault by overseeing the launch and production of a model developed under his predecessor: in this case the commercial success was that of the Renault Dauphine. By the end of 1958, with Dreyfus less than three years into his time at the top, a million Renault 4CVs and half a million Dauphines had been sold. The following year, 1959, Renault ranked as the world's sixth largest auto-maker. The collapse of North American demand for the Dauphine triggered a crisis for the company that was well-publicised, especially in the United States, with unsold Dauphines on North American docksides adding to the half million unsold Detroit built products clogging the US auto-market by the end of 1960: for Renault salvation arrived just in time in the form of the Renault 4, developed under Dreyfus and built at the rate of 1,000 cars a day by the end of 1962. During Dreyfus's twenty years in charge, Renault went on to consolidate its position as France's top selling car maker, gaining particular recognition in the 1960s for popularizing front wheel drive, hatchback sedans across Europe, most notably the 4, 5 and 16 models.
During the early years of the Mitterrand presidency, Dreyfus became active on the political scene, serving briefly as Industry Minister between June 1981 and June 1982 under prime minister Pierre Mauroy.
Pierre Dreyfus was not related either to Alfred Dreyfus, famous because of the 'Dreyfus Affair' effectively publicised by Émile Zola, nor to the race-driver Pierre Louis-Dreyfus.

Georges_Besse

Georges Besse (25 December 1927 – 17 November 1986) was a French businessman who helped lead several large state-controlled companies. He was assassinated outside his Paris home by the armed group Action directe while he was the CEO of car manufacturer Renault.