The Renault corporation was founded on 25 February 1899 as Société Renault Frères by Louis Renault and his brothers Marcel and Fernand. Louis was a bright, aspiring young engineer who had already designed and built several prototypes before teaming up with his brothers, who had honed their business skills working for their father's textile firm. While Louis handled design and production, Marcel and Fernand managed the business.

The first Renault car, the Renault Voiturette 1CV, was sold to a friend of Louis' father after giving him a test ride on 24 December 1898.

In 1903, Renault began to manufacture its own engines; until then it had purchased them from De Dion-Bouton. The first major volume sale came in 1905 when Société des Automobiles de Place bought Renault AG1 cars to establish a fleet of taxis.

.......between the wars

Renault cars during this time period had two model lines; the economy four-cylinder engine models that in the 1930s became the suffix "Quatre" and the luxury six-cylinder models that were initially sold with the suffix "-six" that later became the suffix "Stella". For example, in 1928, when Renault produced 45,809 cars, its seven models started with a 6CV, a 10CV, the Monasix, 15CV, the Vivasix, the 18/22CV and the 40CV. Renault offered eight body styles. The longer rolling chassis were available to coachbuilders. The smaller were the most popular while the least produced was the 18/24CV. The most expensive body style in each range was the closed car. Roadsters and tourers (torpedoes) were the cheapest.

......untill the seventies

1956

3 & 4

The Renault 4, also known as the 4L (pronounced "Quatrelle" in French), is a small economy car produced by the French automaker Renault between 1961 and 1994. Although the Renault 4 was marketed as a short station wagon, its minimal rear overhang, and single top-hinged rear opening made it the world's first mass-produced hatchback car, as well as the first front-wheel drive family car produced by Renault.

The car was launched at a time when several decades of economic stagnation were giving way to growing prosperity and surging car ownership in France. The first million cars were produced by 1 February 1966, less than four and a half years after launch; eventually over eight million were built, making the Renault 4 a commercial success because of the timing of its introduction and the merits of its design. In early 2020, the 33-year production run of the Renault 4 was counted as the seventeenth most long-lived single generation car in history.

The Renault 4 was Renault's response to the 1948 Citroën 2CV. Renault was able to review the advantages and disadvantages of the 2CV design. The Citroën had made motoring available to low-income people in France. Renault launched the Renault 3 and the Renault 4 simultaneously in July 1961. The cars shared the same body and most mechanical components, but the R3 was powered by a 603 cc version of the engine while the R4 featured a 747 cc engine. This placed the R3 in the 3CV taxation class while the R4 was in the 4CV class.

5

The Renault 5 is a four-passenger, three or five-door, front-engine, front wheel drive hatchback supermini manufactured and marketed over two generations: 1972–1985 (also called R5) and 1984–1996 (also called Super 5 or Supercinq). The R5 was marketed in the US as Le Car, from 1976 to 1983. Renault marketed a four-door sedan variant, the Renault 7, manufactured from 1974 to 1984 in Spain by Renault's subsidiary FASA-Renault and exported in limited markets.

The Renault 5 became the best-selling car in France from 1972 to 1986, with a total production exceeding 5.5 m over a 14-year period, making it France's most popular car.

The Renault 5 was styled by Michel Boué, who designed the car in his spare time, outside of his normal duties. When Renault executives learned of Boué's work, they were so impressed by his concept they immediately authorized a formal development programme. The R5 featured a steeply sloping rear hatchback. Boué had wanted the tail-lights to go all the way up from the bumper into the C-pillar, in the fashion of the much later Fiat Punto and Volvo 850 estate / wagon, but the lights remained at a more conventional level.

It was one of the first modern superminis, which capitalised on the new hatchback design, which Renault had patented on its R16, launched in 1965. It was launched a year after the booted version of the Fiat 127, and during the same year that the 127 became available with a hatchback. The R5 was launched three years before the Volkswagen Polo and Vauxhall Chevette.

The second generation R5, marketed as the Supercinq (or "Superfive"), launched in October 1984 — within 18 months of Ford, General Motors, Peugeot, Fiat and Nissan launching competitors in the supermini sector. It was initially only available with a three-door body, which led to a somewhat slow introduction.

The GT Turbo, with its turbocharged 1.4 engine and a top speed of more than 120 mph, was discontinued in 1991 on the launch of the Clio 16-valve.

6

7

9&11

12

14

15/17

The Renault 15 and Renault 17 are two variations of the same coupé designed and built by French automaker Renault between July 1971 and August 1979. The R17 was sold as R177 in Italy, respecting the heptadecaphobia superstition.

They were effectively coupé versions of the Renault 12. The main differences between the two cars were their headlight configuration (the 15 had two rectangular headlights whereas the 17 had four round headlights) and their rear side windows. Some markets show the 17 with the rectangular lights for TL versions.

The chassis and most of the running gear came from the Renault 12, while the 1565 cc 108 PS  A-Type engine in the more powerful R17 TS and R17 Gordini models was derived from the engine in the Renault 16 TS. Though the mechanicals of the cars were derived from other Renaults, the body was completely new.

The R15 and R17 remained in production until summer 1979 when they were both replaced by the Renault Fuego.

16

In the early 1960s Renault was building a series of small cars, like the hatchback Renault 4 and rear engine Renault Dauphine  and aimed to replace its larger family car, the Renault Frégate model (1951–1960) which had managed a modest production total of 163,383 units.

The R16 was a great success, with 1,845,959 R16s produced during a production run of 15 years. The car sold well in most of Europe, winning praise for its spacious and comfortable interior as well as the practicality offered by its effectively unique hatchback bodystyle. It was marketed in the United States, but was not successful and only a tiny number were sold. The big innovation was the modern, practical body style – introducing the hatchback to the mid-size family segment. This allowed the interior to be immensely flexible, and could be configured in seven different ways. This body style is halfway between a saloon and an estate, and, before the term hatchback was coined, journalists struggled to describe it. 

18

19

20/30

The Renault 20 (R20) and Renault 30 (R30) are two executive cars produced by the French automaker Renault between 1975 and 1984. The most upmarket and expensive Renaults of their time, the two cars were almost identical with regard to sheet metal and mechanicals; the R30 was the larger-engined and more expensive of the two. The two cars were easily distinguished between each other from their differing headlight configuration – the Renault 20 had two single rectangular headlights whereas the Renault 30 had quadruple round headlights. The interior specifications differed substantially however with the Renault 30 having a higher specification in all models. Over 622,000 R20s and 145,000 R30s were produced in Sandouville near Le Havre, France.

Launched in March 1975 at the Geneva Motor Show, the Renault 30 TS was marketed as Renault's flagship model and it was the first Renault with an engine having more than four cylinders since the pre-war Renault Vivastella. It was one of the first cars (the other two being the Peugeot 604 and Volvo 264) to use the then newly introduced 2664 cc PRV V6 engine, which was developed jointly between Peugeot, Renault and Volvo; the PRV produced 130 PS  and could power the R30 to a top speed of 185 km/h. The vehicle's hatchback styling was derivative of the extremely successful Renault 16.

Both the 20 and 30 were advanced in terms of safety, featuring front and rear crumple zones as well as side impact protection. Aside from the unusual proportions, the 20/30 also received unique, downwards-folding door handles on the first two model years. These were changed to regular units in August 1976, for the 1977 model year.

The Société des Automobiles Alpine SAS, commonly known as Alpine, is a French manufacturer of racing and sports cars established in 1955. The Alpine car marque was created in 1954.

Jean Rédélé, the founder of Alpine, was originally a Dieppe garage proprietor who began to achieve success in motorsport with one of the few French cars that were produced just after the Second World War, the Renault 4CV. The company has been closely related to Renault through its history, and was bought by it in 1973.

The Alpine competition department merged into Renault Sport in 1976 and the production of Alpine-badged models ceased in 1995. The Alpine marque was relaunched with the 2017 introduction of the new Alpine A110. In January 2021, as part of a company revamp, Renault announced Renault Sport would be merged back into Alpine to form an Alpine business unit.

21

25

fuego

The Renault Fuego (Fire in Spanish) is a sport hatchback that was manufactured and marketed by Renault from 1980 to 1986, replacing the Renault 15 and 17 coupés of the 1970s. The Fuego's exterior was styled by Michel Jardin, and the interior by Francois Lampreia, both working under direction of Robert Opron. Noted automotive journalist, L. J. K. Setright said the Fueugo "is blessed with a body which is not only roomy and aerodynamically efficient, but is also beautiful".

The Fuego was heavily based on the Renault 18, sharing its floorpan and drivetrain, with its front suspension developed from the larger Renault 20/30. The Fuego was the first mass-produced four-seat sports model to be designed in a wind tunnel, resulting in a drag coefficient (Cd) factor ranging from 0.32-0.35. In October 1982, the turbocharged diesel Fuego became the fastest diesel car in the world, with a top speed of 180 km/h.

The Fuego was not directly replaced by another model in the Renault range. A Fuego II was planned, similarly styled as the new Renault Alpine GTA. However, the development of the new model was cancelled at the last minute due to a combination of Renault's financial problems along with the declining demand for sports coupés in the marketplace at that time.

espace

The Renault Espace is a large luxury crossover MPV vehicle manufactured by Renault for five generations. The first three generations of the Espace were amongst the first contemporary minivans or MPVs, and were manufactured by Matra for Renault. The fourth generation, also an MPV, was manufactured by Renault. The Renault Grand Espace is a long wheelbase (LWB) version with increased rear leg room and boot size. The fifth generation is introduced with a crossover SUV-inspired styling while keeping the space-oriented MPV body style. Renault described the fifth generation Espace as a 'crossover-style MPV' which combines elements of saloon, SUV and MPV, while retaining interior space and practicality of the latter.

safrane

The Renault Safrane is an executive car (E-segment in Europe) designed and built by the French manufacturer Renault from 1992 until 2000. Throughout its production it remained the most expensive and most luxurious Renault available, although its commercial success was limited, compared to some similar models and also compared to its predecessor. Just over 300,000 Safranes were built, compared to nearly 800,000 Renault 25. It was replaced by the Vel Satis, and to some extent, by the short-lived two-door Avantime.

The Safrane was launched in April 1992, to replace the Renault 25 in the full-size market segment. Its clean, aerodynamic styling was quite conservative and typical of early 1990s car design, also quite reminiscent of the 25's appearance. All Safranes were five-door hatchbacks/notchbacks. The Series 2 Safrane featured slightly (but visibly) different front ends in different versions, in an attempt to emphasize the unique status of more upmarket models.

megane

The Renault Mégane is a small family car produced for model year 1996, and was the successor to the Renault 19. The Mégane has been offered in three- and five-door hatchback, saloon, coupé, convertible and estate bodystyles at various points in its lifetime, and having been through four generations is now in its fifth incarnation.

The first generation was largely based on its predecessor, the 19, and utilized modified versions of that car's drivetrain and chassis. The second and third generations were based on the Renault–Nissan C platform. The fourth generation is based on the CMF-CD platform, as used by the Renault Talisman and Renault Scénic.

For 2002, the Mégane entered its second generation with a substantial redesign taking place, and was voted European Car of the Year for 2003, whilst also becoming the first car in its class to receive a five star Euro NCAP rating. The Mégane entered its third generation in 2008, with another totally different design being used; the saloon version of the Mégane became known as the Renault Fluence for this generation, and it was introduced in 2009. The fourth-generation Mégane was launched in 2015, with sales commencing in 2016. 

e-tech  2022-present

The Renault Megane E-Tech Electric is an electric car produced by French manufacturer Renault since 2022. It is a five-door hatchback in the small family car market segment. Using the Mégane nameplate, it is the first Renault model based on a dedicated battery electric vehicle platform called the CMF-EV. The Mégane E-Tech is available with two different batteries (40 kWh or 60 kWh) and two different traction motors with outputs of 129 hp or 215 hp. The battery is 110 mm  tall. Anticipated range is 300 to 470 km, depending on the original capacity, based on the WLTP cycle.

avantime

The Renault Avantime is a grand tourer designed and manufactured by Matra, between 2001 and 2003. As a one-box design without B-pillars, styled by Patrick Le Quément, the Avantime combined the design elements of an MPV, estate or shooting brake with the style of a 2+2 coupé and elements of a convertible.

The name "Avantime" is a portmanteau of the French word "Avant" (meaning "ahead") and the English word "time" — with the latter using the English  rather than French pronunciation.

Styled by Patrick Le Quément, the Avantime was intended to combine the space of an estate with the four place pillarless qualities of a coupé.^[4] Regarding the styling, Thierry Metroz, design project manager, said, "We wanted someone walking around the car to be continually astonished." Anthony Grade, Renault's vice-president of design said, "The exterior and interior had to be coherent. Using the Espace as a base, for instance, meant we had the central instrument display, but that‘s part of the innovative character of the whole vehicle". The Avantime's sales were poor and Renault chose to discontinue the Avantime. 8,557 were built from 2001 to 2003, a figure that makes it one of the worst-selling cars of all time.

Renault Sport or Renaultsport, is the motorsport, performance and special vehicles division for Renault-badged cars. Renault Sport was officially established in 1976 as a merger between the Alpine and Gordini competition departments. It was reorganised in 2002 and 2016. In January 2021, it was announced that all Renault Sport operations would be merged into an Alpine-led business unit.

Renault Sport was created at the end of 1976, when Renault closed down the Alpine competition department (at that time, its main motorsport division), located at Dieppe, and moved all the racing activities to the Gordini factory at Viry-Châtillon, just outside Paris. The Dieppe-based Alpine department specialised in the construction of race car chassis while the Viry-Châtillon-based Gordini focussed on engines. However, several conflicts emerged between them, and Renault took the decision to unify both departments into a single location in order to achieve a greater integration and harmony. The company concentrated principally on developing a car for Formula One, although it also participated in other series.

In 2002, the Viry-Châtillon factory became the engine department of the Renault F1 team and Renault Sport was moved to Les Ulis and renamed Renault Sport Technologies (RST).

In January 2021, the Alpine company announced it would absorb both Renault Sport Racing and Renault Sport Cars to form an Alpine business unit.

Renault 17 Gordini 1974 Rallye

racing/ralley

Gordini-tuned Renault cars won many rallies during the 1950s and 1960s, and Alpine, being a subsidiary of Renault, won the first World Rally Championship (WRC) in 1973. In the WRC, Renault had some success with cars such as the R5 Turbo and the R17 Gordini until it left international rallying in late 1994 (although it continued competing in national and promotional rally series).

The European Rally Championship was won three times by a Renault car (1999, 2004, 2005).

On 21 February 2013, Renault Sport Technologies announced its official return to international rallying in the European Rally Championship.

restomod

r5 t3

The Renault 5 wasn't one of the most exciting cars ever produced by the French automaker, but the Turbo 1 homologation special was an entirely different beast. The most powerful French car at its launch, the hot hatch eschewed the front-engined, front-wheel-drive layout of the regular supermini and opted for a mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive setup. The more common Renault 5 Turbo 2 followed, and while it felt less special, it was still a remarkable little hatchback with the same 160-horsepower engine as the original. It had slightly less torque and put on quite a lot of weight (970 kg vs 900 kg) after replacing many of the light-alloy parts, but managed to remain a quintessential hot hatch.

Fast forward to 2021 and prepare to meet the Turbo 3, a natural evolution of the 1980s rally car. While it doesn't come straight from Renault, the newly formed Legende Automobiles wants to pay tribute to the feisty French machine with a modern-day interpretation without diminishing the attributes that made the original version so special.

https://legendeautomobiles.fr

Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, who is also the current chairman of Formula E Holdings. The inaugural championship race was held in Beijing in September 2014. Since 2020, the series has FIA world championship status.

2016 Renault Z.E.16

Renault was one of the first car manufacturers involved in the Formula E (FE) championship. For the inaugural season, Renault Sport became a technical partner of the series, also agreeing a title sponsorship deal with the e.dams team which achieved the first FE teams' championship. DAMS (formerly Driot-Arnoux Motorsport, currently Driot Associés Motor Sport) is an auto racing team from France, involved in many areas of motorsport. DAMS was founded in 1988 by Jean-Paul Driot and former Formula One driver René Arnoux. It is headquartered near Le Mans, only 2 km from the Bugatti Circuit.

Before the 2015–16 season, following the introduction of new rules allowing the development of the electric powertrains used in the FE's Spark chassis, Renault announced it would entry as a supplier for e.dams. The new powertrain manufactured by Renault Sport was named Renault ZE 15. For the 2016–17 season, Renault added the Chinese team Techeetah as a powertrain client. In October 2017, Renault Sport Racing announced it would withdraw from FE at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Renault's is the most successful Formula E team, having won two titles; one under each of its drivers, Nicolas Prost and Sébastien Buemi. Founded by Formula 1 legend Alain Prost and DAMS founder Jean-Paul Driot. Renault is well-prepared for Formula E with its comparatively long history of electric cars, and an electric powertrain designed in-house by Renaultsport F1.

The French automotive manufacturer Renault has been associated with Formula One as both team owner and engine manufacturer for various periods since 1977. In 1977, the company entered Formula One as a constructor, introducing the turbo engine to Formula One with its EF1 engine. In 1983, Renault began supplying engines to other teams. Although the Renault team had won races, it withdrew at the end of 1985. Renault engines continued to be raced until 1986.

Renault returned to Formula One in 1989 as an engine manufacturer. It won five drivers' titles and six constructors' titles between 1992 and 1997 with Williams and Benetton, before ending its works involvement after 1997, though their engines continued to be used without works backing until 2000.

In 2000, Renault acquired the Enstone-based Benetton Formula team (formerly Toleman). Renault became a works engine manufacturer again in 2001, and in 2002 the Enstone-based team was re-branded as Renault. The team won the drivers' and constructors' championships in 2005 and 2006.

1962  804

By 2011 Renault had sold its shares in the Enstone-based team, though it continued to use the Renault chassis name in 2011. Renault remained in the sport as an engine manufacturer, winning four drivers' and constructors' titles with Red Bull Racing in 2010–2013. The company bought the Enstone-based team again in 2016 and re-branded it as Renault. The team didn't win in the following five seasons and was re-branded as Alpine in 2021 with the Renault marque remaining as engine manufacturer.

As a team owner Renault has won two constructors' and drivers' championships, while as an engine manufacturer it has 12 constructors' and 11 drivers' championships. It has collected over 160 wins as engine supplier, ranking fourth in Formula One history.

The Enstone-based team was rebranded to Alpine from the 2021 season onwards, and the Renault brand would continue in Formula One as its engine supplier.

Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a French industrial conglomerate. During its years of operation, it was engaged in a wide range of business activities, primarily focused around automobiles, bicycles, aeronautics and weaponry.

Following the acquisition of vehicle manufacturer Automobiles René Bonnet, the company formed Matra Automobiles during the 1960s and made the Matra brand famous through the production of a successful range of racing cars and sports cars. Its car division worked closely with other vehicle manufacturers, most significantly Renault, prior to the decline and sale of Matra Automobiles during the early 2000s. However, within a decade, Matra had sold its road car division to American-owned car manufacturer Chrysler Europe, having shifted focus onto its other growing business activities. In addition to road cars, Matra entered into a wide range of businesses, eventually diversifying into media, weaponry, aeronautics, automobiles, and music distribution.

djet

The Matra Djet is a French sports car that was originally designed and sold by René Bonnet. As the Bonnet Djet it was the world's first rear mid-engined production road car. Different versions of the car were produced from 1962 until 1967 and sold under a variety of names that included René Bonnet Djet, Matra-Bonnet Djet, Matra Sports Djet and finally, Matra Sports Jet.

The car started out as the René Bonnet Djet in June 1962. This model became known in retrospect as the Djet I. The car was named "Djet" because Bonnet thought the French would not pronounce the word "jet" correctly. It was powered by a 65 PS 1,108 cc engine from a Renault 8 in a mid-engine location mated to a gearbox from the Renault Estafette van. This power-train gave the car a top speed of 165 km/h, or 190 km/h in the later Djet III with a Gordini engine. A fiberglass body was chosen for its lightness, ease of repairs, and to keep initial investment costs low. The body was made by Matra's Générale d'Applications Plastiques subsidiary in Romorantin, and was bonded directly to a steel chassis. The chassis were built in Bonnet's factory in Champigny-sur-Marne (a Paris suburb), where final assembly also took place.

bagheera

The Matra Bagheera is a sports car built by the automotive division of the French engineering group Matra in cooperation with automaker Simca. It was marketed as the Matra-Simca Bagheera until its final year of production, when its designation was changed to the Talbot-Matra Bagheera following Chrysler Europe's demise and subsequent takeover by PSA.

As many as possible of the major components were sourced from the Chrysler-Simca parts inventory. Although the engine, gearbox and many suspension elements came directly from the Simca 1100, this new Matra was to be a mid-engined car rather than front-wheel drive like the donor car. The public release of the car took place at the 1973 24 Heures du Mans. At the same time Simca had arranged to have 500 yellow Bagheeras available at their dealers across France. Towards the end of 1973, production levels had reached 65 cars per day. In June 1974, within eighteen months of its release, more than 10,000 Bagheeras had been sold.

The 19 panels that made up the Bagheera's body were made of fiberglass-reinforced polyester, which were then attached to the chassis. The process used to make the panels was called `LP', and it used a low-pressure high-temperature pressing method to produce panels using relatively inexpensive tooling. The only engine offered at first was the 1,294 cc from Simca's 1100 Ti model. In the Bagheera this engine developed 84 hp, two more horsepower than in the 1100 Ti. In 1976 a larger version of the same engine became available when the 1,442 cc  engine from the Simca 1308 GT was added to the lineup.

The Bagheera won the 1973 Style Auto Award, beating out competition that included the Lancia Stratos, Lancia Beta coupé and Ferrari Dino 308 GT4.

murena

The Matra Murena is a mid-engined, rear wheel drive sports car that was produced from 1980 through 1983.

The Murena, whose name is Italian for "Moray", was the successor to the Matra Bagheera, a similar vehicle that resulted from an earlier collaboration between Matra and Simca. Development proceeded under two project names; "M551" for the 1.6-litre version and "M552" for the 2.2-litre version. The Murena drew heavily from the corporate parts bin, using engines from the Talbot Solara and Talbot Tagora, a transaxle from the Citroën CX, tail light clusters (but with custom lenses), steering rack and front suspension from the Talbot Horizon, front indicator and running lights from the Renault 12, and door handles from the Peugeot 505.

Even though it used a chassis very similar in principle to the Bagheera and the same basic body-style, the styling for the Murena was all-new. The final shape was extremely aerodynamic for the time. Production of the Matra Murena ended in July 1983, when the Matra factory switched over to building the first generation of Renault Espace minivan.

In total 10680 were produced.

rancho

The Matra Rancho is a leisure activity vehicle created by the French engineering group Matra, in cooperation with the automaker Simca, to capitalize on the off-road trend started by the Range Rover. The Rancho provided an "off-road look" at a lower price. The Rancho was launched in 1977, and became a popular model, but this did not alleviate larger problems at Chrysler Europe (Simca's parent company). Chrysler finally sold its European arm to PSA in 1978, which was then rebranded as Talbot in 1979. The Matra-Simca Rancho became the Talbot Matra Rancho and production continued until 1984 (although it remained on sale up to January 1985), reaching 57,792 cars in total.

The Rancho spawned an unlikely successor: the Renault Espace. Matra wanted to replace the Rancho with their prototype of the Espace known as the “dessin orange”, which translates to “the orange drawing” in English – both the prototype and the background it was drawn on were orange. It predicted the basic shape of the first Espace but only had three doors instead of five. Peugeot (who controlled Matra at the time) deemed the project too expensive and not promising enough. Determined to take its design to production Matra knocked on Renault's door and they quickly adopted the project, one that upon its launch in 1984 arguably became the first European minivan.

espace

The Renault Espace is a large luxury crossover MPV vehicle manufactured by Renault for five generations. The first three generations of the Espace were amongst the first contemporary minivans or MPVs, and were manufactured by Matra for Renault. The fourth generation, also an MPV, was manufactured by Renault.

The Espace concept was originally conceived in the 1970s by the British designer Fergus Pollock, who was working for Chrysler UK, at its design centre at Whitley in Coventry. Matra, spearheaded by Greek designer Antonis Volanis, developed the design for Simca, the then French subsidiary of Chrysler, with the intent of marketing the vehicle as a Talbot. It would replace the Matra Rancho leisure activity vehicle on the Matra production lines.

In 1978, six years before the Espace went into production, Chrysler UK and Simca were sold to the French company PSA Peugeot Citroën, which phased out Simca within a decade because of falling sales. PSA decided the Espace was too expensive and  Matra and took the idea to Renault.

The Espace was eventually launched by Renault in July 1984. After a slow start, a mere nine Espaces were sold in the first month, consumers realised the benefits of the MPV concept and the Espace became popular. The introduction of the Espace required the relatively small Matra factory to cease production of the Murena to make room for the Espace. The espace is currently in his  fifth generation and being produced by Renault as off 2002.

espace f1

In 1995, Renault displayed a show car called the Espace F1, which was created by Matra to celebrate both the tenth anniversary of the Espace and Renault's involvement in Formula One racing. Though it resembled an Espace with substantial bodywork changes, the vehicle had more in common with a Formula One car.

The vehicle used a lightweight carbon fibre F1 style chassis in combination with a carbon fibre reinforced Espace J63 series body (as opposed to fibreglass on the standard model). Powering the Espace F1 was an 800 PS  (upgraded from its original rating of 700 PS) 3.5 litre, forty valve Renault RS5 V10 engine, as used in the 1993 Williams-Renault FW15C.

As with an F1 car, the V10 engine was mid engined (as opposed to the conventional front-engined layout) and the power was transmitted to the rear wheels via a six speed semi automatic gearbox, also used in the Williams FW15C.

avantime

The Renault Avantime is a grand tourer marketed by the French manufacturer Renault, designed and manufactured by Matra, between 2001 and 2003. As a one-box design without B-pillars, styled by Patrick Le Quément, the Avantime combined the design elements of an MPV, estate or shooting brake with the style of a 2+2 coupé and elements of a convertible. The name "Avantime" is a portmanteau of the French word "Avant" (meaning "ahead") and the English word "time".

The Avantime was designed and developed in-house by Renault affiliate Matra and was conceived by Philippe Guédon, head of the automotive division at Matra, who "believed that the children of Espace owners remained loyal to the car even after they had grown up and left home. As a result, the renowned estate was gaining a generation of new drivers."  The design borrowed the automotive space frame of the first generation Renault Espace and used Renault's 24 valve, 207 hp  3.0L V6 engine, which was coupled to a six-speed manual transmission or five-speed automatic transmission.

The Avantime's sales were poor. The car's fortunes were not helped by the introduction of the Renault Vel Satis (another large, upmarket Renault) around the same time. When Matra decided to pull out of the automotive production business in 2003 (partly as a result of the financial loss incurred by the poor sales of the Avantime), Renault chose to discontinue the Avantime rather than move its production elsewhere. 8,557 were built from 2001 to 2003, a figure that makes it one of the worst-selling cars of all time.

Matra competed as a constructor in Formula One from 1967 to 1972 and as an engine supplier between 1975 to 1982, winning the drivers' and constructors' championships in 1969.

In the mid-1960s, Matra enjoyed considerable success in Formula 3 and F2 racing, particularly with the MS5 monocoque-based car, winning the French and European championships. In 1967, Jacky Ickx surprised the F1 establishment by posting the third-fastest qualifying time of 8:14" at the German Nürburgring in his 1600cc Matra MS7 F2, which was allowed to enter alongside the 3000cc F1 cars. In the race, he failed to finish due to a broken suspension.

Matra entered Formula One in 1968 when Jackie Stewart was a serious contender, winning several Grands Prix in the Tyrrell-run Matra MS10 which competed alongside the works team.

The Matra MS10 is a Formula One car entered by the Matra International team during the 1968 Formula One season. It, along with its V12-powered sibling MS11, was Matra's first purpose-built F1 car and won three races in 1968, taking Jackie Stewart to second place in the Drivers' Championship and Matra International to third place in the Constructors' Championship.

Matra CEO Jean-Luc Lagardère made a strategic decision for the 1969 championship: the Matra works team would not compete in Formula One. Matra would instead focus its efforts on Ken Tyrrell's privateer team (renamed Matra International) and build a new DFV powered car with structural fuel tanks, even though it would only be eligible for a single season. The decision was even more radical given that Matra was seeking a partnership with Simca, which would preclude using Ford-branded engines for the following year. Stewart won the 1969 title easily with the new Cosworth-powered Matra MS80, which was designed by Gérard Ducarouge and Bernard Boyer, and corrected most of the weaknesses of the MS10. It was a spectacular achievement from a constructor that had only entered Formula One the previous year. France became only the third country (after the United Kingdom and Italy) to have produced a winning constructor, and Matra became the only constructor to have won the Constructors' Championship without running its own works team.

For 1970 following the agreement with Simca, Matra asked Tyrrell to use their V12 engine rather than the Cosworth. Stewart got to test the Matra V12, but since a large part of the Tyrrell budget was provided by Ford, and another significant sponsor was French state-owned petroleum company Elf, which had an agreement with Renault that precluded supporting a Simca partner, the partnership between Matra and Tyrrell ended.

Matra V12 engines powered the Shadow DN7 car in two races of 1975 and then the Ligier Formula 1 team from 1976–1978, and again from 1981-1982, winning three races (the 1977 Swedish Grand Prix, 1981 Austrian Grand Prix and 1981 Canadian Grand Prix). Jacques Laffite´s victory at the 1977 Swedish Grand Prix was the first Formula One victory for a French team and a French engine, as well as the first all-French victory in the Formula One World Championship.