Renault 4: История французского "народного автомобиля"

A bare bones, entry level Renault 3, or R3 was also offered in 1961/1962. 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. Inearly 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, and especially to farmers and other people in rural areas, for whom the car was as much a working tool as personal transport. The 2CV had been designed in the 1930s for use in the French countryside where the road network was poor speed was not a requirement but a good ride, useful rough terrain ability, a versatile body for load carrying, and economy and simplicity of operation were its key considerations. However, by the late 1950s, the 2CV was becoming outdated. Rural roads in France were improved and the national system of autoroutes was being developed. Agriculture was becoming more mechanized with fewer smallholdings and family farms for which the 2CV was designed. The Citroën had also proved popular with people living in towns and cities as affordable, economical transport but the 2CV's rural design brief made it less than ideal as a city car and, despite improvements, the late 1950s 2CV had a top speed of just Its air cooled two cylinder engine was reliable and economical but noisy and offered poor performance. The 2CV's suspension gave it an excellent ride and good grip and handling but was mechanically complex with many moving parts that required regular maintenance and lubrication at intervals as low as every 1000 miles (1600km). With its roots in the 1930s, the 2CV's styling was also outdated and, with its separate wing/fenders, had a relatively narrow and cramped body for its overall footprint. While the Citroën had been designed during the Great Depression when money was tight and living standards were relatively low, by the 1960s the French economy was growing and people would be able to afford a more modern, refined, and less utilitarian small car. In early 1956, Renault Chairman Pierre Dreyfus launched this new project: designing a new model to replace the rear engined 4CV and compete against the Citroën 2CV that would become an everyman's car, capable of satisfying the needs of most consumers. It would be a family car, a woman's car, a farmer's car, or a city car. The Renault 4 shared many design traits with the older Citroën 2CV to allow it to fulfill the same role as a versatile utility car, especially for people in rural France and other parts of the world with poor roads. It had a large structural platform with a separate body. It had front wheel drive, long travel fully independent suspension, and Rack and pinion steering. It had a simple body with minimal equipment, a large space for cargo or luggage, and 'deckchair' seats which could be easily removed. However, the Renault 4 updated this basic concept with a larger four cylinder water cooled engine with a sealed cooling system offering much better refinement and performance than the contemporary 2CV, with a top speed of over The suspension consisted of torsion bars which required no regular maintenance. The boxy full width body offered more space for both passengers and luggage than the similar sized 2CV and the car boasted an early hatchback body for greater practicality.

The Renault 4 was a basic car with a simple dashboard and sliding windows. Suspension and seats were designed for comfort, and ventilation and the heater were effective. The Renault 4 was not significantly changed during its production. Exterior chrome trim was eventually phased out on all models, and aluminium grilles were replaced with plastic. There were three different dashboard designs. On the right side of the car at the back the position of the fuel filler was raised by approximately less than a year after the car's launch; Sinpar's version, called the Sinpar 4x4 Torpedo, was first shown as a prototype at the 1968 Geneva Salon, equipped with Sinpar's four wheel drive system. Sinpar was quickly given a contract to build a front wheel drive version at their works in Colombes near Paris; it appeared in May 1968. Called the Plein Air (meaning "Open Air"), it had no doors, with only a chain protecting the passengers. A military contract did not materialize but Renault and Sinpar attempted to ride the late sixties/early seventies buggy wave in marketing it as a fun beach car. The very first 1983 models had the handbrake lever moved from left to right under the steering wheel before it was moved to the floor like in almost any other car by then. There was also a panel van (Fourgonnette) version of the R4, which with its "high cube" bodyshell and the unique 'giraffon' (giraffe hatch) at the rear became the idiosyncratic French "Boulangerie" van. For many years, this was a successful vehicle of its type and for many customers, as it represents their idea of a Renault 4 more than a passenger version. It remained on sale in Europe until 1993 and was replaced by the Renault Express (called Extra in UK and Ireland, Rapid in Germany), which was based on the second generation Renault 5 'Supercinq'.

Though reasons such as emissions and safety legislation are often given for the Renault 4's demise in Europe during the 1980s, it would appear that its popularity would not have lasted. Outmoded production methods, more advanced competition and the reasons outlined above meant that the Renault 4's days were numbered, at least as a mainstream product. And Renault was already enjoying huge sales success with the far more modern R5, which was only slightly more expensive. Comparable products had already been discontinued in Europe or had their production scaled back, as more modern designs enjoyed the strongest sales. British Leyland's Mini had been produced in smaller figures since the launch of the Austin Metro in 1980 with production continuing until 2000. Volkswagen had switched Beetle production from West Germany to Mexico in 1978 (where it was made until 2003), with the new Polo and Golf proving hugely popular in Europe. Citroën kept its 2CV in production until 1990, but did not directly replace it, with the AX (launched in 1986) taking its place as the entry level model in the Citroën range. It had also produced the earlier Dyane and Visa as more modern and only marginally more expensive alternatives to 2CV. There were several projects to replace the Renault 4, starting from the early 1970s. However, the continuing success of the Renault 4, the need to replace the more popular Renault 5 during the early 1980s, the difficulties coming up with a suitable replacement (and the idea that the Renault 4's market would die with it) all meant that a new entry level Renault (the Twingo) did not appear until 1992. To conclude production, a series of 1000 examples marketed as "Bye Bye" was released, each with a numbered plaque. To mark the end of Renault 4 production, a retrospective series of ten black and white photographs by Thierry des Ouches was published in Libération in early December 1992, when R4 production finally finished after 31 years. This series later won first prize from Le Club des Directeur Artistiques in the category of daily newspaper. It was also awarded the Lion d'Or at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. In 2003, a Japanese car modification company called DAMD came up with a design called the Ancel Lapin which could transform a first generation Suzuki Lapin into a Renault 4 lookalike.

In 2021, it was announced that the Renault 4 would be reintroduced during the 2020s as the "4ever", a compact crossover cousin of the forthcoming all electric Renault 5 E Tech. It will be built alongside the 5 EV at Renault ElectriCity, a union of three existing Renault factories in northern France that is planned to produce 400,000 EVs per year by 2025. The 4ever is based on the same CMF B EV platform as the 5 EV; because the platform shares 1/2 of its components with the existing CMF B platform, production costs are expected to be 2/3 of the current Zoe.

The Renault 4 was originally powered by a engine and its suspension were never intended for sporting dynamics. The Renault 4 had certain advantages in its high torque and a suspension and ground clearance that gave it go anywhere capabilities. This meant that Renault was able to give it a sporting image with programs such as the "Cross Elf Cup of France" in 1974 and the "Routes du Monde" program in 1968. The latter was a project in which Renault would lend young people cars to travel the world in, and this would help to give the Renault 4 an adventurous and durable image. The "Coupe de France Renault Cross Elf" was a series of races in France on dirt tracks with slightly tuned 782 cc R4s. A Renault 4 Sinpar (the four wheel drive version) was entered in the Paris Dakar Rally in 1979 and 1980 by Bernard and Claude Marreau, coming fifth in 1979 and in third in 1980. Renault 4 continued to feature in many long distance rallies after production ceased, such as in 2001 in the London Sahara London rally (Renault 4 GTL) and the 2008 Mongol Rally. The Renault 4 forms the basis of the 4L Trophy, an annual rally established in 1997 for students who collect sponsorship and drive to the Sahara to deliver educational materials to children of the desert and of Morocco. The Renault 4 GTL was homologated in Group A. Jacky Cesbron raced one in the Monte Carlo Rally in 1993 and the Tour de Corse in 1991. Pinto dos Santos raced a Group N 4 GTL in visiting every round of the WRC though not all during the same season. To celebrate the car's 50th birthday, Renault entered the R4 in the Monte Carlo Rally in 2011. Standard Renault 4s has taken part in a drag race at Santa Pod Raceway, Northamptonshire since 2004, and covered the quarter mile in 21.438 seconds with a terminal speed of 59.14 mph.