Renault Juvaquatre

The Renault Juvaquatre (ʒyvakatʁ) is a small family car / compact car automobile produced by the French manufacturer Renault between 1937 and 1960, although production stopped or slowed to a trickle during the war years. The Juvaquatre was produced as a sedan/saloon until 1948 when the plant switched its full attention to the new Renault 4CV. During the second half of 1952 the plant restarted production of the Juvaquatre sedans/saloons for a period of approximately five months. In 1950 a van based station wagon body joined the range; later models of the station wagon (from 1956 on) were known as the Renault Dauphinoise (dofinwaz). The sedan/saloon found itself overshadowed and was soon withdrawn from production after the appearance in 1946 of the Renault 4CV (which was France's top selling car in the post Second World War years). However, there was no estate version of the rear engined 4CV or Dauphine, and the Juvaquatre "Dauphinoise" station wagon remained in production until replaced by the Renault 4 in 1960.

The Juvaquatre was originally conceived in 1936 by Louis Renault as a small, affordable car designed to occupy the 6CV car tax class and to fit in the Renault range below existing more upmarket models such as the Primaquatre and Celtaquatre. The company was focused on creating new customers who would not otherwise buy Renaults, and on appealing to the new class of lower income consumer created by changing labor conditions and the rise of the Popular Front in France in the 1930s (which ironically had adversely affected Renault considerably). The Juvaquatre was heavily inspired by the German Opel Olympia, a car by which the patron had been impressed during a 1935 visit to Berlin. Consequently, the Juvaquatre, particularly early models, bore a strong resemblance to the Olympia.

The Juvaquatre was showcased at the 1937 Paris Motor Show, on the opening day of which Louis Renault was photographed showing a Juvaquatre to President Lebrun. while elsewhere it is recorded that production of this version was not resumed after the war. Nevertheless, one was still on display at the Brussels Motor Show in January 1948, adding to the variety on the Renault show stand and suggesting that at that stage it was still intended to produce more Juvaquatre coupés.

Power was transmitted from the front mounted engine to the rear wheels via a traditional three speed manual gear box, with synchromesh on the upper two ratios. The Juvaquatre featured independent suspension at the front. From 1956 the old station wagon was fitted with the more modern engine from the Renault Dauphine and found itself rebranded as the Renault Dauphinoise. In the absence of obvious direct competitors, it still sold steadily, with 13,262 produced in 1958 and 9,489 in 1959. The Dauphinoise continued to be listed until 1960, a few months before the appearance of the Renault 4, in its final years sharing its engine with the Renault Dauphine.

From the beginning until 1953, the car was classified as 6 CV due to its relatively large displacement of 1003 cc. From 1953 there was only the small engine with 747 cc, which promptly only produced 4 CV. From 1956 onwards, only a station wagon called "Dauphinoise" was offered, but its displacement increased again to 845 cc, which ensured that the car was now considered a 5 CV.