Louis Renault (February 15, 1877, Paris, France – October 24, 1944) was a French industrialist and one of the foremost pioneers of the automobile industry. The youngest of five children born into a Paris bougeois family, Renault was fascinated by engineering and mechanics from a very early age, and spent many hours in the Serpollet steam car workshop or tinkering with old Panhard engines in the tool shed of the family's second home in Billancourt. He built his first car in 1898, a modified De Dion-Bouton cycle which featured a revolutionary universally jointed driveshaft and a three speed gearbox with reverse, with the third gear in direct drive (which he patented a year later). Renault called his car the Voiturette. On 24 December 1898, he won a bet with his friends that his invention was capable of driving up the slope of Lepic street in Montmartre. As well as winning the bet, Renault received 13 definite orders for the vehicle. Seeing the commercial potential in his ingenuity, he teamed up with his two older brothers Marcel (1872-1903) and Fernand (1865-1909) who had business experience from working in their father's textiles firm. They formed the Renault Frères company in February 25 1899. Initially, business and administration was handled entirely by the elder brothers, with Louis dedicating himself to design and manufacturing. However, in 1908 he took overall control of the company after Fernand retired for health reasons (Marcel having being killed earlier in the Paris-Madrid motor race of 1903). Over the next forty years Renault remained in complete control of his company, dealing with its rapid expansion and various cases of labour unrest while designing several new inventions, most of which are still in use today, such as hydraulic shock absorbers, the modern drum brake, compressed gas ignition, the turbocharger, and the taximeter. He was decorated with the Legion of Honor after the First World War for the success of his military designs, most famously including the revolutionary Renault FT-17 tank. During the interwar period, he expressed his opinion of a necessary union between European nations. In 1939, he refused to produce tanks for the French army, leading to the requisition of his company by French Government. During the Nazi occupation of France during the Second World War, the Renault company (like all French companies) was put under the total control of the Germans, and Louis chose to collaborate. Consequently, when France was liberated in 1944, he was arrested for industrial collaboration with Nazi Germany and Renault was nationalized. He died shortly thereafter, claiming to have been mistreated in Fresnes Prison.
