Renault España Sociedad Anónima ( or ), also known by its acronym RESA (), is one of the largest manufacturing subsidiaries of

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...

. The Spain-based company has facilities in

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

Palencia Palencia () is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Palencia. Located in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, in the northern half o ...

and

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...

, with most administrative offices in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. Renault sells its cars locally through the subsidiary RECSA. The company emerged from the local automaker

FASA Fasa ( fa, فسا, Fasā, also Romanized as Fassa) is a city and capital of Fasa County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 110,825, in 33,379 families. Fasa is the fourth most populous city of the province. The city date ...

, which had assembled Renault cars since 1953.

History

SAEAR

In 1908, Louis Renault founded in Spain the ''Sociedad Anónima Española de Automóviles Renault'' (Renault Automobiles Limited Company) or SAEAR, the second subsidiary outside the French territory after the English branch. The SAEAR maintained a sustained growth until the 1930s, when it gradually began to show results in deficit. It was affected by the proliferation of protectionist barriers, little demand and declining selling prices, factors that were aggravated by the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Despite the possibility of closing being considered on several occasions, Louis Renault chose to maintain its Spanish subsidiary with the hope the situation would improve. The company diversified its offer, adding the sale of tractors, buses, trucks, war supplying, fuel and other products. It also entered into the car rental market. In 1949, the 4CV success enabled the SAEAR to resume imports growth.

FASA, FASA-Renault and RESA

In 1950, a group of industrialists and businessmen led by Manuel Jiménez Alfaro, a military, and by Nicolás Franco,

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...

's brother and ambassador in Portugal, requested to the Régie Nationale des Usines Renault (RNUR) a license to assemble Renault-branded vehicles in Spain. At the same time, the group presented the project to the Valladolid's Department of Industry, considering that location ideal for the new factory. However, the project depended on the approval of both the Spanish government and the French national company, something difficult at a time where French-Spanish relationship was very damaged. At first, the Renault's President then,

Pierre Lefaucheux Pierre-André Lefaucheux (30 June 1898 – 11 February 1955) was a leading French industrialist and recipient of the Order of Liberation, awarded to heroes of France's Liberation during World War II. As the first chairman of Renault during the c ...

, was opposed to the idea, but later he gave his support. As for the Spain government, the opposition came essentially from the fact that there was a project to create a

state monopoly In economics, a government monopoly or public monopoly is a form of coercive monopoly in which a government agency or government corporation is the sole provider of a particular good or service and competition is prohibited by law. It is a monopoly ...

of the automotive industry through

SEAT A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair (furniture), ...

. Finally, all permissions were achieved in 1951. The production of the new company, ''Fabricación de Automóviles Sociedad Anónima'' (FASA) begun in 1953, and it assembled units of the 4CV model. SAEAR continued in charge of sales. In 1955, the facilities were expanded to produce cars entirely at the Valladolid plant. During this time were introduced the

Renault Dauphine The Renault Dauphine () is a rear-engine design, rear-engined economy car manufactured by Renault in a single body style – a Three-box styling, three-box, 4-door sedan (car), sedan – as the successor to the Renault 4CV; more than two ...

and the 4. In 1965, the Renault sales subsidiary, which had changed its name to Renault España Sociedad Anónima (RESA) and FASA were merged to form FASA-Renault. Renault had a stake of 49.9% in the new company. That same year two new factories were opened: FACSA and FAMESA, the first was dedicated to manufacture of bodywork elements, and the second to manufacture mechanical parts. The company also purchases a factory in Sevilla, which was engaged in manufacturing

gearbox Propulsion transmission is the mode of transmitting and controlling propulsion power of a machine. The term ''transmission'' properly refers to the whole drivetrain, including clutch, gearbox, prop shaft (for rear-wheel drive vehicles), differe ...

es. In 1976, Renault became a major shareholder. In 1978 was completed the construction of a new factory in Palencia. The company's commercial and manufacturing branches were split again in 1994, when Renault created Renault España Comercial Sociedad Anómima (RECSA) to manage car sales. In the year 2000 FASA-Renault became a wholly owned subsidiary of Renault, being called Renault España Sociedad Anónima. In 2016, Renault sold 169,243 Renault and

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus r ...

-badged cars in the Spanish market. In 2017, the company produced is 16,000,000th vehicle within Spain.

Facilities

Administration

Renault España registered office is in Valladolid, but most of the management activities for the Renault group in Spain are made through its Madrid head offices.

Factories

Valladolid

=Cars

= The Valladolid car assembly plant, which comprises two buildings covering 31.4 hectares, produces the Captur, and the Twizy.

=Engines

= The Valladolid engine plant covers 14.5 hectares. It manufactured 1.57 million units in 2016.

Palencia

The Palencia plant covers 30.4 hectares and is one of the largest Mégane manufacturers in the world, with the 58 percent of the model production in 2011. In 2015, the site added the production of the Kadjar crossover.

Sevilla

The Sevilla plant manufactures gearboxes. It produced 1.07 million units in 2016.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Renault Espana Car manufacturers of Spain Renault Spanish subsidiaries of foreign companies