The Renault Valladolid Factory is a car plant at

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 ...

, Castille and Leon, in north-western Spain owned by

Renault España Renault España Sociedad Anónima ( or ), also known by its acronym RESA (), is one of the largest manufacturing subsidiaries of Renault. The Spain-based company has facilities in Valladolid, Palencia and Sevilla, with most administrative offices ...

. It has evolved into a grouping of several plants clustered together on a 150-hectare site.

History

In response to Spanish government limits on imports of completed cars, Renault established in 1951 the Spanish

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 ...

''(Fabricacion de Automoviles SA)'' company which built a plant at Valladolid for the assembly of

Renault 4CV The Renault 4CV (french: quatre chevaux, as if spelled ''quat'chevaux'') is a rear-engined, rear-wheel-drive, 4-door economy supermini manufactured and marketed by the French manufacturer Renault from August 1947 through July 1961. It was the ...

cars using components imported from France. In 1953, the first year of production, 707 cars emerged from the plant. By 1958, annual output had risen to 7,547 units. The company first produced complete engines in Spain in 1961: by this time the principal model produced at Valladolid was the Dauphine. Production levels continued increasing, with the plant producing 14,537 Dauphines in 1961. 1965 saw the amalgamation of the production business, FASA, with Renault's Spanish distribution company, SAEAR ''(Société Anonyme Espagnole des Automobiles Renault)'', which had originally been created in 1908 to distribute cars imported from France, long before import restrictions persuaded the company to create its assembly facility at Valladolid. By 1971, production had increased to 110,255 vehicles, including most of the company's smaller mainstream models such as the

Renault 8 The Renault 8 (Renault R8 until 1964) and Renault 10 are two rear-engined, rear-wheel drive small family cars produced by the French manufacturer Renault in the 1960s and early 1970s. The 8 was launched in 1962, and the 10, a more upmarket ver ...

and

Renault 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 ...

. The

Renault 5 The Renault 5 is a four-passenger, three or five-door, front-engine, front-wheel drive hatchback supermini manufactured and marketed by the French automaker Renault over two generations: 1972–1985 (also called R5) and 1984–1996 (also called S ...

was added to the plant's production line in 1974, triggering a further expansion of FASA output. By the 1970s, Spain was firmly established as the second largest market for Renault cars after France, and paved the way for

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

to open a new factory at

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

in 1976, and

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...

to build a factory at

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

in 1982, while

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

began building cars in

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), ...

factories after taking over the former

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

division of

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

. , the plant produces the Captur and the Twizy. It manufactured 124,944 cars and 1,247,579 engines in 2013.

References

Buildings and structures in Castile and León 1953 establishments in Spain Renault Motor vehicle assembly plants in Spain {{auto-factory-stub