The Sandouville Renault Factory is a car plant belonging to the Renault Group, established in 1964 at

Sandouville Sandouville () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime ''département'' in the Normandy region in northern France. Geography A farming and light industrial village, by the banks of the Seine, in the Pays de Caux, situated some east of Le Havre, ...

in the

Seine-Maritime Seine-Maritime () is a department of France in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre. Until 1955 it was named Seine-Inféri ...

department, not far from the port of

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

. Work began on its construction in July 1963 and the factory was in most respects completed by December 1964.

History

Initially it was constructed for the assembly of the Renault 16 which was formally launched in March 1965 at the

Geneva Motor Show The Geneva International Motor Show is an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show is hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon is organised by t ...

, but not available for sale, even in its home market, till June 1965. Initially the plant, which enjoyed excellent communication links, notably by rail and river, focused on final assembly, while most of the sub-assemblies and other components arrived from older Renault plants located along the

River Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributari ...

between Le Havre and Paris. For the early Renault 16s running gear and suspension sub-assemblies came from the company's old Billancourt factory. Also on the banks of the Seine is

Cléon Cléon () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. This city is known for its Renault factory, which manufactures engines and gearboxes. Two Renault engines are named after the city, the Cléon-Fo ...

from where another Renault plant supplied Sandouville with power trains. Flins supplied Sandouville with stampings and chromed components. Subsequent models built at Sandouville include the Renault 17, Renault 20, Renault 30, Renault 18,

Renault 21 The Renault 21 is a large family car produced by French automaker Renault between 1986 and 1994. It was also sold in North America initially through American Motors dealers as the Renault Medallion and later through Jeep-Eagle dealers as the Ea ...

, Renault 25,

Renault Safrane The Renault Safrane is an executive car (E-segment in Europe) designed and built by the French manufacturer Renault from 1992 until 2000. Throughout its production it remained the most expensive and most luxurious Renault available, although i ...

Renault Laguna The Renault Laguna is a large family car that was manufactured and marketed by Renault for 21 years in three body styles: hatchback, coupé, and estate. The first generation Laguna was launched in 1994, the second generation was introduced in 200 ...

and Renault Vel Satis, meaning that of the three major Renault plants in France, this is the one that concentrates on the larger models. Since 2003, when the Renault Espace switched from a composite body shell (manufactured on Renault's behalf by

Matra Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a French industrial conglomerate. During its years of operation, it was engaged in a wide range of business activities, primarily focused around automobiles, bicycles, aeronautics and wea ...

) to a more conventional pressed steel body shell, the Espace has also been manufactured at Sandouville. At its peak, the plant employed 12,000 people, but by 2006 this had fallen to just 4,650. Since the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

Renault traditionally concentrated on smaller cars, and many of the company's mid-sized and larger models have encountered difficulty establishing significant market share against competitor offerings. Employees looked to the Renault Laguna III, launched at the end of 2007, for an upturn in their prospects.

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

on 30 September 2006 reported Renault as saying that if the Laguna III, intended to revive Sandouville's fortunes, failed to take off in the market place, there would be dverseconsequences for a site currently operating at only 40% of its design capacity.) The new Laguna was not an instant hit with customers, and in July 2008 Renault announced that one of the two work teams would be cancelled, which would involve about 1,000 of the workforce. News report 24 July 2008 On 12 June 2014 Renault announced it would move the production of the third-generation

Trafic ''Trafic'' (''Traffic'') is a 1971 Italian-French comedy film directed by Jacques Tati. ''Trafic'' was the last film to feature Tati's famous character of Monsieur Hulot, and followed the vein of earlier Tati films that lampooned modern society ...

and the high-roof version of the Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro from

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

to Sandouville. the Sandouville plant is producing the following models: *

Renault Trafic The Renault Trafic (pronounced as "traffic") is a light commercial van produced by the French automaker Renault since 1980. It is also marketed as the Fiat Talento, the Nissan NV300, the Nissan Primastar, the Mitsubishi Express and, until the ...

* Nissan Primastar

Sources

{{Renault France assembly Buildings and structures in Seine-Maritime French companies established in 1964 Renault Motor vehicle assembly plants in France