With around 3,5 percent market share of new cars sold in Germany, the French brand Renault is the second largest foreign manufacturer in the local market. Despite this rather small portion, Renault is in principle known everywhere, which is not only due to their longstanding participation in Formula 1. But also on the Renault logo, which is extremely recognizable. Perhaps this is the case precisely because it comes across as so simple. Yet it is unmistakable. Almost every adult will have come across the “Renault rate” at some point. It is neither related to the manufacturer name “Renault”, nor does it simulate anything that has to do with automobiles. But what does the Renault logo then mean? Here you can find out the answer. First, very briefly in one sentence, then it goes on to explain how this Renault diamond with the high recognition value came about. And their development is really quite exciting and eventful, after all, the first vehicle by the brothers Louis and Fernand Renault was sold as early as 1899. The company itself does not call the “Renault diamond”, by the way, but “rhombus”, which corresponds to the designation for the geometric shape from which the logo is made.
This is how you read at Renault even that this rhombus should embody these three elements:
modernity
creativity
Value
In other words: the Renault logo has no specific, factual meaning. Only aspects that you would like to see connected to your vehicles are projected into the ever-changing design of the rhombus. Whether the customers or buyers of the competition actually have these three elements - modernity, creativity and value - in the rhombus or in the rhombus cannot be answered with certainty. And whether Renault is perceived in the German market in terms of “value” must also remain an open question. After all, the French manufacturer was for a long time more of an expert in the low and medium-price segment, with recurring weaknesses in certain sub-areas of its production. Much of this has now been resolved and Renault also has its own higher-priced and luxury segment in its portfolio. However, Renault's image should not be able to compete with Mercedes, BMW or VW - here in terms of reliability. All these adversities are tried not only in Germany, but also on the entire world market, among other things with the design of their logo.
In any case, however, the Renault diamond has created an unmistakable logo which, in its first form of this type, has been on the Renault vehicles since 1925.
The story of the development of the logo is definitely interesting. How did the current version come about, what changes were made and for what reasons? What thoughts did the designers have with the respective changes, what did they want to convey? The second paragraph on the question: What does the Renault logo mean? And even tanks play a role ...
History of the Renault logo
The first versions of the logo of what was then Société Renault Frères, founded in 1899, had nothing to do with the diamond, which has been used throughout since 1925. Rather, the very first logo was still one that looked like an emblem, with an ornament on the top. There was an ornate R in the emblem and a mirrored R woven directly into it. Two “Rs” for the three Renault brothers. Of them, it was Louis Renault who made a maiden voyage through Paris in his self-made wooden automobile in 1898. Because at this first public use of his construct, he was approached by many people who immediately ordered a copy from him. This is considered to be the actual founding moment of the Renault company. However, it was not registered until 1899. Apparently, creativity in the logo was not that important at that time.
Already in 1906 there was a change to this first Renault logo, although at that time it could not really be described as such. It was only used as a symbol on the vehicles sold from around 1923. Before, it was only used on company buildings and all postal items. Nevertheless, apparently one was already thinking about it here, otherwise there would not have been a change in 1906. This year is not a coincidence. This year Renault started the serial production of its vehicles, which until then had been manufactured as individual items.
The new logo was circular and contained a stylized car from our own production. The “R was gone. This logo was retained until 1919. But then a special type of car had already been produced. Tanks namely for the French troops in World War I. They also manufacture engines for airplanes, trucks and even ammunition. From 1919 this was reflected in the new logo, which actually represented a World War I tank in the still circular logo. With the next change, which was to last from 1923 to 1925, one was getting closer to one's own concrete identity. Although the logo remained circular, it now contained a grid shape that was to be reflected in the Renault logo until 1992. In addition, the word “Renault” was now included in a fairly modern, sober font.
Typical rhombus was first used in 1925
In 1925, the designers responsible took the decisive step towards establishing the Renault logo that is still known today: the Renault diamond was born. A little later, money was added as the background color of the diamond. The first diamond with minor modifications remained in this form until 1972.
Then you took a pretty big step in transforming the logo without leaving the basic idea of the diamond. The well-known Hungarian artist Victor Vasarely was commissioned with the redesign. In keeping with the zeitgeist of that time, he created an even simpler representation of the rhombus, which at the same time appeared very modern in that era. This was cut off at the top and bottom, the lines in the elements of the diamond gave a kind of 3D impression. In addition, the yellow was retained as the background. The lettering “Renault” was placed under the rhombus. Around 10 years later, the border was left out.
Another 10 years further, in 1992, the step was finally taken to the design that is still known today. The lines in the diamond disappeared, and for a while the yellow color as a background. The new logo actually looked very modern again, this time also really three-dimensional, because the individual elements of the diamond were given light effects. The name “Renault” got bigger and changed little in the last few years.
Recently, more and more people started to focus more and more on the rhombus, which had become a symbol of Renault products worldwide. Various claims were added, but these are not found on the vehicles, but only on other material.
The former French claim “Createur d'Automobile” was abandoned in 2009. Recently the following claim “Drive the Change” was replaced by the seemingly arbitrary “Passion for life”. The yellow now only appears as a line on the right edge of the entire logo.
The answer to the question: “What does the Renault logo mean?” However, nothing has changed over the years. The Renault logo should continue to stand for the three aspects of modernity, creativity and value, with which the Renault company would like to see its products associated. The fact remains that the Renault logo has no specific meaning beyond these rather abstract terms.