Louis Renault

Louis Renault (born 12th February 1878 in Paris, France; died 24th October 1944 in Fresnes Prison, France) was a French racing driver and industrialist.

The youngest of the three Renault brothers (alongside Marcel and Fernand) who founded Renault Frères, Louis Renault competed only occasionally in motor races and almost always in self-built cars like the Type K that he entered into the 1902 Circuit des Ardennes, the first ever Grand Prix.

As his car company grew, so did his reputation. According to Time Magazine: "Rich, powerful and famous, cantankerous, brilliant, often brutal, the little Napoleon of an automaking empire — vulgar, loud, domineering, impatient, he was a terror to associates, a friend to practically none [...] he was the Ogre of Billancourt." Renault died while awaiting trial on charges of conspiring with the Germans during World War Two.