Vilvoorde Renault Factory

The Renault industry Belgique S. A. or Renault industry België NV, officially abbreviated with the acronym RIB is an assembly plant of Renault Group, which has its headquarters in Vilvoorde and Brussels district Haren. With the establishment in 1931 it was the first work of Renault's outside France. The assembled here vehicles were especially intended for distribution within Scandinavia, the Benelux countries as well as within Central Europe.

The work at the plant was included in the founding year 1931 with the assembly of models Monaquatre and Primaquatre. At this time only a few thousand units per year of these models were assembled. Only with the cheap model Juvaquatre and also the new sports Primaquatre the plant was able to achieve higher sales. Competitors were particularly Peugeot and Opel. Where the installation of the Juvaquatre has been completed in 1955, the construction of the vehicle has been revised and revised at any station wagons. Following it, the model was re-issued as Dauphinoise. Parallel to this the production of successful Dauphine was added. Thus, axle components, exhausts and body parts are manufactured in the Belgian factory ever since.

In the sixties the Dauphinoise was eventually replaced by the R4. In 1962, Renault had finally set up a third assembly line. Here rolled the first model of the now -Renault Rambler Classic from the tape, which was assembled here to the year 1967 into all three generations for the European market. The model was used among others for advertising purposes in the series The passengers of the bus U ( 1964) as well as in the films The Screamers (1966 ), Trans - Europ -Express ( 1966) and greetings from Hong Kong (1975). As a replacement, finally, came the Rebel on the market, which has been just like its predecessor the badge - engineering mounted under dual brand names as Rambler Renault. At the same time the work of its production increased to approximately 100,000 units per year. A year later, the Dauphine was replaced by the R6.

In the early seventies, Renault ended the European Assembly of Rambler Renault models and sat for a the R12. With two years later occurring oil crisis Renault had a huge advantage in the market with its compact vehicles. Nevertheless, the R12 was only up to the year 1976 in the European model range. The replacement set of R14.

The eighties were characterized thus also with the production of vehicles in the compact class. Here, the R5 Turbo succeeds the R6. Only in 1986 came with the R21 again a model of the middle class to which replaced the R5 Turbo. In the nineties, eventually was followed by the all-new Clio, was used to replace the long outdated R4, and the compact class model Mégane, with the R21 has been replaced.

With the completion of the final assembly of automobiles in the year 1997, around 3,500 workers lost their jobs. This decision caused strikes and protests in the workforce as well as for political disputes. Among other things, the issue of plant closure of the Belgian plant in the Crime Fermeture de l' usine Renault à Vilvoorde, addressed to German closure of the Renault plant in Vilvoorde in 1999, by the author in January Bucquoy. In this work of fiction protesting factory workers affected by the closure, the Renault CEO Louis Schweitzer kidnapped to blackmail purposes and will kill it in the course of the film. In actual life was Louis Schweitzer until 2005 the Chairman Renaults. Even today he is still alive.

The factory-fitted Haren- Vilvoorde units to be identified within the vehicle identification number in eleventh position on the letter H. A private world manufacturer code has not owned the factory.

Meanwhile, Renault has modernized the plant and put back into operation. Currently here vehicle parts are only produced which are installed in other works. Around 500 workers are currently employed here.

Model Overview

• Model was at this time of the Renault industry Belgique SA / Renault industry België NV assembled, or manufactured.
• Model was mounted under dual brand names as Rambler Renault. See also the article about the brand and the Rambler American Motors Corporation.