§ The Car That Survived the Occupation
Renault's engineers had begun work on the 4CV during the occupation years, a clandestine project at a time when the German authorities required French manufacturers to concentrate on utility vehicles and military production. The car's chief architect, Fernand Picard, led the design with the knowledge that any postwar French market would need cheap, light transport above all else. The result was a rear-engined four-seater weighing under 600 kilograms, powered by a 760cc water-cooled engine — a configuration that owed something to what engineers had observed of German small-car thinking, including the Volkswagen.
When Louis Renault died in detention in October 1944, accused of collaboration, the nationalised Régie Renault inherited both the factory and Picard's drawings. The new state-owned enterprise pushed the 4CV toward production, and the car was ready for its public debut two years after the Liberation.
§ The Stand in October 1946
The Salon reopened at the Grand Palais in October 1946 after a seven-year interruption. The organiser reported attendance of around 700,000 visitors over the course of the show — a figure that reflected genuine postwar appetite for the normalcy the Salon represented, as much as appetite for the cars themselves. Rationing remained in force; few visitors could expect to buy anything on display.
Key figures
From the record- 760ccengine displacement of the production 4CV
- Under 600 kgkerb weight at launch
- ~700,000organiser-reported attendance at the October 1946 Salon
- 1947year series production began
- 1961year the 4CV was discontinued
- 1,000,000+units built before discontinuation, first French car to reach this figure
- 1951year the 4CV won the Monte Carlo Rally in its class
The 4CV stood at the Renault stand as a production-intended prototype, painted in a surplus yellow that the company had acquired from German military stocks — a detail that became part of the car's early mythology. The silhouette was unlike anything the French market had offered before: rounded, compact and without a conventional bonnet, the engine sitting behind the rear axle. The stand drew sustained crowds, and press coverage of the time consistently identified the 4CV as the most remarked-upon exhibit.
Series production began in 1947, and by the time the model was discontinued in 1961, Régie Renault had built over one million units — making it the first French car to reach that threshold. The 4CV won its class in the 1951 Monte Carlo Rally, consolidating its reputation beyond the showroom.
The 1946 Salon thus served its traditional function: not as a marketplace — almost none of the displayed cars could be ordered or delivered in any near-term sense — but as a public declaration that French automobile manufacturing had survived and intended to build something worth wanting.
