The Renault Frégate is an executive saloon manufactured from 1951 to 1960. Estate variants, the Renault Domaine and the Renault Manoir, were introduced in 1956 and 1958 respectively.
Renault Frégate at a glance
| Maker | Renault, Flins, France |
|---|---|
| Production | 1951–1960 |
| Body | four-door saloon, later estates |
| Estates | Domaine (1956) and Manoir (1958) |
| Original project | 108, abandoned rear-engined layout |
| Shown | Paris Motor Show, 1950 |
| First deliveries | November 1951 |
| Plant | Flins, opened October 1952 |
Based on one source, the English Wikipedia article on the Renault Frégate.
History of the Renault Frégate
An upmarket car for the recovery
The Frégate was conceived in the years immediately after the Second World War. Renault, recently brought under state control, needed a new, modern, upmarket model both to improve its image and to serve middle-class buyers in the expected economic recovery. Several prototypes were built before production. The car was initially to have a rear-engined layout like the new 4CV, but Renault abandoned the rear-engined Project 108 and in 1949, late in the design process, chose an engine ahead of the driver, so the engineering was rushed.
Launch and Flins
Renault presented the Frégate at the 1950 Paris Motor Show, with the first production cars delivered in November 1951. It was built at the new assembly plant at Flins, which was renamed after Pierre Lefaucheux after his death in a single-car accident, ironically in a Frégate; the plant formally opened in October 1952.
Slow sales and estates
Production built up only slowly: even in 1953 the Frégate, with about 25,000 sold on the French market, was comfortably outsold by standard-wheelbase rivals. Renault added estate versions, the Domaine in 1956 and the Manoir in 1958, which gave the range a load-carrying role before it was replaced by the Renault 16 in the 1960s.
Design and features
- Front-engine conversion: the late switch from a rear-engined design left the car rushed.
- Flins plant: the first model built at Renault’s new factory near Paris.
- Estate versions: the Domaine of 1956 and Manoir of 1958.
- State-owned Renault: a flagship aimed at rebuilding the brand’s image.
Renault Frégate versions
- Frégate saloon (1951): the original four-door.
- Domaine (1956): the estate version.
- Manoir (1958): the better-equipped estate.
The Frégate was replaced in the range by the Renault 16, and its estate versions looked ahead to cars like the Renault Colorale. More cars are in the Renault collection.
Video: Renault Fregate road test
Video by jerome berland on YouTube.
Sources
- Renault Frégate, English Wikipedia: origins, launch, plant, sales, estates
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