Renault is a French automotive brand, like Citroen and Peugeot, that had cars on Rhodesian and later Zimbabwean roads for a long time, competing with various British and Japanese brands. Among the most famous Renaults were the Renault 4 taxis, Renault 5, Renault 6, and the beautiful and elegant Renault 12 and 18, among others. Later on came the Laguna and Megane. The brand faded away in the late eighties, only to bounce back in the 1990’s with the likes of the award winning  Clio, Scenic, Twingo, among others.

The older generation would refer to walking as “coming or going by my R2”, a reflection of how famous the brand was during the seventies and eighties.

Today, the brand is well and truly alive in South Africa. Among the currrent models are Captur, Duster, Clio, Logan, Megane, Espace V, Kadiar, Kwid, Megane, Scenic III, Sandera, Twingo.

Croco Motors currently has the distributorship in Zimbabwe. They are currently marketing such models as the Kwid, Duster, Logan, Megane, and Stepway.

In the grey market, not many seem to be available.

The Renault was founded in 1899 by Louis Renault and his brothers.

Today, Renault is in a three party strategic alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi. The Alliance makes the company rank in the top 5 biggest automobile makers in the world. Renault actually has a controlling stake in Nissan. The alliance also supplies engines for the Mercedes A and B Class models, in another partnership, with Mercedes reciprocating with a 2L petrol engine, used on some Nissan vehicles. The alliance is also evidenced in the controversial Mercedes X-Class truck.