Renault España

Renault España Sociedad Anónima (RESA)

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Automotive
Founded	2000 (2000)
Headquarters	Valladolid, Spain
Key people	José Vicente de los Mozos (CEO)
Production output	267,693 vehicles (2013)
Revenue	€4.62 billion (2013)
Number of employees	7,875 (December 2013)
Parent	Renault
Subsidiaries	RECSA
Website	www.renault.es

Renault España Sociedad Anónima (pronounced: [reˈno esˈpaɲa soθjeˈðað aˈnonima] or [reˈnol]), also known by its acronym RESA (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈresa]), is one of the largest manufacturing subsidiaries of Renault. The Spain-based company has facilities in Valladolid, Palencia and Sevilla. Renault sells its cars locally through the subsidiary RECSA. The company emerged from the local automaker FASA, which assembled Renault cars since 1953.

In 1908, Louis Renault founded in Spain the Sociedad Anónima Española de Automóviles Renault (Renault Automobiles Limited Company) or SAEAR, the second subsidiary outside the French territory after the English branch. The SAEAR maintained a sustained growth until the 1930s, when it gradually began to show results in deficit. It was affected by the proliferation of protectionist barriers, little demand and declining selling prices, factors that were aggravated by the Spanish Civil War and World War II. Despite the possibility of closing being considered on several occasions, Louis Renault chose to maintain its Spanish subsidiary with the hope the situation would improve. The company diversified its offer, adding the sale of tractors, buses, trucks, war supplying, fuel and other products. It also entered into the car rental market.

In 1949, the 4CV success enabled the SAEAR to resume imports growth.

In 1950, a group of industrialists and businessmen led by Manuel Jiménez Alfaro, a military, and by Nicolás Franco, Francisco Franco's brother and ambassador in Portugal, request to the Régie Nationale des Usines Renault (RNUR) a license to assemble Renault-branded vehicles in Spain. At the same time, the group presented the project to the Valladolid's Department of Industry, considering that location ideal for the new factory. However, the project depended on the approval of both the Spanish government and the French national company, something difficult at a time where French-Spanish relationship was very damaged. At first, the Renault's President then, Pierre Lefaucheux, was opposed to the idea, but later he gave his support. As for the Spain government, the opposition came essentially from the fact that there was a project to create a state monopoly of the automotive industry through SEAT. Finally, all permissions were achieved in 1951.