The Rafale, everyone knows it. This is the Dassault combat plane, “the best plane in the world”, as Marcel Dassault presented it in the 1980s. From now on, it will also be that of a future SUV that Renault will present for the first time at the International Air Show Car. Aeronautics and Space at Le Bourget in mid-June.
a cohabitation agreement
A nod to Dassault Aviation? Not at all. Apart from a few specialists, who knew that this illustrious name in defense aeronautics has belonged to Renault for almost a century?
“This name has belonged to Renault since 1934. It was adopted by Dassault through a coexistence agreement signed between the two companies,” a spokesman for the diamond brand told BFM Business.
A little-known chapter in the automaker’s history reappears with the launch of this SUV with lines reminiscent of an airplane. At the beginning of the 20th century, Renault adapted its internal combustion engines to other means of transport, trains and airplanes.
In 1933, Louis Renault bought the manufacturer Caudron to create the Caudron-Renault company. The start-up is developing a range of aircraft named after a wind: the C460 Rafale, the C500 Simoun, the C640 Typhon and the C714 Cyclone.
In 1934, the Rafale, a sports car, was a star in aeronautics. It was in this device that the pilot Hélène Boucher set several speed records, including the women’s world speed record over 1,000 kilometers, reaching 445 km/h.
“Today, Renault reconnects with its history by building on the strengths of the legendary Caudron Rafale,” Renault said in a press release.
A copy of the original device will also be on display at Le Bourget, alongside the new SUV.
Inspired by the winds
At Dassault, the winds were also a source of inspiration. Before the Rafale, the aircraft manufacturer had given the name Ouragan to its first jet fighter. In the late 1970s, Dassault was preparing a new aircraft.
The project was European, but after disagreement with its partners, the aircraft manufacturer decided to go it alone in 1985. A year later, it presented the Rafale demonstrator. The program was officially launched in 1988. It is named after Marcel Dassault, whose ambition is to create “the best airplane in the world”.
“As with all of our aircraft names, it was Marcel Dassault who came up with the idea to call his new fighter the Rafale,” Dassault Aviation tells us.
Was it inspired by Renault? We will probably never know. At that time, Renault had not yet been privatized (it will be in 1986), which may have made it easier to use the name of the device. Today, the arrival of the Renault Rafale was done in a friendly way with Renault.
As proof of this relationship, the logo of the SUV with which Renault seems to wink at that of Dassault, beyond the name, as an emblem of France.
Source: BFM TV
