Renault · 1961–1994

Renault 4

The Renault 4, or R4 in short (and 4L, pronounced "Quatrelle" in French French pronunciation: [ˈkatʁɛl]), is an economy car built by the French company Renault from 1961 to 1994. Although it was first marketed as a short estate or wagon, its minimal rear body length and its top-hinged, single-piece tail-gate means that it is now recognised as the world's first mass-produced hatchback. It was also the first time Renault had used a front-wheel drive layout in a family car, the first in a string of Renault's and other carmakers' front-wheel drives that all still used longitudinal engine placement, including Renault's models R5, R6, and R16; joining Citroën's 2CV (the Renault 4's prime competition), and Citroën Ami and DS, as well as models from Audi and Saab, before most, including Renault, switched to transverse engines, like on the 1959 Mini. A bare-bones, entry-level Renault 3, or R3 was also offered in 1961/1962. The car was launched when decades of economic stagnation gave way to growing prosperity in France, and surging car ownership. The first million cars were produced by 1 February 1966, less than four and a half years after launch. Eventually over eight million were built, in twenty factories on four continents. The Renault 4 was a commercial success because of the timing of its introduction, and the merits of its value for money design. In early 2020, the 33-year production run of the Renault 4 was counted as the seventeenth most long-lived single generation car in history. Additionally, the R4 provided a lot of (initial) internals and mechanical components to the later, more fashionable, and also very successful Renault 5.

Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Generations & variants

Renault 4

1961–1994

Photos

UK vehicles on the road

1,101 licensed and 300 SORN (1,401 total) at 2025 Q4.

DfT/DVLA VEH0120 vehicle licensing statistics, source ↗, Open Government Licence v3.0. Small counts are rounded or suppressed at source.

Sources

• Wikidata / Wikipedia profiles — https://models.autoculturesociety.com/cars/Q247716CC0 / CC BY-SA 4.0
• Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_4CC BY-SA 4.0 · Intro text © Wikipedia contributors; revision 1370360496 · retrieved 2026-10-03
• DfT/DVLA VEH0120 licensing statistics — https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/vehicle-licensing-statistics-data-tablesOpen Government Licence v3.0
• Car Model Index — https://models.autoculturesociety.com/Compiled record. Sources that do not permit reuse are not copied; this index is credited instead.

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