Renault
Type A Voiturette

How rare is it?

Six separate kinds of rarity – never combined into one number.

Each kind of rarity is rated separately and never combined.

Photos

Exterior, interior and detail photos with their licences.

• Renault Type A Voiturette (Wikimedia Commons search)
  Photo: Éric Manesse · CC BY-SA 4.0
• Renault Type A Voiturette (Wikimedia Commons search)
  Photo: Thesupermat · CC BY-SA 4.0

Production

Every figure says what it counts.

Independent counts (e.g. engine and colour) are never combined into a calculated figure. Surviving examples are never presented as original production.

History

Louis Renault built the first voiturette on a modified De Dion-Bouton tricycle and, on Christmas Eve 1898, won a bet by climbing the Rue Lepic in Paris with it; friends placed twelve orders that evening. Renault Frères was founded in February 1899, and the Type A was shown at the second Paris motor show. In 1899 sixty employees built 71 cars, and the Renault brothers won the Paris-Trouville, Paris-Ostend and Paris-Rambouillet races in it.

Technical specifications

Engine

Transmission & drivetrain

Chassis, body & dimensions

Performance

“Not yet verified” means no source has been checked for that value yet. Nothing is estimated to fill a gap.

Identification guide

How to tell an original from a replica or later conversion.

The Type A has a finned front-mounted De Dion-Bouton engine, handlebar steering and a hand brake acting on the rear wheels. It is a tall, upright car, about 1.90 m high on a 1.75 m wheelbase, and was first bodied as a tilbury.

Sources

Each number links to the exact facts it supports.

1. 1
   Les débuts de Louis Renault avec sa voiturette (1898-1914) Level B Planète Renault

   • Les 60 salariés de l'usine fabriquent les 71 autos commandées
   • moteur de Dion-Bouton de 273 cm³ placé à l'avant
   • moteur de Dion-Bouton de 273 cm³
   • boîte de vitesse à trois rapports
   • empattement de 1,75 m
   • 1,90 de haut

   Accessed 2026-11-12
2. 2
   Renault | Encyclopedia.com Level C

   • 71 cars finished in the prototype (Type A) pattern by the end of 1899 ("seventy-one cars in the prototype pattern, with the help of sixty workers")

   Accessed 2026-11-12
3. 3
   1898 Renault Type A Level B Supercars.net

   • front-mounted single-cylinder engine
   • cardan shaft and a 3-speed direct drive gearbox patented by Louis Renault
   • voiturette, which was 1.86 meters long

   Accessed 2026-11-12