Renault Dauphine : la française qui a humilié Volkswagen avant de tout perdre

Renault Dauphine: the French car that humiliated Volkswagen before losing everything. In 1958, a small French sedan arrived on American highways and achieved the unthinkable: in 11 states, it outsold the legendary Volkswagen Beetle and became the most desirable imported car in the country. Born in a France in ruins just 13 years earlier, driven by brilliant minds including Pierre Lefaucheux, who died in 1955 without ever seeing his dream on the road, the Dauphine conquered the world, from Algeria to Brazil, with sales exceeding 2,000,000 units. But at the height of its glory, everything changed: rust devoured its bodywork, the lack of after-sales service ruined its reputation, and sales plummeted from over 100,000 units per year to just 12,000 in 1966. Discover the incredible saga of this French princess, the Spanish duel against Volkswagen, the Liberty ships converted into cargo vessels, the prophetic intern who became president of Renault, and the Dauphines transformed into electric cars. A story of triumph and fall like only the automobile can deliver. Music: Eyes of Glory - Aakash Gandhi and When Johnny Comes Marching Home - Cooper Cannell. The photographs are from archive.org and are in the public domain.