Renault is preparing to reshape its historic vehicle collection as it readies a new brand heritage museum slated to open near Paris in 2027. To make room and reduce duplication within its archives, the company will auction 100 vehicles from its reserve fleet through Artcurial Motorcars, alongside roughly 100 additional artifacts spanning racing history, scale models and design mock-ups.
Even after the sale, Renault plans to retain around 600 cars dating back to the company’s founding in 1898. Those vehicles, which Renault classifies as unique or emblematic of key moments in its history, will serve as the centerpiece of the upcoming museum. The auctioned cars, while deemed surplus, remain historically significant examples of the brand’s evolution.
Among the standouts are early Renault models such as a Type D from 1901 and a pair of 1998 replicas of the original Type A, offered that year in both electric and combustion form. Motorsport fans will find an extensive selection of Formula 1 cars tied to Renault’s pioneering efforts with turbocharged engines in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Twenty cars from Formula 1’s first turbo era are crossing the block, including machines driven by René Arnoux, Jean-Pierre Jabouille, Patrick Tambay, Eddie Cheever and Alain Prost.
Some cars will be accompanied by original engineering notebooks from Renault’s Viry-Châtillon headquarters, providing a rare view into the technical development of the brand’s competitive programs. The auction also features hardware from Renault’s endurance racing campaigns, including material linked to the Alpine A442, which competed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and other major circuits.
Beyond full-size vehicles, the sale includes about forty wind-tunnel models, design studies and scale mock-ups. These range from R4 and R5 shapes to pearlescent Supercinq prototypes and a variety of Twingo concepts in different finishes. Formula 1 mock-ups and components, complete engines and period driver memorabilia are also on offer, including the engine used in Ayrton Senna’s Lotus at the 1986 Detroit Grand Prix.
Unusual pieces add further variety to the collection, with items such as clocks, boats, railcars and one of only three known examples of the Reinastella flying saucer developed in partnership with Eurodisney.
The auction signals a major step in Renault’s ongoing heritage initiative as it consolidates decades of automotive and motorsport history ahead of the museum’s debut.
