Pierre Lefaucheux

Lefaucheux had no great passion for cars, and even after being appointed to the top job at Renault he continued, for some time, to travel to work using his preferred form of locomotion, a pedal cycle.

[1] Lefaucheux set a pattern whereby Renault, despite now being a nationalised industry, ferociously rejected management by politicians: in this he was naturally able to draw on the network of influential former resistance leaders and fighters, many now in positions of power within the Fourth Republic French state.

The trade union agreement stabilized industrial relations for 20 years, including the avoidance of strikes and lockouts, and the linking of wages to living costs and thereby to inflation.

Despite inclement icy weather, Lefaucheux, an avid motorist, decided at the last minute to travel by car — placing his suitcase not in the trunk, but on the rear seat of his Renault Frégate.

Though the Frégate's passenger cell was largely intact, Lafaucheux's unsecured suitcase on the rear seat had struck him in the neck, killing him instantly.

He is buried at Saint-Quentin-des-Prés, in the Oise Department, and is a street named in his honour remains integral to the area of Paris formerly occupied by the Renault Boulogne-Billancourt works.

Lefaucheux had been arrested by the Gestapo during World War II and was rescued by Marie-Hélène Postel-Vinay, whom he subsequently married and by whom he was ultimately survived.