Renault Supports 5,000 Young Formula 1 Designers with 'Course en Cours'

PARIS, FRANCE – May 28, 2009: On May 27, Renault organized the final of “Course en Cours”, a competition based on Formula 1 involving more than 5,000 middle and high school students, their teachers and university students from 17 academies in France. The final capped a year of discovery for the young students, who designed and built their own scale models with the advice of Renault engineers. The ceremony was an opportunity for Renault to reaffirm its commitment to young people, helping them to find out about automotive professions and enter the job market.

RENAULT AND “COURSE EN COURS”
“Course en Cours” is more than a competition. It is a complete educational program bringing together three separate worlds: national education, universities and business. Middle and high school students participating in the program group into teams of five to design and build a 1:18 scale Formula 1 car able to complete a 20-meter run. Spanning an entire school year, the project requires strong personal commitment from the students, their teachers and the university students supervising the entrants. It also calls for support from a number of companies, active members of the “Course en Cours” association or team sponsors. Renault, with Renault F1 Team, joined “Course en Cours” when it was founded in 2007. The company appreciated the association’s ambitious sporting and technical challenge and how it fits in with Renault’s approach to helping young people by fostering diversity and equal opportunities through

three key actions:

building lasting partnerships with schools,

raising the awareness of boys and girls from under-privileged neighborhoods on science and technology studies,

contributing to professional training.

Renault chose to help the young “Course en Cours” entrants on a day-to-day basis. Throughout the year, the teams were free to contact Renault if they met with any problems and find solutions with Renault engineers. The company also helped the association out with financial and logistics support.

RENAULT AND YOUNG PEOPLE
Renault has long maintained close ties with the world of education. It has taken on numerous interns and apprentices (to the tune of 2,600 and 1,000, respectively, at Renault s.a.s. in 2008). More than 3,200 unqualified young people have since 1992 completed work/study programs resulting in a professional aptitude certificate (CAP) or baccalauréat diploma, thanks to Renault’s professional insertion system. To promote the automotive industry, Renault regularly invites teachers to the company to find out about its professions. Renault also works with schools to create special, industryadapted training courses.

Renault has increased the number of initiatives for young people since signing the “Charter of Business Commitment to Equal Opportunity in Education” in December 2006. As part of the French government’s “Espoir Banlieues” plan to help disadvantaged suburban areas, the company decided to take on 510 young people a year between 2008 and 2010 as interns and apprentices and on fixed and open-ended contracts. Renault is also a partner of top-level prep schools and universities: Lycée Henri IV in Paris (preparatory class for further education for grant-holding baccalaureat students, since 2007) and Sciences Po Paris (agreement on fostering diversity and equal opportunities, signed in 2008).

RENAULT AND DIVERSITY
More generally speaking, Renault’s work on helping young people from all social and economic backgrounds is part of its drive to strengthen the diversity of experience at the company. Diversity is vital to performance and staff motivtion, and to the image of a socially responsible business with local presence.

This drive is based on Renault's commitment to fight discrimination and foster equal opportunities, underlined in 2004 by the signature of the Group’s “Declaration of Employees’ Fundamental Rights” and the “Business Diversity Charter”.