Pierre Beuzit (born 1942) is a French engineer, and was responsible for the design of the
Renault Clio
The Renault Clio () is a supermini (B-segment) car, produced by French automobile manufacturer Renault. It was launched in 1990, and entered its fifth generation in 2019. The Clio has had substantial critical and commercial success, being consi ...
in the 1990s.
Early life
He gained a degree in Physics in 1966 at the
École centrale de Lyon
The Centrale Lyon (), formerly (, abbr. ECL), is a research university in Grand Lyon, greater Lyon, France. Founded in 1857 by François Barthélemy Arlès-Dufour in response to the increasing industrialization of France, it is one of the oldes ...
, followed by a
Masters degree (''DiplĂ´me d'Ă©tudes approfondies'' or DEA) in 1967, and a ''
Docteur d'État
Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellen ...
'' (PhD) in Nuclear Physics in 1971 from the
French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission
The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, or CEA ( French: Commissariat Ă l'Ă©nergie atomique et aux Ă©nergies alternatives), is a French public government-funded research organisation in the areas of energy, defense and sec ...
(''Commissariat Ă l'Ă©nergie atomique et aux Ă©nergies alternatives'' or CEA).
Renault
He joined Renault in 1971 as an engineer. In 1972 he joined the Vehicle Synthesis Department. From 1984-92 he was Director of Advanced Projects (''Directeur des Avant-projets'').
In the 1990s he was responsible (''Directeur gamme Clio'') for the overall design of the Clio II (B Product Range), which was launched in 1998.
The Clio II design lasted until 2012.
From 1998-2005 he was Director of Research (''Directeur de la Recherche'') at Renault. Although Renault is headquartered at
Boulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...
in
Hauts-de-Seine
Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a department in the ĂŽle-de-France region of France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west and ...
in the west of Paris, the design is carried out at the
Centre Technique Renault de Rueil (Rueil Technical Centre, or CTR), also in Hauts-de-Seine.
In September 2006 he retired from Renault.
Hydrogen cars
He is currently researching
hydrogen as a fuel
The hydrogen economy is an umbrella term for the roles hydrogen can play alongside low-carbon electricity to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The aim is to reduce emissions where cheaper and more energy-efficient clean solutions are not ava ...
for automobiles at the Centre National de Recherche Technologique (CNRT), which researches
fuel cell
A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen fuel, hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most bat ...
s (''Systèmes Pile à combustible''), and is overseen by the ''Ministère de la Recherche''.
Personal life
He is married with two children.
Publications
* ''Hydrogène: l'avenir de la voiture?'', 24 October 2007,
References
External links
Centre National de Recherche TechnologiqueInéva - CNRTNovember 2011 presentation on hydrogen fuelled cars
1942 births
École Centrale de Lyon alumni
French automobile designers
20th-century French engineers
Renault people
Living people
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