Renault will show the Altica Concept in Geneva, its variation on the Shooting Brake theme. It starts as a sporty coupè, it ends with the tail of a station wagon. A muscular station wagon, thinning towards the rear end, with bulging wheel lodgings.

The engine is the new 2.0 turbodiesel with 177 hp. Thanks to a weight of 1.300 kg, the Altica can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 7.5 seconds, while limiting average consumption to 5.3 liters / 100 km.
[From Racewaynews]

Continue reading: Renault Altica Concept - a french shooting-brake

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Leftlane News reports a news item from the french financial newspaper L’Expansion: among the secret plans of Carlos Ghosn, Renault’s CEO, would be the acquisition of the Jaguar brand.

It seems that back in october Ghosn tried buying Volvo from Ford (the two brands had collaborated before), but Ford rebuffed his avances, since Volvo isn’t one of the money losing pits of the group, like Jaguar, which has been in the red since it was acquired in 1989.

So: with Jaguar, Renault would acquire a Luxury division, while Ford’s PAG division could be profitable as soon as next year. It remains to be seen whether Jaguar’s long suffering fans would see the brand being sold to Renault as the last blow.

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Some confusion about the next flagship coupe in the european Nissan lineup. Is the new GT-R coming to Europe too ? Or is there some truth to the Autocar rumours about the Nissan 450Z ?

The 450Z should be an evolution of the current 350Z, with a sporty version of the 4.5 liters V8 engine mounted on the Japanese Nissan Fuga and on some Infiniti models in the USA, tuned to deliver about 400 hp. The only problem is that this engine doesn’t satisfy Euro 4 emission regulations, but this will have to be remedied anyway, since Nissan wants to bring Infiniti to Europe. The body should remain relatively unchanged, while the 450Z might have a 4WD transmission.

Continue reading: Nissan 450Z Coming ?

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More renderings of the Renault Twingo II, this time from the French magazine Auto Plus (front and rear). Also, more news of the dilemma facing Carlos Ghosn in deciding what to do with the heir to the popular Renault city car.

The Twingo II finds itself between a rock and a hard place. The Twingo was initially designed to be a small & chic city car, but the insuccess of the Modus and the success of the Dacia Logan has forced Renault to reconsider. Now, it will have to contend with rivals such as the triplets Toyota Aygo/Peugeot 107/Citroen C1, priced at 9.000 €, while the Dacia Logan starts from 7.500 €.

So: it is thought that the new Twingo will be a circa-9,000 € car, only petrol engines (1.2 with 60 & 75 hp), with the risk of finding it undercut by its poor sibling, the Logan. Add to that the dismal october sales figures for Renault/Nissan in Europe, and it’s once again time for Ghosn to show his mettle.

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The Renault Clio is the Car of the Year 2006, according to a jury of European journalists.

The Clio got 256 points, beating the Volkswagen Passat by a hair’s breadth (251). Third was the Alfa Romeo 159 (with 212 points). Next are the Bmw 3 Series (203), the Mazda 5 (198), the triplets Toyota Aygo/Citroen C1/Peugeot 107 (187) and the Toyota Yaris (143).

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It seems that Renault might be preparing a resurrection for the Alpine brand (in the photo an A310), to cash in on the Formula 1 world championship.

Rumours are saying that Renault is preparing a front-engined rear wheel drive coupe that should be ready in two years. The time-frame is plausible, considering that, thanks to Nissan, Renault doesn’t lack platforms on which to develop such a coupe quickly and cheaply: the 350Z and the Infiniti G35 Coupe without disturbing such a monster as the future futura GT-R …

If it’s going to be a 350Z derivation, it might cost about 40-45.000 €, while a bigger coupe might cost about 60.000 €, maybe too ambitious for Renault, which doesn’t produce a RWD car with front-engine since 1952 (la Frègate).

Continue reading: Renault preparing an Alpine comeback ?

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To avoid cannibalizing its low range, Renault has strictly rationed the arrival of its low-cost Dacia Logan model. This rationing and strong demand have created a curious phenomenon: people who want to avoid the long waiting times are paying as much as 1.000 € for a used Logan than for a new one. This is peculiar, since in France, once you walk out the dealership with a new car, it instantly loses as much as 15-20% of it value (according to the Repubblica article).

Maybe Fiat should hurry up and import the Zastava 10 (a III generation Punto produced in Serbia)!

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