The case of three Renault executives who are accused of passing off trade secrets to a foreign firm has taken yet another turn for the confusing, as two of the dismissed managers are suing Renault for defamation. Reuters reports that Michel Balthazard, the highest-ranking executive to be accused in the case, has joined colleague Bertrand Rochette in threatening to file a defamation suit against his former employer. Balthazard is also appealing his dismissal to a French labor tribunal, in hopes of being reinstated at the company. Rochette, Balthazard and a third exec, Matthieu Tenenbaum, are accused of passing strategic information to a foreign network in exchange for bribe payments, charges all three executives deny. According to the WSJ, Rochette denies even having a Swiss bank account into which Renault alleges his bribes were deposited. Meanwhile, French finance minister Christine Lagarde tells the NYT that

I really don’t think that the Renault case has a Chinese angle. I have zero indication

But, as has been typical thus far in this strange case, other French officials including the head of Parliament’s economic intelligence working group insist that a Chinese connection is involved. We will continue to keep an eye on this case… but don’t expect much clarity on the details for some time.

When Chrysler let slip at the Detroit Auto Show that it would be offering a hybrid version of its 300 sedan by 2013, we automatically assumed that the Pentastar was going back to its Hemi-based Two-Mode V8 hybrid system, jointly developed by GM, Chrysler, BMW and Mercedes. Not so, it turns out. That billion-dollar drivetrain has been relegated to poor-selling hybrid SUVs, and it’s already being considered a dead-end by at least the German firms who helped develop it. Instead, it seems that Chrysler has gone to the government for a hybrid system, and will adapt a hydraulic hybrid system developed by the EPA.
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Chuck writes:

I have been an avid reader of TTAC for roughly a year and a half, and I love this site! I really like the advice articles. I have come into an automotive dilemma concerning a inherited 2004 Honda Civic VP.

My mother recently passed away, so i inherited her Honda. I need to sell the Civic as quickly as possible for as much as possible. There is a issue though- The front bumper is damaged, I put the car into KBB for value assessment and KBB in “Fair” condition says the Honda is worth $7,000 I would like to get as close to 5K as possible. Our friendly neighborhood watch has given me a notice with a $44.00 fine to remove the car that doesn’t have plates from the driveway ASAP!

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TTAC tipster Sydney (of combustionchamber.net) says he saw this bowtie-branded version of what appears to be a Holden Commodore Series II on his “local NBC affiliate,” and snapped this picture. He writes

It has features from the Series II Commodore and though the picture is kind of grainy, I can assure you that it looks complete and not digitally enhanced in any way, including the bulges on the bumper strike face, which don’t appear to have translated that well from the photo I snapped of my TV. Also, the car is clearly Left Hand Drive.

Did he and a local TV station accidentally bust the embargo on this much-hyped “return of the G8”?

UPDATE: No, this is not an official image. The TV station simply ran footage of what we believe to be a forum photoshop. Higher quality image here. Know the source of this photo? Let us know!

China’s Chongqing Changan is entering the lion’s den. The Chinese joint venture partner of Ford, Suzuki, and PSA will open a research center in Detroit and draw from the rich talent pool. Changan will become the first Chinese automobile company to establish such a center in the US, Gasgoo says. (Read More…)

Model S Alpha Hits the Road from Tesla Motors on Vimeo.

Elon Musk’s desire to see “every car on the road” driven by electricity is briefly realized in this video of the Tesla Model S “Alpha” prototype testing somewhere in the coastal hills of California. Tesla’s “Alpha” phase of testing began last year, and will be followed by a “Beta” test phase before the Model S goes into production. More videos on the Model S and its technical components can be found at Tesla’s Vimeo page.

Red light cameras in League City, Texas have failed to reduce accidents according to preliminary data provided by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). Since October 2009, the Australian firm Redflex Traffic Systems has issued citations at three intersections along FM 518. Local activist Byron Schirmbeck analyzed TxDOT reports and found the number of accidents at these locations increased after camera installation. In November, Schirmbeck led the November successful referendum effort twenty miles away in Baytown where voters rejected the use of automated ticketing machines.

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You’d think that all the Malaise Era Montes would have been crushed 15 years ago, but you still see the occasional survivor chugging around these days. I spotted this battered-but-solid example in a Denver park a few months back. (Read More…)

Fuji Heavy will delight its Subaru clientele with a full redesign of its Subaru Impreza. After four years, the car got a bit long in the sprockets. Launch is scheduled for this year, says The Nikkei [sub]. (Read More…)

If you want to get ahead in the car business, this is required reading. If you just like cars and don’t give a hoot about who makes them where and why, then you may skip this. (Read More…)

This came to me tonight from my old pal “The Berg”, noted serial purchaser of old Bentley Turbos, bon vivant, and Jewish playboy extraordinaire.

I’m sure it was on a closed course, although I know Berg doesn’t hold a professional license. There’s a photo of the actual car after the jump, but for now, I just want to ask: Is there anything better in life than to pilot an authentic, made-in-England-by-an-English-company-owned-by-actual-English-people-from-England Bentley?
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Turns out, Twitter is good for something after all.

With the recent arrival of the latest Evo Magazine at “TTAC Towers,” it seems that all hope for productivity today has gone out the window. Evo, the classiest car porn mag in the game (the lady and I enjoy reading it together, honest), has got its high-gloss gloves on both the reborn Lancia Stratos and the new Audi Quattro Concept… as well as the classic models that inspired them. So, while I’m desperately trying to ignore the British buff book’s retro-future write-up, riddle me this: if you could demand a born-again version of any classic car, what would it be and how would you bring it back to life? But before you answer, ponder for a moment these words from the definitive literary work on re-animation:

Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos; the materials must, in the first place, be afforded: it can give form to dark, shapeless substances, but cannot bring into being the substance itself. In all matters of discovery and invention, even of those that appertain to the imagination, we are continually reminded of the story of Columbus and his egg. Invention consists in the capacity of seizing on the capabilities of a subject, and in the power of moulding and fashioning ideas suggested to it.

I will be appearing on the PBS Newshour’s report from the North American International Auto Show tomorrow evening (check local listings for times). The interview took place late last Monday, after some 11 hours of press conference goodness, so the end results will be a surprise even to me! I do seem to recall questions about the revival of the American auto industry and the Chevy’ Volt’s price-volume dilemma… but we’ll all have to tune in to find out exactly what I said.

AFP [via Google] reports:

Nissan Motor had delivered only 60 units of its Leaf electric vehicle in Japan as of Friday, Kyodo News reported, despite already taking 6,000 orders due by the end of March.

Nissan denied any delay in the delivery of the pre-ordered cars and company spokesman Mitsuru Yonekawa told AFP on Tuesday that the automaker was taking a cautious approach to ensure quality control.

“We have to make sure that everything is 100 percent safe and sure,” Yonekawa said. “This is the first time we have mass-produced an electric vehicle so we need to be very careful. We are not delayed or behind schedule.”

Well don’t rush it then… but it’s got to be rough to be one of the 6,000 folks who pre-ordered by the end of last March. Nissan promises these patient souls that production of the initial 6,000 units will be complete by the end of this March.