Denis Baupin, an environmental official in the mayor’s office, said Wednesday that sport utility vehicles and old diesel cars are likely to be targeted in upcoming test restrictions.
To any Parisian who drives an SUV, Baupin’s advice is: “Sell it and buy a vehicle that’s compatible with city life.
“I’m sorry, but having a sport utility vehicle in a city makes no sense,”
Five French cities are eying bans on inefficient classes of automobiles as they become “ZAPA”s, or Priority Zones for Action against Air Pollution. These areas include Paris, Lyon, Grenoble and Aix-en-Provence. France’s cities are some of the most congested and polluted in Europe, and older diesels as well as 4×4 vehicles are blamed for a disproportionate contribution to the problem. We simply hope that vintage Mustangs don’t get caught up in the Parisian guzzler ban.
The French parliament has taken a step toward significantly reducing the non-monetary penalties that accompany most speeding tickets. The National Assembly voted Thursday to diminish the amount of time that minor traffic violations affect a driver’s record, and consequently his insurance rates. The changes came in the form of a compromise amendment to a wide-ranging homeland security bill known by the acronym LOPSSI II.
Global alliances between humongous corporate entities are always intimidating and mostly ill-performing. Oftentimes they just don’t work (née Daimler-Chrysler). Other times we just don’t see the point (Ford and various ex-PAG members or GM-Saab). The Renault-Nissan Alliance, who-would-have-believed-it is maybe, just maybe, the most successful of the lot. As TTAC itself has reported earlier, the French car known as the Nissan Tiida is now America’s best-selling compact car. In Brazil, Nissan has just sprinkled some of its Nippo-fairy-wand-dust on Renault’s latest gambit in the relatively small, but very profitable executive level segment in Brazil.
Peugeot has been all downhill recently in Brazil. Despite a relatively good showing in the São Paulo Car Show, its Brazilians offerings have been nothing to write home about. Having carved out a solid sixth place slot in sales (and sometimes threatening Renault’s fifth place) when it first got to Brazil, it has been recently surpassed by the likes of Toyota, Honda and even Hyundai. However, with the all-new (for Brazil) 3008, which was launched in Europe in 2009, Peugeot is asking its Brazilians customers: Are you ready to give up your false-jeep pretensions and give a more minivan-looking crossover a chance? Read More >
In the car world, the BRIC countries have already got their institutional market leaders. That’s how quick these markets are moving. General Motors and Volkswagen have an iron grip on the Chinese market, Suzuki and Hyundai have India in their palms. Fiat is king in Brazil. But Russia is still anybody’s game. Well, Renault and Nissan want to change that. Read More >
Whilst doing my usual scan of today’s news I saw an article which made me do a double take. And I mean a proper “Whaaaaaaaaat?!” I saw a couple of interesting things in it, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Then I saw who published it. The Tehran Times. So, treat this story with a pinch of salt. Read More >
We are being reminded that one of the few things that still are common to the U.S. and the UK are their legal system, conveniently called the “common law.” British barristers are looking to American attorneys for new ideas. And here is one of them: If an obese driver dies in a car accident, it’s not her fault. It’s the fault of the manufacturer, who didn’t crash test with overweight crash test dummies. Read More >
A few months ago I reported how Renault was planning on pulling out of IBC Vehicles (a joint venture between Nissan, General Motors and Renault) so they could take production of their Renault Trafic van to their underutilized plant in Sandouville, France. This would have left IBC Vehicles in trouble as valuable volume would have left the plant in a precarious position. Well, it seems IBC Vehicles can now afford to say “Au Revoir” to Renault. Read More >
When Renault, Nissan and Daimler all tied up together many people thought this was just a symbolic gesture. The venture may help each other out in designs and joint ventures, but personally, I didn’t see anything of real substance happening from it. Well, it seems that Nissan and Daimler are taking this cross holding seriously. Very seriously. Read More >
With sanctions piling up against Iran because of their nuclear ambitions, Iran is getting more and more isolated on the world stage. They need to assert their authority and let the world know they won’t be pushed around. And they may have found a way of doing it according to the Iranian Student’s News Agency (ISNA). Read More >
According to The Nikkei [sub], the iOn needed “changes from the Japanese version to meet European safety standards.” Let’s hope that the Euro-spec i-MiEV received the same changes, otherwise it will be DOA. Read More >
When Renault released their second generation Megane, people’s reaction pretty revolved around three words. “Whisky”, “Tango” and “Foxtrot”, if you know what I mean. I remember when I first saw it my first thoughts were “My goodness! It looks like someone’s made a massive dent in the back with a cricket bat.” But what did I know? It was voted European Car of the Year in 2003, was the first small family car to achieve a 5 star Euro NCAP rating, and went on to become a sales success. Now let’s look at Renault’s partner, Nissan.When the Juke came out, the reaction was pretty much the same to the Renault Megane. “What in the name of all that is holy is that?!” And now. the Renault-Nissan alliance has done it again. Read More >
A friend of mine once tried to break the world record for the longest time standing on one foot. The record (at the time) was held by Arulanantham Suresh Joachim of Sri Lanka for standing on one foot for 76 hours and 40 minutes. My friend lasted 2 minutes, then collapsed in heap and wondered if he’d maybe broken a bone in his leg. Silly boy. If he wanted to get into the Guinness Book of World Records, all he had to do was buy a Volkswagen Passat. Read More >
Recent Comments