A year ago I reported how Renault was using French Government money in exchange for keeping jobs in France. Then Renault landed themselves in trouble when Renault wanted to transfer production of the Clio to Turkey and the French Government made their feelings quite clear. Then they started slagging other low cost countries off. Now it appears Renault are at it again, only this time they may succeed. Read More >

Renault has made a big splash with their el-cheapo Dacia in the European market. In the first 4 months of this year, 17 percent of Renault’s sales came from Nicolae Ceausescu’s former auto works in Romania. France’s PSA doesn’t want to take it any longer, and now plans for their own low-cost line. Read More >

This car won’t have a problem with CAFE rules. Around the world, Shell is conducting Eco-Marathons. The mission: Who gets the farthest on just one liter of fuel. Team Polyjoule from France’s Nantes Polytech turned a quart of gas into 4,414 kilometers, reports Das Autoshaus. If I didn’t make a mistake in my calculation, that’s 10549 MPG. More or less. Staying the whole 4,414 km in the coffin-like contraption should receive an extra prize. Read More >

It’s tough to be a European car maker with a governmental sugar daddy. First you have to make nice with your sugar daddy, and commit unspeakable acts until he shakes loose a few hundred million Euro. Then, the prudes from Brussels shoot the stipend down. Your sugar daddy can say: “Darling, I tried.” He then can go on with the business of bailing out Mediterranean states. So it happened with Renault. So it might happen with Opel. Read More >

France’s PSA wants a bigger slice of the growing Chinese pie. They agreed to set up a joint venture with government-owned Changan. Peugeot already has a joint venture with Changan’s rival Dongfeng, while Changan has a joint venture with Ford. Nevertheless, the new JV will “not compete directly with other partnerships,” the companies said in a statement published by Bloomberg. Read More >

Within the Renault-Nissan alliance, Carlos Ghosn must have felt like he was the king. He and Louis Schweitzer were the architects of the fourth largest car making entity in the world. Then the Board of Directors chopped his legs out by vetoing his deal with Roger Penske to supply Saturn with Renault cars and, suddenly, Carlos Ghosn had a very sharp lesson. In the Renault-Nissan alliance, no-one is too big to fail. So when it came to his re-election as CEO, no-one thought it was a cut and dried affair. Well, on Thursday the 29/04/2010, Mr Ghosn received his second term at Renault. And he set out some targets to show the BoD he means business.

Reuters reports that over his next 4 year term, Ghosn envisions the following: Read More >

The French-Japanese relations continue to bloom. Here is the latest tie-up. Forget former on-again, then off-again relationships. This time, it’s serious. The Nikkei [sub] reports that Mitsubishi Motors and France’s PSA have tied the knot and will jointly breed new sports utility vehicles. Read More >

When people get married, they normally follow it up with a honeymoon and (at least traditionally) the consummation of said marriage. So, when Daimler and Renault-Nissan got hitched, how do you think they’d celebrate their first year of marriage? Build a car a together? Announce a joint venture factory? Start sharing dealerships? No. They had an argument. Just like your old polyamorous married couple. Read More >

Dr. Z. is glad that yesterday’s annual stockholders meeting in Berlin is behind him. To fend of criticism, Zetsche had to set ambitious goals: Daimler’s sales will grow twice as fast as the industry average. Good luck with that. Read More >

Guess who was matchmaker for Daimler’s three-way tie-up with Renault and Nissan? The Nikkei [sub] thinks it was Volkswagen. VW’s alliance with Suzuki “spooks Daimler into thinking small,” says the Tokyo business paper. And that’s quite a change for formerly bigthinking Daimler. Read More >

Having just sealed the three-way tie-up between Renault, Nissan, and Daimler, Carlos Ghosn already lusts for more. At a press conference in Brussels, Ghosn said the alliance is open to new partners to get in bed with. Muses The Nikkei [sub]: “He may envision a grand coalition of Japanese, European and U.S. automakers.” Read More >

During the courtship stage between Geely and Volvo, and after their recent nuptials in Gothenburg, Sweden, we often raised the matter of Chang’an. Chang’an has had a joint venture with Ford since 2001. Under the JV, they also make Volvos in China, the S40 and S80, to be exact. They don’t make them in large numbers. 22,405 Volvos were sold in China last year, up nearly 80 percent compared to 2008. The S40 has been on the Chinese market since 2006. The S80L, a long version of the S80, was introduced last year. Chang’an had been in play as a suitor for Volvo, but bowed out.

What will happen to Chang’an’s Volvos? Read More >

So today, Renault, Daimler, and Nissan did what we said they would do and announced a three-way tie-up. Which is good, because we are running out of inappropriate pictures. The marriage goes far beyond the exchange of symbolical stock holdings. Read More >

After reading the tealeaves and other more reliable indicators, it looks like Renault, Nissan, and Daimler will announce their happy three-way partnership and cross-shareholdings on Wednesday. Read More >

In the world of automobiles, it appears that China isn’t the only fruit ripe for the plucking. Brazil is buzzing. They’re weathering the current economic fragility very well, and companies are looking to invest in there. Down in Brazil, economically speaking, it’s car-naval time! Read More >