Tag Archives: Renault

Renault boss: Geordies are not from Mars shock

July 14, 2012   simon

As well as 8,000 job cuts at Peugeot, which was covered yesterday, Renault is facing big problems. Sales in Europe dropped by 14.9% in the last six months, partially offset by a 14.3% rise outside Europe – but it sells fewer cars outside Europe, so the latter does not compensate for the former.
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Dacia prepares to launch Duster SUV in the UK

June 15, 2012   simon

If you have never heard of Dacia, you soon will – it is to Renault what Skoda is to VW. The new low cost brand, which has been a big success in both emerging markets and the rest of Europe since 2005, will arrive in the UK at the end of June. Its main model will be the Duster SUV – think of a more basic, and far cheaper, version of the smash-hit Skoda Yeti. The new car officially goes on sale on June 28th.
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UK car sales – Land Rover is bigger than Renault

June 10, 2012   simon

The latest official car registrations figures from the SMMT have been published.The overall market shows surprisingly strong growth of 2.6% so far this year – that is a lot better than the economy as a whole. However, the car market is currently running at an annual rate of 1.95 million registrations, which is still a long way below its 2007 level of 2.4 million.There are some big changes in manufacturer’s performance this year. The winners include Land Rover (up 28.4%), Kia (up 24.0%) and Skoda (up 18.2%). Of the three, the most surprising is Skoda, as it had no new models in this period. With the new Citigo going on sale now, its growth rate should accelerate even further.
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Kia K9 luxury saloon

May 02, 2012   Ian

It probably won’t come to the UK (and certainly not with that name), but Kia has launched a 3.8 litre V6, rear drive saloon. The K9 (we are going to restrain ourselves and leave the pet-based puns to you) is the new Kia flagship, and is a long way upmarket from the current UK range-topping saloon, the Optima. The design is what we have come to expect from Kia. Design supremo Peter Schreyer is ex-Audi and it shows. Modern Kias are remarkably calm, confident designs, with none of the little fripperies Korean cars used to feature in a vain attempt to look upmarket.
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New Renaultsport Twingo zooms in

March 30, 2012   Sean

Renault has revealed the facelifted version of its tiniest hot hatch, the Twingo Renaultsport 133.The raspy little Renaultsport has always been well received, largely because it’s one of the only cars that sits well with the highly overused ‘go-kart’ metaphor. Unlike certain cars.It’s re-styled in line with the rest of the Twingo range (obviously), but also gets some engine improvements that make it slightly cheaper to run. Win!Emissions go down to 150g/km and economy up to 43.5mpg, improvements of around three percent.Renault has decided not to tinker with the mechanical setup in any way, “so its performance and grin-inducing driving characteristics remain intact,” according to the press release. We can’t argue with that.
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