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Renault sets 'Ring record with new Megane RS 275 Trophy-R [w/video]

Clocking a lap time of less than eight minutes on the Nürburgring is a real feat in just about any car. But a front-driver? That's the gauntlet that Seat threw down March when it hustled its new Leon Cupra 280 around the Nordschleife in 7:58.4, knocking Renault off its perch for the quickest front-drive lap of the famous German track. In doing so, Seat practically handed Renault - which had claimed the record time and time again - an embossed invitation to beat its time, and Renault was only too happy to oblige.
The French automaker known overseas as le roi des hot-hatches proclaimed in April that it was gunning for a sub-eight-minute lap time of its own, showed us what it was working on in May and revealed the new Mégane 275 Trophy just a month ago. The enhanced hot hatch, we assumed, would be the one with which it would reclaim its title, but that job actually belongs to the even more extreme version you see here.
Called the Mégane RS 275 Trophy-R, Renault's new flagship performance model takes the place once occupied by the previous Mégane R26.R as the ultimate front-drive track tool. Its 2.0-liter naturally aspirated four is tuned to the same 275 horsepower as the aforementioned 275 Trophy and packs the same Cup chassis, limited-slip differential, titanium Akrapovic exhaust, Öhlins adjustable dampers and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, but does away with the rear seats, replaces the front ones with Recaro composite racing buckets and six-point harnesses, fits a lightweight lithium-ion battery and replaces the stock brakes with larger but lighter steel and aluminum discs.

Dacia brand has become "cash cow" for parent Renault

No one, not even former Renault CEO Louis Schweitzer whose idea it was to buy Dacia in 1999, had any idea the low-cost Eastern European sub-brand would succeed this well. The Romanian automaker with three wheels in the ground at the time of its takeover was purchased the same year that Renault took its stake in Nissan, and no one had much to say about that smaller deal. Fast forward 13 years, the line that began with the Logan in 2004 is now five model lines on sale in 36 countries, it's year-on-year sales have never decreased and the vehicles built on its M0 entry-level platform sold nearly a million units in 2012. This isn't just an emerging-market story, either, with Dacia branded offerings making up 17 percent of Renault volume in Western Europe.
Its rampaging sales and the synergies between the Renault and Dacia lines have turned the brand into a "cash cow" in the words of Renault's COO. Its vehicles share a huge number of parts, many of which are still carryover nine years into the brand's life, and parts of the recently introduced second-generation Logan are evolved from the 1990 Renault Clio. In fact, due to amortization and decreased prices for parts because of the massive sales, the new Logan is less expensive to produce than the first generation, so it was given new equipment along with the refresh in order to maintain its price.
The news is even better in other regions, where the Dacia can command more money on its own or can be sold under the Renault or Nissan brands. The Duster in Western Europe that starts at 12,000 euros starts at 19,000 euros in Brazil. That's how Dacia, according to a Morgan Stanley analyst, returns a worldwide nine-percent operating margin as opposed to Renault's 0.4-percent. What lies ahead is more models and variants, as well as a modular strategy for the M0 platform to further reduce costs, and, one supposes, even more money from that Romanian cow.

Race Recap: 2013 Chinese Grand Prix a test of tires, carnage and a fight for second [spoilers]

Formula One fans and commentators have spent the three weeks since the Malaysian Grand Prix discussing two things more than any other: that pass, and tires. Sebastian Vettel spent days giving his tongue an Olympic workout on the verbal gymnastics parallel bars before finally admitting he passed his Infiniti Red Bull teammate Mark Webber on purpose partly for reasons of payback, partly out of a desire to win - he doesn't apologize for it and he would do it again.
Then came those Pirellis - every single driver and team representative interview touches on how important it is to understand the tires and manage their degradation. Two races in, though, it seems no team has any clue yet how to make the race-weekend compounds work predictably. The only thing predictable about the soft compound tires that Pirelli brought to China was that they would last for six laps, and that led to an odd qualifying session with drivers reluctant to leave the pits or even set a time.
It also led to the first pole position for an Englishman in a Mercedes-Benz since Stirling Moss did it in 1955.