1920 Renault Type Eu Coup De Ville on 2040-cars

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PSA shares rise following FCA's breakup with Renault

Shares in Groupe PSA, parent company of automakers Peugeot, Citroen and the DS brand, rose on Thursday as analysts considered the possibility that Fiat Chrysler could turn back to PSA after withdrawing its $35 billion merger offer for Renault. "Both parties have acknowledged the need for scale or [mergers and acquisitions] and may pursue other opportunities. If Nissan was an obstacle (to an FCA-Renault deal) PSA-FCA discussions could resume," wrote brokerage Jefferies. Back in March at the Geneva Motor Show, rumors started swirling that PSA was interested in a potential merger with FCA. Mike Manley, who took over at the helm of Fiat Chrysler following the death of Sergio Marchionne, had indicated a willingness to look into potential partnership options. Of course, that was all before FCA proposed a merger with Renault — with that deal now off the table, attention naturally turns back to PSA, which is also based in France. "We expect both shares to react negatively but see FCA having wider strategic options and Renault shares more downside risk near-term," said Jefferies. According to Reuters, PSA shares were up 1.5% at the time this was published, making it the top-performing stock on France's benchmark CAC-40 Index. Renault saw its shares slump 7%. Shares for FCA fell 3% in early trading on the Milan Stock Exchange. Considering that FCA said in its statement confirming the withdraw of its merger offer with Renault that "political conditions in France do not currently exist for such a combination to proceed successfully," we have to wonder how keen the company is to begin negotiations with another French automaker like PSA. Those thoughts were similarly voiced by Bernstein Research analyst Max Warburton, who said (via Forbes), "Expect PSA to rise on unrealistic hopes it may be FCA's next date." Earnings/Financials Chrysler Fiat Mitsubishi Nissan Citroen Peugeot Renault FCA renault-nissan

Scrapyard Gem: 2007 Renault Megane Coupe Cabriolet

During the first decade of our current century, plenty of European car shoppers fell hard for hardtop convertibles based on cheap compact cars. That means that those cars are now easy to find in the scrapyards of the United Kingdom, so I headed over to northern England to document some of them. We've taken a look at a 2006 Peugeot 307 CC and a 2005 Vauxhall Tigra TwinTop from that trip, and now it's the turn of the open-air Renault Megane . The Megane first hit showrooms as a 1996 model, with the first generation based on the platform of the Renault 19. For the second-generation Megane II, which debuted as a 2003 model, the same Renault-Nissan platform that underpinned the Sentra and Rogue was used. The Coupe Cabriolet version of the Megane II shared just a few of its front body components with its hatchback sibling. The rear half looked so good that BYD copied it for its S8 convertible, which got a snout lifted from the Mercedes-Benz CLK-Class for good measure. Power for the 2007 Megane came from a wide variety of straight-four engines driving the front wheels. There were petrol engines ranging from 1.4 liters to 2.0 liters of displacement and diesels of 1.5 through 2.0 liters. This car has the 1.6-liter petrol engine, rated at 116 horsepower. The transmission is a five-speed manual. Six-speed manuals and four-speed automatics were available as well. When Copart (owner of the U-Pull-It yard in York) tried to sell this car at auction, it had 84,989 miles on the odometer and a bit of not-so-severe rear body damage. The interior looked nice at that time. The front body components were in great shape, so scrapyard shoppers bought many of them. You'll find one in every car, even in England. The Car-Freshner tree-shaped air freshener line is a bit different on the other side of the Atlantic; English-speaking regions mostly get Little Trees, areas with Latin-derived languages usually get Arbres Magiques and residents of areas that use Germanic and Scandinavian tongues (besides English) plus Slavic and Baltic languages tend to have access to Wunder-Baums. Even with the top up, there's still a big moonroof.

Renault replaces top F1 leadership

Renault is a company accustomed to winning in Formula One. In the past ten years alone, it has claimed an unfathomable six world championships, first with Fernando Alonso two years in a row and then powering Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing to four consecutive titles. But suffice it to say that things haven't been going so well this season since the introduction of the new hybrid turbocharged V6s as Mercedes-Benz has stolen its thunder. The teams it supplies aren't happy, and neither is the French automaker itself. Which could go a long way towards explaining why it's changing the top leadership in its F1 operations.
As of July 3, Renault Sport F1 president Jean-Michel Jalinier is stepping down, exercising "his right to retirement for personal reasons," according to the statement below. In his place, Renault has appointed two successors.
Jérôme Stoll, who has until now served as the company's executive vice president, Chief Performance Officer and director of sales and marketing, is stepping up to serve as the division's president, all the while maintaining his existing roles. Alongside him Cyril Abiteboul has been named Managing Director of Renault Sport F1, having previously served as its Development Director and Executive Director before taking over the Caterham F1 Team prior to its recent sale and his dismissal.