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Drive like a prince: Join us for a walk through Monaco's car collection

Small, crowded, and a royal pain in the trunk lid to drive into during rush hour, Monaco sounds like an improbable location for a huge car museum. And yet, this tiny city-state has been closely linked to car culture for over a century. It hosts two major racing events every year, many of its residents would qualify for a frequent shopper card if Rolls-Royce issued one, and Prince Rainier III began assembling a collection of cars in the late 1950s. He opened his collection to the public in 1993 and the museum quickly turned into a popular tourist attraction. The collection continued to grow after his death in April 2005; it moved to a new facility located right on Hercules Port in July 2022. Monaco being Monaco, you'd expect to walk into a room full of the latest, shiniest, and most powerful supercars ever to shred a tire. That's not the case: while there is no shortage of high-horsepower machines, the first cars you see after paying ˆ10 (approximately $11) to get in are pre-war models. In that era, the template for the car as we know it in 2023 hadn't been created, so an eclectic assortment of expensive and dauntingly experimental machines roamed whatever roads were available to them. One is the Leyat Helica, which was built in France in 1921 with a 1.2-liter air-cooled flat-twin sourced from the world of aviation. Fittingly, the two-cylinder spun a massive, plane-like propeller. Government vehicles get a special spot in the museum. They range from a Cadillac Series 6700 with an amusing blend of period-correct French-market yellow headlights and massive fins to a 2011 Lexus LS 600h with a custom-made transparent roof panel that was built by Belgian coachbuilder Carat Duchatelet for Prince Albert II's wedding. Here's where it all gets a little weird: you've got a 1952 Austin FX3, a Ghia-bodied 1959 Fiat 500 Jolly, a 1960 BMW Isetta, and a 1971 Lotus Seven. That has to be someone's idea of a perfect four-car garage.  One of the most significant cars in the collection lurks in the far corner of the main hall, which is located a level below the entrance. At first glance, it's a kitted-out Renault 4CV with auxiliary lights, a racing number on the front end, and a period-correct registration number issued in the Bouches-du-Rhone department of France. It doesn't look all that different than the later, unmodified 4CV parked right next to it. Here's what's special about it: this is one of the small handful of Type 1063 models built by Renault for competition.

Renault selling part of Nissan stake to partner for $824 million

Renault SA is selling around 5% of its stake in partner Nissan Motor Co., offloading the stock as part of a share buyback by the Japanese carmaker.  The move follows last month’s finalization of a plan for Renault to reduce its interest in Nissan. The stake sale is valued at around ˆ765 million ($824 million), but will result in a capital loss of ˆ1.5 billion, the French company said Tuesday.  Eventually, the two carmakers aim to equalize their cross-shareholdings at 15%, loosening the ties that kept them together in a carmaking alliance for two decades. The partnership between Nissan and Renault was jolted in 2018 by the arrest of Carlos Ghosn, chairman of both companies. Since then, they have drifted apart and are now charting separate paths. Given that NissanÂ’s shares are trading below the Tokyo Stock ExchangeÂ’s guideline of maintaining a price-to-book ratio above 1, the buyback will “help improve the situation,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Tatsuo Yoshida. The cash will bolster Chief Executive Officer Luca de MeoÂ’s efforts to get Ampere, RenaultÂ’s electric-vehicle and software arm, going as he seeks to split off the unit and list it as a separate public entity as soon as April or May. Nissan has also agreed to invest in Ampere. Renault transferred its 28.4% stake in Nissan into a trust in early November to pave the way for a reduction of its holding. Even so, there will still be lock-up and standstill obligations. De Meo said last month that Renault would begin offloading the stake “very soon” in early 2024, so TuesdayÂ’s announcement was slightly earlier than anticipated. For Nissan, the buyback is well within the value of cash and equivalents, which stood at JPY1.6 trillion ($11 billion) yen at the end of September. Nissan said it will cancel all acquired shares.  “ItÂ’s good news for the stock that Nissan will retire the equivalent of 5% of its outstanding shares,” Yoshida said.  The Japanese carmaker is paying JPY568.5 for each share, the price at the close of trading in Tokyo on Tuesday. While NissanÂ’s stock has climbed 36% this year, itÂ’s at roughly half of its value from early 2017. Earnings/Financials Nissan Renault

Nissan, Mitsubishi confirm plans to invest in Renault EV unit Ampere

PARIS — Renault's longstanding alliance partners Nissan and Mitsubishi confirmed plans to invest in the French car maker's electric vehicle unit Ampere and use it to develop EVs for the European market, the companies said on Wednesday. After years of contentious partnership, the announcement on Wednesday confirms that the new alliance between the three automakers is smaller and more pragmatic, focusing on regional cooperation. Nissan and Mitsubishi confirmed they would invest respectively up to 600 million euros ($647.46 million) and 200 million euros in Ampere, which has been carved out from the rest of Renault and is due for a public listing next year. Nissan will become "a strategic investor" in Ampere, Makoto Uchida, CEO of the Japanese car marker told reporters, adding the company may use the EV unit's software and connectivity innovations in other markets outside Europe. "Developing electric vehicles all over the world alone would be very challenging," he said. Ampere will develop and manufacture an electric version of the compact Nissan Micra for the European market and a medium-sized electric SUV for Mitsubishi. Renault CEO Luca de Meo said Ampere will cut the costs for the Micra for Nissan by 50%. The alliance partners also confirmed their joint projects in Latin America and India. In September, Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi ended their common purchasing agreement, which they said would allow them to focus on individual projects and adapt more quickly to regional differences in automotive markets. At the end of July, Renault and Nissan finalised the terms of a restructured alliance after months of negotiations. Talks dragged on for months longer than expected due in part to Nissan, which was concerned about protecting its intellectual property in future collaborations. Related video: Earnings/Financials Green Mitsubishi Nissan Renault Electric

Upcoming Renault 5 E-Tech EV lights up lots of interest

Air intakes that create a bump and a hole in the hood of an automobile are groovy if they’re done right, but Renault has reinvented this bit of the hood (or bonnet, if youÂ’re British) for its new all-electric Renault 5 E-Tech hatch. It has nothing to do with air or intakes; this design element is essentially a graphic panel that will display carÂ’s current state of charge when the vehicle is charging, and light up the same "5" graphic that forms the carÂ’s badge.  The E-Tech, which is confirmed to be revealed in February at the 2024 Geneva Motor Show, harkens back to the French classic 5 that was called Le Car over here and left the U.S. market (along with the entire brand) in the Eighties. The teasers that the company released last week are mainly design touches that show five doors with "hidden" rear handles in the C-pillars, short overhangs, and a chunky roof spoiler. The unmistakable “5” that lights up the hood when its not charging is sure to be talking point. Initially, the car will be sold exclusively with a 52-kilowatt-hour battery pack good for 248 miles and no ICE model will be offered. The E-Tech is expected to be priced from about ˆ25,000 ($27,200) overseas. No word yet on power ratings. ItÂ’s French, as we mentioned, so donÂ’t expect it to come to the States. ItÂ’s also expected that additional older Renault models — the 4 and the Twingo — will be converted to electric power and arrive in a couple of years. Related video: Design/Style Green Geneva Motor Show Renault Hatchback Electric

Junkyard Gem: 1960 Renault Dauphine

During each year of the 1950s, the incredibly cheap Volkswagen Beetle became a bigger and bigger sales success in the United States. It seemed that no import could touch the Beetle after better than 50,000 were sold here for the 1956 model year … but then another little rear-engined European car appeared, and it boasted two more doors than the VW plus a similar price tag. This was the Renault Dauphine, and for a few years it looked like a mortal threat to Beetle sales on our shores. Dauphines mostly disappeared from American streets by the dawn of the 1970s and from junkyards by the 1980s, but I found this one in a Silicon Valley car graveyard recently. As a matter of fact, there are three Dauphines at the North San Jose Pick-n-Pull as I write this. That trio had been up for sale on Craigslist for quite some time, as a package deal for $1,000. There were no takers, even in the French-car-loving Bay Area, and so all three now reside in their final parking spaces before their inevitable date with the crusher. Renault sold more than 200,000 Dauphines in the United States, mostly during the 1957-1960 period. Sales continued through 1966, but never regained their late-1950s glory. The Dauphine had a rear-engined design with swing axles, just like the Beetle, and so it proved popular in areas with icy roads. My grandfather was a Minnesota ice racer at the time, and he purchased several Dauphines to join his stable of Beetles and Corvairs (they rusted even more quickly than the VWs, which is saying something). Unlike the air-cooled Beetle, the Dauphine's engine had a traditional liquid cooling system with a radiator. This added complexity but gave the Renault a heater that worked properly and with less propensity to catch on fire. Someone yanked the head off the engine in this one long ago, judging from the rusty detritus in the cylinders. If original, it is an 845cc straight-four rated at 28 horsepower when new. The '60 Dauphine scaled in at just 1,397 pounds, so it wasn't as slow as you might think (but still pretty slow). The 1960 Beetle weighed 1,609 pounds and had a 1192cc engine with a mighty 36 horsepower, giving the two rivals similar power-to-weight ratios (49.9 lb/hp for the Dauphine, 44.7 lb/hp for the Beetle). That meant that the '60 Beetle could pull (slowly) away from the '60 Renault in a very boring drag race, and that the Dauphine had a slight edge in fuel economy.

Third-generation Dacia Duster gets more rugged while staying cheap

Released in 2010 as a cheap, no-frills off-roader, the original Dacia Duster helped launch the crossover craze in Europe. It has moved slightly upmarket since, and the third-generation model makes its debut with an outdoorsy look and more tech while staying true to its roots. The new crossover stretches about 171 inches long, 71 inches wide and 65 inches tall, so it's almost exactly the same size as the outgoing model. Dacia borrowed the CMF-B platform from parent company Renault for the third-generation Duster. It's a unibody architecture that also underpins small hatchbacks like the Renault Clio and the Dacia Logan, but the Duster remains available with four-wheel drive. While the overall proportions haven't changed much, the new Duster stands out with a more rugged-looking exterior design characterized by a tall, upright front end, a generous serving of plastic cladding, and punched-out wheel arches. Some of the trim pieces are made using a material called Starkle that Dacia developed in-house with help from chemical company LyondellBasell; these bits are intentionally left unpainted. Out back, the C-shaped lights are pushed out to the edges of each quarter panel to emphasize the crossover's sense of width. Many owners use their Duster as a pair of hiking boots on wheels, so Dacia wisely resisted the urge to pack the cabin with posh features that add cost and complexity. The third-generation model remains highly functional, but it's not nearly basic as the original. The driver sits in front of a tall, flat dashboard, a three-spoke steering wheel and an available 10.1-inch touchscreen angled to the left by 10 degrees. One of the new additions to the list of options is a Sleep Pack, which includes a big, removable bed platform that turns the Duster into a camper. At launch, buyers will have three powertrains to choose from. The entry-level engine is a 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine turbocharged to 130 horsepower. Working with a 48-volt mild-hybrid system, the triple spins the front wheels via a six-speed manual transmission; four-wheel drive is optional on this version. Next up is a 143-horsepower hybrid system that consists of a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine, two electric motors and an automatic transmission. Finally, an undetailed engine that's capable of burning either LPG or gasoline will be offered as well.

Dacia went dark for Black Friday

Black Friday? Feh. That pretty much sums up the attitude about the hyped-up “holiday” from the marketing folks at Dacia, the Renault-owned budget brand sold in the UK. To anti-celebrate the shopping chaos for a day, Dacia last Friday shut down its online sales site in Britain and its car configurator and posted this explainer, “because at Dacia we offer value all year round.” To emphasize the point, the note adds, “ItÂ’s no big deal!” Overseas, Dacia sells budget branded vehicles such as the Sandero supermini and the Duster SUV. “At Dacia, Black Friday is just a normal Friday,” said Luke Broad, DaciaÂ’s director in the UK, as reported in CarScoops. “Shutting down our online sales for the day is a bold move but it does show our commitment to being the UKÂ’s number one car manufacturer for value. This is a way to put our money where our mouth is." The company has also placed radio ads that just play "relaxing" sounds so that consumers can “tune out of the Black Friday noise.” The concept of Black Friday attracts a mixed reception in Britain, where Thanksgiving is usually only celebrated by expatriate Americans living there. In fact, the automaker said that research it commissioned indicated that 70 percent of Britons believed that Black Friday was a gimmick, even though more than half of those surveyed said that they still use it as an excuse to shop for Christmas gifts. “Black Friday can easily lead consumers to overspend on products they donÂ’t need – which isnÂ’t what Dacia is about,” said Broad. He pointed out that retailers will often use tricks like raising the price of an item for a few weeks before they cut prices on Black Friday, or theyÂ’ll offer deals on items limited in stock to then upsell consumers to different products with a greater profit margin. Marketing/Advertising Car Buying Renault SUV

Authorities believe this Renault Clio Campus was struck by a meteorite

Imagine calling your car's insurance company to declare potential meteorite damage. It's unlikely to happen, but that's exactly the phone call that the owner of a Renault Clio Campus in Strasbourg, France, had to make after finding a giant hole in the little hatchback's roof panel. The incident took place on November 20, 2023, according to French newspaper Le Figaro, and the impact left a roughly 20-inch hole in the Clio's roof. What happened wasn't initially clear: Firefighters were dispatched to the scene to investigate "a smoking car." They quickly ruled out a fire and vandalism and after a great deal of head scratching decided the hole was probably caused by an "astronomical body." It's not just the roof panel that was damaged. Whatever caused the hole was traveling fast enough to also go through the hatchback's floor and fuel tank. Radioactivity tests came back negative, luckily, but part of what's stumping investigators is that the object wasn't in the car. "Either it's so small that we can't find it, or the impact was so strong that the object disintegrated and turned to dust," Matthieu Colobert, the captain of the firefighting team dispatched to the scene, told Le Figaro. There may be one promising lead: A representative for the local police department told the publication that his team found a "chestnut-sized rock that's light and that looks like burnt wood" near the car. The rock was sent to a lab in Paris, where researchers will try to determine whether it punctured the Clio and, crucially, whether it came from space. While this might initially sound far-fetched, the officer pointed out that "even a marble traveling very quickly can cause damage." As you'd expect, the news spurred a diverse selection of reactions on various social media platforms. Some users claim to have seen or heard the object traveling through the sky, while one guessed that someone accidentally dropped a Nokia 3310 from a nearby balcony. Meteorite strikes thankfully aren't common but they're not unheard of. One of the most famous incidents happened in 1992, when a 27-pound, football-shaped rock hit a 1980 Chevrolet Malibu at about 164 mph in New York. The owner bought the car for $400 and sold it for $25,000 shortly after the impact, and she later sold the meteorite for $50,000. The sedan has been displayed in several museums since. There's no word yet on whether the Clio Campus (a model lurking at the bottom of its depreciation curve) will skyrocket in value as well.

Renault Twingo EV concept is here to soothe your 1990s nostalgia

Renault has revealed what's next for the Twingo nameplate: a return to its roots. Previewed by a concept, the fourth generation of the city car will make its debut in the not-too-distant future with a heritage-laced design, an electric drivetrain, and a relatively affordable price. In a way, the Twingo concept is a wake-up call for 30-somethings like your author: You know you're not all that young anymore when a car you remember from your childhood spawns a retro-styled offshoot. The original Twingo made its debut at the 1992 edition of the Paris auto show, and it clearly influenced the concept created to preview the fourth-generation car. The LED headlights echo the ones found on the original model, though they're far more futuristic-looking, and the three hood vents have been turned into a display that shows the battery's state of charge. The wheelbase looks much longer than the original's, a concession made to carve out space for four doors and a battery. Out back, it's a mixed bag. The overall shape, with a kink near the middle, is almost more reminiscent of the second-generation Twingo built from 2007 to 2014 than of the first-generation car. The lights are vaguely first-generation-like, while the inspiration for the window seemingly came from the world of ski goggles. Alloy wheels styled like the 13-inch hubcaps fitted to early examples of the first Twingo wrap up the look. Renault focused on the concept's exterior design and had little to say about the interior or the powertrain. All we know at this stage is that the production model, like the concept, will be entirely electric. The brand hopes to launch the car with a base price of under ˆ20,000 (about $21,700 at the current conversion rate) so we're expecting the model will go on sale with a small battery and a corresponding short range. An interesting detail is that the fourth-generation Twingo is being developed to take on a growing list of cheap, Chinese-built EVs. Renault pledged to slash the development time (and, consequently, the development budget) in half to keep costs in check. It plans to undercut its western rivals, too. Ironically, one of the more common Chinese-built EVs on French roads is the Spring sold by Renault-owned Dacia. More details about the fourth-generation Renault Twingo will emerge in the coming months, and the model could land in showrooms across Europe in late 2025 or early 2026.

Renault keeps 15% stake in Nissan, transfers majority of shares to French trust

Renault and Nissan completed a landmark deal to rebalance their 24-year-long alliance, paving the way for a new relationship after years of acrimony between the two partners. The automakers on Wednesday announced the creation of a French trust to which Renault transferred 28.4% of Nissan shares. The companies first disclosed plans for the trust in January. Renault Group and Nissan now have a cross-shareholding of 15% with lock-up and standstill obligations, the companies and junior alliance partner Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said in a statement. Renault managers in recent weeks have reiterated that staff should no longer share information with their Nissan counterparts, according to people familiar with the situation, after the French carmaker announced in September that aspects of the alliance would be unwound by year-end.  Taken together with the deal to equalize their cross-shareholdings at 15%, the developments are the clearest indications yet that members of one of the world’s biggest automotive tie-ups are increasingly going their separate ways. Renault told employees in September it was moving away from common structures with Nissan in favor of a new, project-by-project approach to working together. The dissolution of the companiesÂ’ joint purchasing organization means the two will no longer pool information on a regular basis due to antitrust concerns. The sell-down of shares held by the trustee will be coordinated with Nissan, which will have the right of first offer to purchase the stock. The trust will have no obligation to sell the shares within a specific or pre-determined period of time. The new alliance deal presented to investors in London in February followed months of tense negotiations that nearly collapsed late last year due to sticking points on intellectual property and disagreement over the valuation of RenaultÂ’s electric-vehicle and software arm Ampere, in which Nissan has agreed to invest. The alliance dates back to 1999, when Renault rescued Nissan with a cash injection and the two formed one of the biggest auto partnerships in the industry. Rivalries and mutual suspicion mounted over the years and came to a head when former leader Carlos Ghosn openly contemplated merging the two companies, contributing to his downfall.