Renault LeCar, page #17

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Renaultsport prepares Dacia Duster to tackle Dakar

If you've ever seen a Dacia up close, it'd probably strike you as one of the least likely vehicles to take racing. The Romanian-made vehicles (also sold as Renault models in certain markets) typically drive around a hundred horsepower to the front wheels through a five-speed gearbox and offer little more. Nor should they, really, because they're budget-oriented forms of transportation, but neither should they be taken racing. Or so you might assume, but apparently nobody has told that to the engineers at Renaultsport, who have prepared Dacias to compete at Pikes Peak, in the Andros Trophy for ice racing and at the Dakar rally.
That's where the firm's Argentinean team intends to field a pair of V6-powered Dusters next month. In fact they already entered an earlier version of the vehicle in the rally this past January, but apparently couldn't manage to finish any higher than 29th place. The Renault team is undoubtedly hoping for a better result this year, and while they haven't released any details on the vehicle's specifications, you can check it out in the video clip below.

Renault sets up full-scale Scalextric track in downtown London [w/poll]

Racing fans in the UK have been clamoring for the British Grand Prix to move from Silverstone into London proper for years, and that's almost what they'll get in June 2015 when the nascent Formula E series will race around their streets. It'll essentially amount to a full-scale Scalextric track, but though Renault will power all the cars (for the first season at least), the French automaker - which has been betting big on electric vehicles - isn't waiting around that long.
In the video below, Renault claims to have set up an actual full-scale Scalextric track around the streets of the British capital, modified a pair of Zoe electric city cars and airlifted a couple of supposed contest winners by helicopter to control the cars remotely. Is the footage real? That's doubtful. But does that make it any less fun to watch? Have a look, and then cast your vote right here.
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Renault bids fond farewell to its F1 V8

Lots of things change over time in Formula One, but its eras have largely been defined by their engine formula. The turbo era gave way to the V12, then the V10 and on to the V8 that ran its final laps at last weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix. But as it officially hands over the driveshaft to the new 1.6-liter turbo V6 that will replace it next season, Renault wants to say goodbye to the 2.4-liter V8 that has formed the backbone of the series for as many years as it has pistons.
Why Renault, you ask? Because the French manufacturer has accounted for the lion's share of the wins over the course of the past eight years. Though Renault no longer runs its own team, the prolific RS27 engine powers Red Bull, Lotus, Williams and Caterham efforts, which Renault has propelled to 59 race wins to account for 40-percent of the checkered flags of the V8 era. It's also claimed 65 pole positions, 55 quickest laps and, most notably, five driver World Championships and another five Constructors' titles.
Over the past eight years, Renaultsport has built 1,271 engines, 683 of which were used on track and another 588 on dynos. They've covered over two million kilometers (about one and a quarter million miles) and gone through over seven and a half million parts, the breakdown of which you can read in the press release below. But one thing's for sure: no matter how the next turbo/hybrid era works out, the V8 era will be one to remember - and Renault's was king of them all.

Carlos Tavares named CEO of PSA Peugeot Citro"en

Carlos Tavares is a man of ambition. As well he should be, because you don't get to the top ranks of a major industrial group without it. But as chief operating officer of Renault, there was only so far he could go in the shadow of his boss Carlos Ghosn. So with an eye toward running a major automaker, Tavares left Renault a couple of months ago, expressing his desire to run an automaker like Ford or GM. Now Tavares has gotten what he wanted, but he won't have to move to Detroit to get it. Instead he's staying right there in France as the new head of PSA Peugeot Citroën.
The move was announced at the French automaker's headquarters in Paris as PSA aims to garner investment from China, prompting current chief executive Philippe Varin to step aside (whether voluntarily or otherwise) and make room for Tavares. Varin will for the time being keep the role he's held since 2009 as Tavares joins the managing board at the start of the year before taking its reins at some point thereafter.
Although PSA and its brands Peugeot and Citroën may not register much on our radar, since they don't participate in the North American market, the French group ranks as one of the largest automakers in the world. Its sales last year placed it as the eighth biggest producer of automobiles in the world (behind Toyota, GM, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Ford, Nissan and Honda) and a couple of positions ahead of Renault. So not only is this a step up for Tavares in terms of where he sits at the table, it's also a bigger table altogether.

Renaultsport rolls out new Clio R3T rally machine

Renault may not compete with its arch-rival Citroën at the top of the World Rally Championship, but head out to any lower-level rally and you're bound to see some of its competition-spec machinery entered by privateer teams. Renaultsport offers rally teams the Twingo R2 Evo, Twingo R1 and Megane N4, and is now bolstering the Clio Renaultsport R3 with the new R3T version.
Based on the regrettably watered-down Clio RS Turbo EDC, the rally-spec R3T packs a 1.6-liter turbo four mated to a Sadev six-speed sequentail gearbox. It's also got Sachs shocks, PFC brakes and Cosworth electronics. Set to be unveiled at the Rallye du Var, which forms the final round of the Renaultsport Rally Trophy championship, the Clio R3T is scheduled for approval in the second half of 2014, after which rally teams will be able to enter it in R3-category dirt and tarmac rallies around the world. Feel free to read more in the press release below.

Mitsubishi and Renault-Nissan expand partnership, US will get new sedan

Mitsubishi and Renault-Nissan have just inked an alliance that might, hopefully, reverse the ailing fortunes of the Mitsubishi brand in the US market. The big chunk of news is that Mitsubishi will produce two Renualt-based models for sale in the US market, and that they'll be built at the Renault-Samsung factory in Busan, South Korea.
The plans call for a D-segment sedan to be followed by a C-segment offering. Based on the cars built at the Busan factory, that means Mitsubishi will be getting the SM5 and the SM3, a pair of handsome sedans that are based on Renault-Nissan's D and C platforms, respectively. These same platforms underpin a number of US market Nissans (not to mention a number of cars from Renault), namely the Pathfinder, Maxima, Quest and Murano for the D platform and the last-generation Rogue and Sentra for the C platform.
Besides the sedan production, Nissan and Mitsubishi will be expanding their joint-venture company, NMKV, which produces Kei cars for the Japanese market. A new, all-electric offering will be born from the partnership, likely based on a Kei car platform. The partnership between the three brands will also lead to increased sharing of technology, particularly relating to electric cars.

Mercedes reveals new seven-seat Citan Crewbus

Even though the commercial vehicle segment here in the US is still dominated by American automakers, Mercedes-Benz continues to be a top automaker for global work vehicles, including its recently introduced Citan. Built as a part of the Daimler-Renault alliance and sharing its design with the Renault Kangoo, the Mercedes-Benz Citan gets some notable upgrades including an optional diesel engine, available custom body conversions and a new stretched, seven-passenger model.
Going on sale next spring, the Citan Crewbus (shown above) adds a third row of seating with two seats in the back that can slide fore or aft to maximize passenger comfort, or they can be removed altogether for more cargo space. Currently, the Citan is only sold in Europe, but that will soon expand to include Asia, Chile and the Middle East. We asked a Mercedes spokesperson if there's a chance we'll ever see the Citan in the US to compete against small commercial vans like the Ford Transit Connect, Nissan NV200 and Chevrolet City Express, and the response was that there are "no plans" to do so.
Scroll down to check out the press release as well as galleries for both the new Crewbus and other variants of the 2014 Citan.

Renault unveils Duster D'etour concept in Johannesburg

Of all the international auto shows we report from and keep our eye on, Johannesburg's is not among them. And of all the social media sites we monitor for car news, Pinterest isn't usually one of them, either. But those are the venues which Renault chose to unveil the concept you see here.
Called the Détour, it's based on the Dacia Duster - which is sold in some markets, like South Africa, as a Renault. The overhaul is the outcome of a collaboration between Renault's Central European design studio and an oddly unspecified Joburg-based design studio.
Said to combine the spirits of Mad Max, Terminator and the Dakar rally, the Duster Détour features a beefed-up front brush guard with integrated lights and a rear end with LED taillights, dual exhaust tips, integrated diffuser and rear spoiler, which seem a bit incongruous for a rough-and-tumble off-roader. It's also got a two-tone gloss yellow and matte black paint job, which carries through to the wheels, and an extra set of lights mounted to the front of the roof rails.

Renault Sport F1 claims new record for pole positions

Racing is all about winning. But beyond winning, it's about records: which drivers have won the most races, which team has racked up the most titles, which country has produced the most champions, and so on. As far as Formula One constructors go, the lion's share of those titles belong to Ferrari, which has won more grands prix and championships than any other team in the sport. But Renault has just taken away one of its records.
When Mark Webber took pole position in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend, he was propelled by Renault, and in turn propelled Renault into the record books for the most pole positions by any engine manufacturer in the history of the sport. The 209 poles achieved over the French manufacturer's 36 years and 514 races in the series to date takes it one past Ferrari's record of 208.
Not only that, but Renault claims a much higher qualifying success rate: since joining the series in 1977, Renault-powered drivers have claimed 40 percent of pole positions, compared to 23 percent for Ferrari and 28 percent for Mercedes. 20 percent of those Renault poles were scored by Sebastian Vettel, with Red Bull's unprecedented 18 poles out of 19 races setting a new record in 2011.

Pope Francis receives a vintage Renault 4 to serve as Vatican wheels

Pope Francis has a new car. It's not bulletproof, it isn't made by Mercedes-Benz and it doesn't require that we attach the inglorious suffix "-mobile" to it. In fact, the Pope's new ride is a 1984 Renault 4 that fully lives up to the pontiff's recent urging that we drive "humble" vehicles.
Not that the Pope has shipped in the Renault to hammer home his point. The Renault was reportedly a gift from priest Fr. Renzo Zocca, who put some 190,000 miles on the odometer while tending to the needs of his flock in the northern Italian city of (fair) Verona. It was the car's noble role in working to help poor Italian Catholics that caused Zocca to offer it to Pope Francis in a letter, as the story goes.
Built and sold from the early 1960s thru the 1990s, the 4 may not be very well known in America, but Europeans in general (and the French in particular) are likely to understand just how humble a vehicle this is. More than eight million Renault 4s were built, sold in markets from Australia to South America, all utilizing engines that hovered around the 1.0-liter mark in terms of displacement.