Dacia's UK launch postponed

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 19 June 2008 12:31 Renault has pulled the UK launch of its budget brand, Dacia. It had planned to launch the cheap 'n' cheerful badge in the UK in February 2009, but that's now gone back a year, the company announced today. CAR was due to drive the Sandero – the UK launch model – in July 2008, but PRs today took the unusual step of ringing the media to cancel the event.

“Where is the sustainable vehicle design?”

The notion of a 'new paradigm in car design' was a theme running through talks by five panelists at London's Royal College of Art last week, who debated "Seriously now, where is the sustainable vehicle design?" Despite disparate backgrounds, there was broad agreement that a truly sustainable form of personal transportation is unlikely to come from an established automotive firm any time soon. Panelist Rob Holdway of Giraffe Innovation was most vocal in his approach to the subject, saying "Frankly, I think the car is unacceptable - we hear a lot about the sustainable car, but I don't think there is such a thing as a sustainable car". The audience - made up mainly of RCA students - also heard from Nico Sergent of Riversimple about how the company's seven-point business model, and its open source strategy, incentivized the company to build a truly sustainable car and mobility package that the current auto model simply doesn't allow.

Lexus future products: Sedans will be redone by spring 2013

Lexus sales have slipped behind BMW and Mercedes-Benz this year, but the next few years will show what kind of counterpunch Toyota's luxury brand can deliver. The passenger-car lineup will be made over by the spring of 2013, as the GS, ES, IS and LS sedans will all be either redesigned or re-engineered. But there are challenges.