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Renault and Caterham to develop affordable sports cars

Renault and Caterham are to join forces to create new, more affordable sports cars under the Alpine badge. The two groups will establish a jointly owned new group – Société des Automobiles Alpine Caterham – under the leadership of Bernard Ollivier and will develop models to be sold as both Renault Alpine and Caterham. Tony Fernandes, Caterham Group Chairman, said: "We know the markets we are going into and, particularly in my playground in Asia, there is a huge opportunity to replicate the AirAsia model and give consumers access to exciting, affordable products that marry our interests in F1 and technology and help make their dreams come true." At this year's Monaco Grand Prix Renault unveiled the Alpine A110-50 concept, which was seen as a relaunch of the brand despite it being essentially a reworked version of the Renault-branded DeZir concept from the 2010 Paris Motor Show.

UK car manufacturing hits six-year high in 2013

UK car manufacturing hits six-year high in 2013 The car market in Europe may have been a painful place in 2013, but that hasn’t stopped UK car manufacturing continuing to grow, with 2013 delivering a total of 1,509,762 cars – the highest total since 2007 and up 3.1 per cent on 2012. That impressive total is made up from a wide variety of car manufacturers, from the volume producers like Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan, Toyota and MINI to smaller sales volume from supercar makers Aston Martin. In fact the rate of growth and investment is so strong – moire than £2.5 billion in investment announcements in 2013 – that the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) are reporting that analysts believe the UK’s car manufacturing could break all-time records in the next four years.

New Routemaster bus hits London streets

The very first new Routemaster hybrid bus began its first day of service in London today. The bus, whose exterior and interior were designed by Londoner Thomas Heatherwick, retains the distinct character of the old Routemaster – British as the London taxi and red telephone boxes – but is far more modern in its design and construction. The new Routemaster's main design features are its three sets of doors and two staircases, which it is hoped will ease the strain during rush hour in regards to alighting and entering the bus.