Renault Alpine A110-50

As we reported earlier this week, the Renault Alpine A110-50 prototype will be shown at the 2012 Monaco Grand Prix this weekend. Designed by Yann Jarsalle and Concept and Show Car Director Axel Breun the A110-50 effectively relaunches the historic Alpine brand despite being essentially a reworked version of the Renault-branded DeZir concept unveiled at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. As well as the addition of various Alpine design cues – the stylized yellow spot lamp pods, central hood flute and blue and orange colorway – the car is built on the platform of the RenaultSport Megane Trophy racecar and so therefore requires cooling provisions for its mid-mounted engine.

Henrik Fisker leaves his eponymous company

Henrik Fisker, co-founder of Fisker Automotive, has resigned from the company as Fisker seeks funding to move forward. But Henrik Fisker managed to convince the car world his Fisker Karma was credible, even if its gestation has been plagued by problems,  the latest of which has been the demise of its battery supplier – A123 Systems – and the wrecking of a dock full of seemingly uninsured Karmas by Hurricane Sandy. The current problems at Fisker has seen them seeking a new investor, with two Chinese companies – Geely and Dohnfeng – vying to take a majority stake in Fisker Automotive and help Fisker recover sales of the Karma and move on with Project Nina, the smaller Fisker Atlantic.

Denza confirmed as brand name for Daimler BYD joint venture

Denza - the JV brand of BYD and Daimler The joint venture between Mercedes (Daimler) and BYD in China is to market cars under the Denza brand. It seems to have taken a very long time for the partnership between Mercedes Benz’ parent company Daimler and China’s BYD to come up with product or even a name. Well, they’ve managed the name although we’re still not too sure what exactly they’ll be flogging.