The fall and rise of the budget car

Twenty years ago, the classic bargain brands like Lada seemed to be going the same way as the Soviet empire that spawned them. Woefully dated and badly made, only a weirdo would have bought a new Lada rather than a second-hand model from Ford, Vauxhall or VW. However, one of the big trends in the car industry today is the re-emergence of bargain cars.

Dacia Lodgy

Renault's budget brand, Dacia, is set to further its position as Europe's fastest growing automotive manufacturer with the introduction of the Lodgy. The five- or seven-seat MPV will be introduced at the forthcoming Geneva motorshow and promises to offer the brand's trademark qualities of value for money and robustness. Externally, there are visual links between the Lodgy and the products of its parent company, with the car sharing a similar silhouette to the Grand Scenic.

College Exhibition: RCA/GM - Fast Forward 2049

First year students at the Royal College of Art recently held an exhibition at the London Transport Museum commemorating the 40th anniversary of the school's vehicle design course. Sponsored by GM's Opel/Vauxhall division, 19 students responded to a brief that called for them to ‘Fast Forward into the Future'. Divided into three groups - Inside Out, Urban Flow and Automark - the students devised their own notions of vehicles for the year 2049, and in some cases entirely reinvented Opel brand values and aesthetics.