Renault Alpine A110-50's Run at the Monaco GP

Aside from Mark Webber's stunning win, Renault had another reason to celebrate in Monaco this past weekend as the French firm introduced the new Alpine A110-50 Concept to mark the 50th anniversary of its legendary mid-engined sports car. The presentation took place on the eve of the Monaco Grand Prix, with Renault's Chief Operating Officer Carlos Tavares wearing his race suit to drive the 400-horsepower, mid-engined racer around the Circuit de Monaco.
Speaking to French journalists during the media presentation, Tavares admitted that Renault is indeed considering to revive the Alpine brand with a final decision to be taken "before the end of the year".
"There's at least a 50 percent chance of that happening [the re-launch of Alpine] with the introduction of a single model to begin with, priced between 30,000 and 100,000 euros (US$37,000 to US$125,000)," said Tavares, according to the AFP.
The Renault boss added that if the Alpine sub-brand gets the green light, it will have a new model ready in "three to five years".

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Renault's Quirky Pure-Electric Twizy

Renault has never been the one to shy away from eccentric creations (remember the Avantime?) but the new Twizy certainly takes quirkiness one-step further as it looks like the odd pairing of a golf kart with a motorcycle offering seating for two in a tandem layout while riding on four wheels. Revealed as a concept for the first time at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, Renault surprised us a year later with the presentation of the production model in Paris. Now, the Twizy is available in European showrooms including Britain where it went on sale today. 
 
The 2.34 metres long by 1.24 metres wide two-seater model is available in three trim levels (Urban, Colour and Technic) and two power variants.
The lower powered Twizy 45 (5hp) with a top speed of 28mph (45km/h) was not originally planned for the UK market, however, the company said that due to recent confirmation that a new category of European licence for 16 year olds and over comes into effect in Britain from January 2013, it is now "studying its sales potential". 
 
The regular Twizy is motivated by a 13kW (17hp) electric motor with a limited top speed of around 50 mph (80km/h). Its battery can be recharged using a standard three-pin plug in three and a half hours, which costs around £1 (depending on the energy supplier) and provides a driving range of around 60 miles (close to 100 kilometers).
Pricing for the 17hp Urban model starts at £6,690 (€8,100 or US$10,700), however, that does not including the battery which Renault leases for a monthly fee of £45 (€54 or US$72) including VAT for a 36 month/4,500 miles (7,240 kilometers) per year agreement.

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New Renault Talisman Sedanlooks like Samsung SM7 !!

The good thing with owning several brands across the world is that you can market the same products under different names, in different countries. Renault has done this several times with a number of Samsung and Dacia models and will continue the practice with its new Talisman sedan. The French automaker released a single teaser image of the Talisman, which borrows its name from Renault's 2001 luxury concept car and will make its world premiere at the Beijing Motor Show in China on April 23.
Renault said it would launch the sedan model in China to "boost its image", but didn't share any more information.
Nevertheless, a quick look through our archives reveals that the Talisman is a rebadged version of the Samsung SM7 sedan that was introduced into the South Korean automaker's domestic market in August of 2011.
In South Korea, the SM7 can be specified with two Nissan-sourced V6 engines, a 2.5-liter unit producing 190HP and 243Nm (179.3 lb-ft) and a 3.5-liter powerplant churning out 258HP and 330Nm (243.4 lb-ft).
Other Samsung models offered by Renault are the Koleos (based on the QM5) and the Latitude (based on the SM5).

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Dacia Lodgy Minivan Concept

Today, the Renault Group's Dacia brand has as much to do with sports cars as the Nissan GT-R powered Duster racer has in common with its production namesake. But things change and there's always the possibility that the Romanian automaker may gain a little love from the French firm's Renault Sport division sometime in the future.
Which brings us to this rendering made by Khalil Bouguerra from Virtual-Car. The artist proposes a sporty package for Dacia's newly revealed Lodgy MPV appropriately named DS for 'Dacia Sport'. It includes a lowered body, different bumpers, door mounted mirrors, beefy alloy wheels and a tweaked front grille.
We could complete the fantasy flight with the Megane RS's high-revving 2.0-liter four banger while keeping the basic model's price, but back here on earth, if Renault were ever to produce such a model, something in the likes of a smaller displacement turbo'd petrol would sound more reasonable.
Pictures of both the rendered and the regular Lodgy people carrier follow after the break.

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F 1: Australian GP Qualifying Results

At the inaugural race of every Formula 1 season you never really know where each team stands in terms of performance. Sure, there are the favorites, the also-runs, the back markers and oftentimes, the wild cards. Well, the qualifying race of the Australian Grand Prix that kicked off this year's F1 season certainly had all of the above. But not necessarily in the way most seasoned F1 fans might have expected.
Lewis Hamilton claimed the 20th pole position of his career and Jenson Button lined up right beside him, making it an all-McLaren front row. Not too surprising, as despite the fact that Sebastian Vettel took most pole positions last year, the McLarens had proved to be very fast during testing.
“It’s an incredible feeling to get off to such a good start”, said Hamilton. His team-mate Button added, “Obviously, this is only the beginning, but I think we have done a good job this winter and we have proved that today.”
For the rest of the official qualifying session, it’s hard to say which was the biggest surprise.
Romain Grosjean, who many mistake as a rookie, has in fact raced in F1 with Renault, albeit his last event was in 2009. Nevertheless, he brought Lotus to third position, justifying many like Red Bull Racing’s Christian Horner who believe that Lotus could be this year’s outsider.
Unfortunately, Horner’s own drivers were clearly off the pace compared to the McLarens. Mark Webber recorded the fifth fastest lap, despite facing a KERS malfunction, while reigning champion Sebastian Vetell was sixth.
Michael Schumacher posted his best qualifying result since his 2011 return to Formula 1 by claiming fourth place. The seven-time world champion was happy with the performance of the Mercedes W03: “Our performance is a huge step forward, considering where we were in qualifying here last year”, said the German referring to his 2011 start from 11th place.
If Ferrari thought that last year’s performance was a fluke and 2012 will signal a return to form, they might have to reconsider. Fernando Alonso spun on Q2 and did not make it to Q3! So he will start from 12th place, while Felipe Massa was a second slower than his teammate and ended up 17th.
Apparently, Scuderia’s technical director Pat Fry was simply being candid when he said that the Ferrari’s performance is way off the pace setters.
Team principal Stefano Domenicali commented: “I understand that at the moment our fans are disappointed but I would urge them to be cautious before making any definitive judgment. We have a lot of work to do and our engineers are well aware of that, as indeed they were before even leaving for Melbourne.”
With the two HRT’s being disqualified for failing, for the second year in a row in Melbourne to achieve a lap time within 107 percent of pole position, as mandated by the rules, 22 drivers will start tomorrow’s race.

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