Aussie Motoring

It’s being reported that BMW will soon commence building 500 electric versions of it’s ever-popular Mini.

The Chairman of BMW AG is reported as saying that this small group of cars will allow BMW to gain knowledge and experience in the production of eletrically powered vehicles.

It’s believed that 490 of the electric Minis will be shipped to California where they will be leased to selected customers.

If the report is correct then BMW has joined other European manufacturers including Volkswagen, Daimler, Peugeot and Renault in taking the first tentative steps towards building a vehicle that produces zero emissions.

There’s something about French cars that appeals to me … they’re quirky and definitely fun to drive and that’s probably why I still regret selling my Peugot 404 wagon (you could crank start it) and my Renault 12 sedan - the one that was covered in paint blemishes from new but Renault never quite got round to fixing for me.

That inherent character is still around today, I mean how could you look at something as ugly as the Megane and not love it. And I guess it’s that character that made me take a second look when the promo for the new Renault Laguna arrived in my inbox.

It’s not due to arrive till much later in the year but Renault doesn’t want to surprise you by having it arrive here unannounced. The new Laguna will come with a “wide range of petrol and diesel engines” all coupled to a six-speed gearbox or a five-speed auto.  And even though the promo forgets to mention the size of the engine I think 2.0 litre is going to be the standard here.

The new Laguna comes with ABS, Electronic Brake Distribution and Emergency Brake Assist. It also comes fitted with dual side airbags the include new impact sensors that allow the bags to be deployed in half the time taken by other vehicles.

Inside the car you’ll get all the creature comforts you could want in a car. There’s an air quality system that automatically closes when it detects impurities in the air as well as dual zone climate control with three modes to keep everyone happy.

Interestingly the Laguna will also be available in a station wagon variant. You can find more information about the new Renault Laguna here

The head of Nissan has announced that the company will be launching an electric car into the US market place by 2010.

Nissan and Renault will work together on the required technology and by 2012 will have the vehicle available outside of the United States. Nissan will focus on marketing the vehicle in Asia … especially China … while Renault will sell the vehicle into the European market.

I have to admit to having a serious soft spot for French cars. My first French car was a Renault 12 sedan and my second was a Peugot 404 wagon. They were different, they were quirky and they were reliable so it’s no wonder that I still look at French cars and sometimes get the itch to buy another one.

I’m not sure though that I would buy this one simply because I’ve gone beyond the no-frills level but if it were sold here in Australia it would probably sell like hot cakes on price alone.

It’s the Renault Logan built by Renault’s subsidiary Dacia and in Europe the base model retails for around 6,000 Euros - thats about $A9,500. While many pundits in the Europe described this car as an ugly duckling when it was launched in 2004 it has certainly captured a very large share of the market.

The demand is so great that in Germany and France there’s a 6 month waiting list for the sedan and the 7 seat wagon

Renault are preparing to move into Indian market and parts of South America with both the sedan and wagon and the new van that has just been released and expects to be selling one million Renault Logans worldwide by 2010.

Will we ever see the Renault Logan in Australia? The quirky side of me certainly hopes so.

Renault Megane Coupe Cabriolet

Yesterday we started this series with one of the cheapest way for someone to get into an open topped car in Australia - a 2000 Holden Barina Cabriolet. There’s no way today’s convertible could be called ‘cheap’ but it certainly is the most unusual of all the convertibles in the ones we will be looking at over the next few days.

While all the other convertibles in our list of Australian summer cars have either metal or cloth tops the Renault Megan Coupe Cabriolet comes with something very unique - a glass roof. But then unique is nothing new to Renault

The Renault Megane Coupe Cabriolet is powered by a 2 litre 16 valve 4 cylinder motor that puts out 98 kilowatts of power. It comes fitted with fully intergrated automatic roll bars, leather trimmed upholstery plus a full range of extras.

Prices start at $48990 for the manual version and rise to $51,490 for the automatic and you can see more of it here.

When Nissan released the Tiida I had a feeling I had seen that car somewhere before. It was just one of those niggling little thoughts in the back of my mind made even more annoying because the claim from Nissan was that this was an all new design.

Well now I know why I had that feeling. Nissan in the US is quite open about the fact that the Nissan Versa (that’s what the Tiida is called in the US) is actually based on this car:

the Renault Megane.

That doesn’t mean that the Tiida is not a good car - in fact it just goes to enhance the quality of the car because Renault have been building great cars for many years.

If you want to see what the Americans think of the Versa/Tiida then click here