Latest news with #smallcars
Reuters
23-07-2025
- Automotive
- Reuters
Renault plans to boost India production with more SUVs, exports
Bengaluru, July 23 (Reuters) - Renault ( opens new tab will add more SUV's to small cars in its model lineup in India, as the French carmaker looks to boost utilization levels at its factory and rebuild its share in the world's third-largest car market, a senior executive said. With a planned investment of $600 million, Renault aims to grow domestic sales and exports from India after taking over alliance partner Nissan Motor's (7201.T), opens new tab share in the jointly-owned plant, Venkatram Mamillapalle, Renault India's managing director, said. "We are going to go offensive on the product launches moving forward," Mamillapalle told Reuters in an interview. He said Renault would launch compact and mid-sized SUVs in India where it now sells three models - a small car Kwid, a small SUV Kiger, and a small seven-seater Triber, its top selling Indian model. While India accounts for less than 2% of Renault's global sales, it is one of five cost-competitive international hubs the carmaker is counting on to boost sales outside of its home market of Europe. Lack of new model launches and a lineup skewed towards small cars, a segment that is rapidly shrinking, has pushed Renault's share of the Indian car market to less than 1% from over 3% five years ago, industry data showed. On Wednesday, it launched Triber's refreshed version - its first launch in over four years, and the first of four new models it plans to bring to the market over the next two years. SUVs and three-row family cars made up about 65% of India's annual car sales of 4.3 million units last fiscal year. Small cars accounted for the rest, with their share shrinking from over 60% five years ago. The factory in southern India, now fully owned by Renault, runs at about 50% of its annual capacity of around 500,000 units and Mamillapalle said the carmaker counted on Indian market growth and new export markets beyond Southeast Asia and South Africa to help bring its utilisation rate to 80%-100%.
The Sun
02-07-2025
- Automotive
- The Sun
Nissan Micra reboot proves small car isn't dead… it's a million miles better than old ones & based around superb rival
NOT so long ago everyone was predicting the death of the small car. Ford Fiesta. Ford Ka. Vauxhall Adam. Vauxhall Viva. Peugeot 108. Citroen C1. Renault Twingo. Volkswagen Up! Skoda Citigo. Seat Mii 3 All popular runabouts sent to the great scrapyard in the sky. Manufacturers blamed cost, ever- tightening regulations adding even more cost, and the trend for pumped-up crossovers. Now everything is about to go full circle and I'm here for it. Renault will unveil an all-new Clio petrol hybrid shortly. To sit alongside the gorgeous battery-powered 5. Then the titchy Twingo returns as a £17K EV late next year. Volkswagen is to update Polo with a mild hybrid petrol engine – so it'll be around for much longer. Ditto Seat and Ibiza. Then VW will roll out a family of urban EV s previewed by the ID2 and ID1 concepts. ID2 will be badged ID Polo by the time it hits showrooms next summer priced from £22k – and ID1 will become Up! in 2027, costing about £17k. Vauxhall already flogs Corsa in both power types and we'll see the next one in a month or two. New Nissan Leaf tested - it's bigger, better and goes further Fiat has the brilliant 500 and box-fresh Grande Panda and there's a smaller Panda city car in the pipeline. We recently tested BYD's £19k Dolphin Surf. Lots of small, simple starter cars for everyone. Now we come to the red car you see here. Nissan Micra. Another household name rebooted for the electric age. Basically, Micra is a reskinned Renault 5 – built by Renault at the R5 factory – using the same menu of batteries, e-motors, suspension and electronics. So it drives like an R5. Feels like an R5. Goes as far as an R5. Which is fine by me. Because the R5 is a peach. So your choice is purely down to looks. Whether you prefer the retro codes of the R5 or the cheery puppy-eyed Micra. Those Micra lights 'wink' at you when you unlock the car. That thick stripe down the waistline is what Nissan's London designers call the 'ice cream scoop'. Like dragging a spoon across the surface of untouched ice cream. Yeah, whatever. It's a million miles better than the vanilla Micras of old. 3 Other observations. They've printed Mount Fuji in the centre console and boot frame, a nod to the car's Japanese heritage. But they forgot to replace the French cockerel on the windscreen. Duh. Like the R5, Micra has a twin-screen dash, Google brain, reversing camera and one simple button to switch off all the beeps and bongs the law now demands. Unlike the R5, mid-spec Micras have steering wheel paddles to adjust the levels of braking regen. So it's actually more fun to drive. The tech wasn't ready before R5 hit the road. But it will get it soon. Nissan has also done another deal with Renault for a city car based on the upcoming Twingo. Death of the small car? No, mate. There's lots of good stuff just around the corner.
Auto Blog
27-06-2025
- Automotive
- Auto Blog
These Are The Coolest Cars I Saw During My Time in Japan
Modded cars aren't everywhere, but Japan's car culture is still fascinating A couple of weeks ago, I made an epic trip to Japan for a summer family vacation. I wanted to see the iconic sites and devour the local cuisine (minus the fugu, of course), but I also had my eye out for the cars the Japanese people drove. I told my kids they would see vehicles not sold in America, and it would make them realize that there's more out there in the automotive world than they would've imagined. My expectation was not to find slammed Hondas everywhere, nor did I expect to see everyone driving a Kei truck. The Japanese are pragmatic, but they also love their cars. We spent a few days in Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara, and these are just a handful of the vehicles I saw while I was there. What constitutes big in Japan? Osaka and Kyoto aren't as crowded as Tokyo, but space is a commodity in both cities, and vehicles are reflective of that reality. What I discovered was a preponderance of small cars and far fewer SUVs than in America (isn't this the case in just about every foreign country when compared to the U.S?). I found that there were more vans than SUVs, and my estimation is that they were more roomy and practical. Americans eschew minivans and opt for less spacious SUVs. The type of vans in Japan is also indicative of the need to make the most of vehicle interiors when buying a bigger automobile. The luxurious and weird-looking Toyota Alphard and Vellfire boxy vans were on virtually every street we crossed, and they look that way in order to maximize interior space (granted, some of the exterior styling cues make for a garish look both coming and going). There weren't many midsize or larger SUVs around, aside from off-road vehicles like the popular Toyota Land Cruiser. Mind you, we never saw the new, boxier Land Cruiser that's growing in popularity here. The vast majority of the ones we ran across were the Land Cruiser Prado you see above, and for those who might go off-road, it makes sense. It's just not practical to drive a big SUV on Japanese streets, especially when there's no real-world justification to drive something so large because they don't maximize interior space. Autoblog Newsletter Autoblog brings you car news; expert reviews and exciting pictures and video. Research and compare vehicles, too. Sign up or sign in with Google Facebook Microsoft Apple By signing up I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . You may unsubscribe from email communication at anytime. Once in a while, we would see a smaller three-row SUV like the Peugeot 5008 Hybrid/PHEV above. We also hardly saw any pickup trucks. Kei trucks were far more prevalent. Compact SUVs were almost non-existent. Again, these aren't big inside, so they're not nearly as popular in Japan as vans or little Kei cars. We also observed that there weren't many non-Japanese vehicles. I saw late-model Camaros a couple of times, an occasional Tesla, and a few Jeep Wranglers, but Japanese models seemed to account for the vast majority of passenger vehicles. In America, imported vehicles account for as much as 55 percent of the market. To see so many Japanese cars on the streets is almost shocking, but it does make sense. Small cars prevail on the streets of Japan It should come as no surprise that Kei cars are quite literally everywhere. These tiny Japanese Kei vehicles are limited by size, engine capacity, and power output to reduce the cost of ownership. Whereas small cars in America can look dumpy (Hyundai Venue, Mitsubishi Mirage), the ones on the streets of Japan are cool/cute, not unlike many of the 'kawaii' (cute) characters found everywhere. It's hip to be square, and like the boxy vans in Japan, these Kei cars maximize the interior space. They're more like tiny SUVs than they are hatchbacks, although you will find more rounded hatchbacks, too. Kei cars like the Mitsubishi eK X Super Height wagon and the Honda N-Box can be found on every block in Osaka. Parking spaces are tight, and you can see how much smaller a Kei car footprint is next to an already small Honda Fit. Whether you have a garage or a back alley parking space, a super-small Kei car is the right choice for getting around urban environments and finding parking wherever you can. We grew fond of these models and wish we had one to helm on short errands here, where it would likely get swallowed by a Hummer EV or even a Ford F-150. Kei cars are a brilliant solution to crowded city living, and they look pretty good, too. The sportier side of Japanese automobiles Even compared to America, where high-powered sports cars like the Chevy Corvette Stingray or the Mustang GT aren't very common, sports cars in Japan are even rarer. Again, it's not like the set of a Fast and Furious movie where every other car is a modded Civic or Integra. Now that we think of it, we didn't see a single one of those types of cars during our week in Japan. You're more likely to see smaller sporty cars like a Daihatsu Copen or a Honda S660 roadster because they're a better fit in urban environments and are less costly to own. The variety of small sports cars in Japan is very appealing. Low cost of entry, manual transmissions, taut chassis, and easy dimensions make them better suited for crowded city streets and small parking spaces. They also support the notion that it's better to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow. There were some rare sightings like a red Nissan Skyline R34 parked in the shopping district of Oskak and a first-generation Acura NSX parked outside a Montbell store in Nara, two cars I would love to have in my driveway. However, dedicated, high-powered sports cars are a rarity. A Ford Mustang GT350 and a Dodge Challenger were the only American muscle cars we saw on our trip. We saw a couple of Lexus RC coupes but no Nissan Zs or Toyota Supras to speak of. Final thoughts Japanese cars in Japan are a different breed from what we get here, and they're all the more special because of it. The car-buying mindset and driver needs are also vastly different from what we know in America. What sells well here would never take off in Japan. It's great to see small cars thrive there, and it's vital to understand why some big vehicles like boxy passenger vans sell so well in Japan. We loved our time there, and we wish some of the smaller automotive fare in Japan were available for us stateside, but that's a wish that will never come true. About the Author Amos Kwon View Profile
Reuters
20-06-2025
- Automotive
- Reuters
Fearing China's small car rivals, Stellantis, Renault lobby EU for fewer rules
PARIS, June 20 (Reuters) - With Chinese automakers pushing into Europe, Stellantis and Renault are lobbying for a new, less-regulated category of small cars with fewer safety features, making them cheaper to build. Over the last two months, Stellantis ( opens new tab Chairman John Elkann and Renault ( opens new tab CEO Luca de Meo have engaged in a rare public campaign to get the European Union to consider the matter. The aim is to revive a small car segment largely abandoned by Europe's automakers as such models were unprofitable, a problem they blame on regulations that make the vehicles larger, heavier and more expensive. Elkann last week said Europe needs its own version of Japan's "kei cars", small, urban vehicles with size and engine restrictions that enjoy lower tax and insurance costs - which he said could be called the "e-car". "There's no reason why if Japan has a kei car, which is 40% of the market, Europe should not have an e-car," he said at an event in Turin, echoing similar comments in a joint editorial with Renault's de Meo published last month. Though de Meo is set to leave Renault in July, the company is expected to maintain its support for the proposal. "Small cars are a pocket of growth one cannot, and must not, ignore right now," said Francois Provost, Renault's director of procurement, partnerships, and public affairs. Chinese rivals have so far focused on larger EVs and hybrids in their bid for market share in Europe, but smaller EVs are on the way. The Dolphin Surf from China's BYD ( opens new tab hit the market one month ago, priced from under 20,000 euros ($23,124) with features such as a rotating large touch screen and anti-steam rear mirrors. By comparison, the Renault 5, which is similar though can carry one more passenger, costs almost 5,000 euros more when similarly equipped. Facing that pressure, European manufacturers are examining the potential for cheaper cars to help them boost sales and achieve their CO2 targets, said Flavien Neuvy, auto analyst and head of research firm Cetelem. "The market is down 20% compared with 2019, so there is not enough volume for everyone, and the Chinese are coming," he said. Though small cars currently account for just 5% of the market, they made up as much as half the market in the 1980s, and the segment could rebound with more launches, said S&P Global, which estimates sales could reach 600,000 by 2030, up about 20% from last year. The lobbying effort targets the EU's General Safety Regulations 2 (GSR2), which mandates safety features such as side airbags, sensors detecting whether a driver is falling asleep, lane-crossing warning, and more thorough crash tests. Such requirements and European rules on pollution add between 850 and 1,400 euros ($983-$1,607) to the cost of a car, estimates a source familiar with the lobbying. Lobbyists argue there is no need for safety requirements like those for high-speed collisions when it comes to small cars designed for city drivers. Backed by industry group the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), they want an entirely new vehicle category called M0, or e-car. The European Commission is looking into the matter, said spokesperson Lea Zuber. Revamping requirements for smaller cars without compromising on safety will be complex and will not necessarily be implemented, said people familiar with the discussions. And whether less-regulated models could compete against Chinese EVs also remains to be seen. Matthew Avery, director of strategic development at Euro NCAP, which tests new cars for safety, said the idea that small city cars would not be involved in highway accidents is nonsense. The Chinese are bringing cars to Europe that consistently get five-star ratings from Euro NCAP, said Avery. Although its ratings do not carry legal weight, consumers take them into account and many corporate fleets will not buy cars with less than five stars. A change in regulations to cut some safety requirements could leave smaller European cars with two- or three-star ratings, Avery said. "If they want to, they can de-spec a car for safety," Avery said, but noted Euro NCAP's tests and safety ratings will remain unchanged. "Our job is just to say, well, this car is safer than that car." Emmanuel Bret, deputy head of BYD France, says the company will continue offering small cars that meet all current EU regulations and that blaming the bloc for making them unaffordable is just "a lot of excuses". "Let customers choose," Bret said. ($1 = 0.8714 euros)
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Analysis-Fearing China's small car rivals, Stellantis, Renault lobby EU for fewer rules
By Gilles Guillaume PARIS (Reuters) -With Chinese automakers pushing into Europe, Stellantis and Renault are lobbying for a new, less-regulated category of small cars with fewer safety features, making them cheaper to build. Over the last two months, Stellantis Chairman John Elkann and Renault CEO Luca de Meo have engaged in a rare public campaign to get the European Union to consider the matter. The aim is to revive a small car segment largely abandoned by Europe's automakers as such models were unprofitable, a problem they blame on regulations that make the vehicles larger, heavier and more expensive. Elkann last week said Europe needs its own version of Japan's "kei cars", small, urban vehicles with size and engine restrictions that enjoy lower tax and insurance costs - which he said could be called the "e-car". "There's no reason why if Japan has a kei car, which is 40% of the market, Europe should not have an e-car," he said at an event in Turin, echoing similar comments in a joint editorial with Renault's de Meo published last month. Though de Meo is set to leave Renault in July, the company is expected to maintain its support for the proposal. "Small cars are a pocket of growth one cannot, and must not, ignore right now," said Francois Provost, Renault's director of procurement, partnerships, and public affairs. Chinese rivals have so far focused on larger EVs and hybrids in their bid for market share in Europe, but smaller EVs are on the way. The Dolphin Surf from China's BYD hit the market one month ago, priced from under 20,000 euros ($23,124) with features such as a rotating large touch screen and anti-steam rear mirrors. By comparison, the Renault 5, which is similar though can carry one more passenger, costs almost 5,000 euros more when similarly equipped. Facing that pressure, European manufacturers are examining the potential for cheaper cars to help them boost sales and achieve their CO2 targets, said Flavien Neuvy, auto analyst and head of research firm Cetelem. "The market is down 20% compared with 2019, so there is not enough volume for everyone, and the Chinese are coming," he said. Though small cars currently account for just 5% of the market, they made up as much as half the market in the 1980s, and the segment could rebound with more launches, said S&P Global, which estimates sales could reach 600,000 by 2030, up about 20% from last year. 'A LOT OF EXCUSES' The lobbying effort targets the EU's General Safety Regulations 2 (GSR2), which mandates safety features such as side airbags, sensors detecting whether a driver is falling asleep, lane-crossing warning, and more thorough crash tests. Such requirements and European rules on pollution add between 850 and 1,400 euros ($983-$1,607) to the cost of a car, estimates a source familiar with the lobbying. Lobbyists argue there is no need for safety requirements like those for high-speed collisions when it comes to small cars designed for city drivers. Backed by industry group the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), they want an entirely new vehicle category called M0, or e-car. The European Commission is looking into the matter, said spokesperson Lea Zuber. Revamping requirements for smaller cars without compromising on safety will be complex and will not necessarily be implemented, said people familiar with the discussions. And whether less-regulated models could compete against Chinese EVs also remains to be seen. Matthew Avery, director of strategic development at Euro NCAP, which tests new cars for safety, said the idea that small city cars would not be involved in highway accidents is nonsense. The Chinese are bringing cars to Europe that consistently get five-star ratings from Euro NCAP, said Avery. Although its ratings do not carry legal weight, consumers take them into account and many corporate fleets will not buy cars with less than five stars. A change in regulations to cut some safety requirements could leave smaller European cars with two- or three-star ratings, Avery said. "If they want to, they can de-spec a car for safety," Avery said, but noted Euro NCAP's tests and safety ratings will remain unchanged. "Our job is just to say, well, this car is safer than that car." Emmanuel Bret, deputy head of BYD France, says the company will continue offering small cars that meet all current EU regulations and that blaming the bloc for making them unaffordable is just "a lot of excuses". "Let customers choose," Bret said. ($1 = 0.8714 euros) Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
