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And the news alerts from the upcoming Paris auto salon keep coming in. This time we have the first images of the refreshed Renault Laguna lift-back and Sports Tourer models that will join the European-spec Latitude flagship sedan and whatever else the French firm has in store for us at this year’s Paris show.

The facelift includes a redesign of the Laguna’s fascia with new eyelashed headlamps and a restyled bumper incorporating a more prominent grille.

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Renault is one of the key players in the Russian automobile industry. Since 2005, in partnership with the Government of Moscow (Avtoframos), it has successfully developed its production facilities in the country and in 2008, Renault became the strategic partner of AvtoVAZ. The alliance between Renault-Nissan and AvtoVAZ plans to capture 40% of the Russian market by 2015.

Renault has ranked as the number-four brand in Russia since April and its market share has risen to 5.3%, with 50,801 cars sold in the first seven months of this year. Logan has maintained its position as Russia’s top-selling imported car.

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Emulating the success of their national football team on Sunday in South Africa, it was Spain again, this time in the form of Ana and Manuel, who won Renault’s four-week road trip across Europe, “Very Good Trip”. In winning the tough contest, the couple walked away with the keys to both a New Mégane Coupé-Cabriolet and a Wind Roadster.
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French car makers have a long and honourable history of making small, inexpensive cabriolets. Everyman dropheads that we could all dream about.

Renault’s Fifties Floride, par example? Strange looking, it’s true, but even today, the idea of driving the sunny Riviera with Brigitte Bardot in the Floride’s passenger seat, seems irrisistible.

But styles shift like sand banks in winter and these days a steel-folding roof is de riguer for a largely suburban cabriolet market.

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Renault’s supermini-based hot hatch Clio Cup uses a strong engine and excellent handling to edge ahead of the competition.

In the world of the hot hatch, Renault – or more precisely, the French firm’s tuning division “Renaultsport” – has reigned supreme in recent years.

In its RS Megane 250 it has a match for Ford’s mighty Focus RS, while the perky little Twingo 133 city car caters for buyers who demand that their sprightly performance comes with a lightweight price tag.

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