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Concept Car of the Week: Fiat Ecobasic

This week we're celebrating if not the most glamorous then certainly one of the most relevant concept of the last decade, the Fiat Ecobasic. The car was first shown at the 2004 Geneva motor show as Fiat investigated how to replace Giugiaro's ancient but brilliantly utilitarian Panda. The brief was: cheap to produce, cheap to own and friendly to the environment.

French government vows Renault reform after meeting with Ghosn

The French government will see to it that the individuals responsible for the now debunked Renault SA espionage affair are dealt with, the Finance and Industry ministers said in a statement. "The ministers underscored that they will pay close attention to organizational reform and individual responsibility (at Renault) based on the result of the audit," Finance minister Christine Lagarde and Industry Minister Eric Besson said in a joint statement after meeting with Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn on Thursday. The French state, which owns 15 percent of Renault, has called for a thorough investigation into discredited claims that three Renault executives were spying on the carmaker, possibly for a foreign government.

New MG: Is this the MG2?

Is this a new mini MG - the MG2? Despite it looking at one point last year as if MG – certainly in the UK – was close to biting the dust, we now know that the SAIC Roewe 550 will be made in the UK and sold throughout Europe as the MG6 in hatchback form and the MG5 as a saloon. But now we’re getting news from China that there is a mini MG in the pipeline – the MG2 – and that this car will be turning up as soon as the Beijing Motor Show as an MG and not – as is usual for SAIC – as a Roewe which then spawns an MG.