Fuel protests halt Spanish car production

By Dimitri Pesin Motoring Issues 16 June 2008 10:25 Fuel protests in Europe triggered by the soaring cost of fuel have drastically reduced car production in Spain this month.  Last week's truck blockades and fuel depot pickets in Madrid caused car plants around the country to cut production. Seat, Citroen Peugeot, Ford, Nissan, Renault and Mercedes-Benz all have factories in Spain and most said they were affected.Seat production slashed by 40 percentSeat said its main Martorell plant was operating at 40 percent capacity, with production of the Leon and Altea models severely affected. However, the protests won’t delay sales of the new Ibiza, a spokesman promised, and assembly of cars in the factory is expected to return to normal this week.

Christopher Reitz joins Riversimple

Former Alfa Romeo Director of Design, Christopher Reitz, has joined the UK-based open-source car company, Riversimple. In a statement on Riversimple's website, Reitz said: "This really is a step into something different, to design cars that really are the future. Increasingly I have felt that it does not make much sense to move tons of steel around, using a lot of fuel and resources.

Dacia Duster (2010) first official photos

By Richard Webber First Official Pictures 08 December 2009 15:50 This is our first look at the new 2010 Duster – the new economy crossover from Dacia. My memory’s a little dusty – remind me about Dacia...Dacia has been building cars in Romania since 1966, and, since a Renault takeover in 1999, has expanded to produce over half a million cars annually, built at plants across the world and sold in countries as diverse as Germany, Iran, Russia, Morocco and Colombia.Since 2004 all of its cars have been based on the company’s B0 – that's zero, not a whiffy 'O' – platform, and top sellers are the mid-sized Logan saloon and estate, and the five-door Sandero hatchback. Didn’t Dacia present a crossover concept at Geneva 2009?So you don’t see the resemblance?