French president Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday that he is planning an additional monetary push for the French domestic auto industry that he hopes will boost the sagging industry. He said that the government will officially announce the measures, which are aimed at the production of efficient cars, in late January.

“We have decided to give a lift our auto industry just like other European countries have done,” Sarkozy said yesterday at a news conference in Rio de Janeiro.

“These are measures to help automakers build the cars of the future, cars that consume less energy, cars that are cleaner,” he continued.

Sarkozy said that France has invested heavily in nuclear energy and electricity and that he feels the country should help its automakers produce hybrid and electric cars. Aside from a Renault venture with Israel, French automakers have been notably quiet in the arena of vehicles powered by gasoline-electric hybrid powertrains.

Source: www.leftlanenews.com

The 2010 Peugeot 3008 has been spotted in France wearing a scant amount of camouflage, and unless Peugeot is deceiving us, it looks just like the Prologue HyMotion4 Concept from the Paris Motor Show. Updating the sheetmetal of the 4007, this crossover Pug gets a much smoother grille treatment and a combination of lines and curves out back suitable for a display at MOMA. The interior isn't revolutionary, but it's expected to offer seating for five or seven and looks like it will grasp up to consumers cross-shopping the Nissan Qashqai and VW Tiguan. Four-cylinder turbocharged engines are predicted to be sized at 1.6-liters, burning either gas or oil and driving couple wheels at launch, with a four-wheel-drive variant offered down the line. Thanks for the tip, Jackob!

[Source: Autokrata]

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It sounds as if it's ready time to get Bob Lutz some face-time with Mark LaNeve, 'cause the two men are trumpeting vastly different statements regarding the future of The General's interstellar brand. Recall that Lutz was recently quoted as saying, "It's really much better to have fewer brands, do it well and then market the hell out of them." This statement was directed squarely at the Saturn Aura, which is selling in much lower quantities than its platform-mate, the Chevy Malibu. abundant of the blame can be attributed to the fact that these two vehicles are fighting for the exact same customers, yet only the Malibu gets the big ad bucks for promotion, which is probably as it should be considering that the Malibu is GM's best and mostly recent midsize sedan.

So, what to do with Saturn in these troubled times of belt-tightening? Ditch the brand entirely? Not so fast, counters LaNeve, who recently told dealers that, "We are completely behind Saturn." Hopefully, being "behind" the brand means cutting the number of models it sells and reducing that internal competition between rival GM brands while still keeping the Saturn name alive with new and exciting – not to mention in good health marketed – products. Sounds easy, right?

[Source: CNN]

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