Renault is preparing to sue Alliance & Leicester over a report on second-hand car values. The report, published in Britain, was sponsored by the former building society.
But Renault could find itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit as a result of the language used in its announcement of the legal action. The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), which compiles the monthly study, said its lawyers were writing to Renault after the car-maker criticised the work as "fatally flawed and simply inaccurate" and "badly researched and written garbage".
Renault said the study had put off new car buyers by ranking its Laguna model the best second-hand deal after three years, saying it was worth just 31 per cent of its new price.
It said it was incorrect to compare the Laguna of three years ago with the current model because the car had been completely redesigned. It also claimed that A&L accepted this principle as it had excluded other new vehicles for the same reason.
The British second-hand car values are calculated from listings in What Car? magazine and mystery shopping.
A&L said it believed the CEBR had a "robust and appropriate" methodology but it had taken the report off its website as a "pragmatic step".
Garel Rhys, director of the centre for automotive industry research at Cardiff University Business School, said second-hand value was one of the most important factors for buyers of new cars, particularly of the Laguna size. "In this segment of the market you live or die by depreciation," he said.
- Financial Times Service