HARD SHOULDER:With the departure of Bill Cullen's two outlets from the ranks of Renault dealers, some customers have been asking where they can get their cars repaired under warranty in the Dublin area.
Cullen parted company from the French car firm last month and is believed to be in negotiations with another brand to replace Renault at his showrooms at Airside, in Swords, and at Liffey Valley, in west Dublin.
Renault says warranty work for its Dublin customers can be carried out at Belgard Renault, in Tallaght; customers farther north can go to Blackstone Motors, in Drogheda, Co Louth, or Joe Norris Motors, in Navan, Co Meath.
Adding to the dealer network in the city is likely to be one of the first challenges facing the new boss of Renault Ireland, Duncan Minto, who has just taken over the distribution arm from Eric Basset. Basset has moved to the car firm’s Czech arm. Minto previously worked at Renault’s operations in Paris and before that for the firm in Portugal.
McLaren supercar just weeks away
We’re getting closer and closer to seeing the new McLaren supercar, which will likely have the covers removed at this month’s Paris motor show. Known only by the codename P12, this successor to the legendary early-1990s F1 is rumoured to have more than 800bhp, using McLaren’s existing V8 turbo engine coupled to an F1-style Kers setup for overtaking boost.
Seventh heaven for Golf fans as Volkswagen reveals new model
The seventh-generation Volkswagen Golf has been revealed, and although the exterior shape is clearly a gentle evolution of the older models, Volkswagen is claiming some serious mechanical revolutions underneath.
First up, almost all models will be about 100kg lighter than the outgoing version, to the benefit of emissions, economy and dynamics. The headline figures for the 1.6 TDI diesel BlueMotion model claim 85g/km of CO2 and almost 90mpg, and that’s without a hybrid battery in sight.
VW is also claiming greater cabin and boot space and a more sophisticated cabin.
Irish prices and specs will be revealed closer to the on-sale date, in December.
Mind you, the launch comes as VW seems to be cutting its sales expectations for the year, possibly by as much as 150,000 units. Even the mighty Volkswagen is not immune from stuttering global car sales.