THIS IS the new Renault Megane III, due for launch at the Paris Motor show later this year, and arriving in Ireland for sales in 2009. The new car was spotted in public in the US during a video shoot.
The firm has been very secretive about its new car, and earlier this month, French prosecutors raided the Paris offices of car magazine Auto Plusafter they published images and information on the new car. Computers were seized and a journalist arrested.
"You have to think what kind of press we want," Laurent Chiapello, editor of Auto Plussaid after prosecutors raided the magazine's offices.
The incident is the latest flare-up in a perennial conflict between the motoring press and carmakers eager to control images of their new models.
Authorities have been conducting an investigation against Auto Plusafter Renault complained that the magazine had published pictures and details of the new Megane.
Two of the country's biggest journalists' unions, SNJ and the press section of Force Ouvriere have complained about the raids. "It's intolerable that journalists should be treated like criminals when they are just doing their job of informing the public," SNJ said.
Renault said: "The idea is not to attack Auto Plusbut to cut off the sources that feeds it, to find the source in-house."
The new Megane III is a significant design step from the current model. It will be offered in 3- and 5-door hatchback guise, with other versions (saloon, coupe, convertible, station wagon and probably crossover body-styles) to follow.
Built on the same platform as the Nissan Qashqai, it will take on the likes of the Peugeot 308, Fiat Bravo and the new VW Golf, also due for launch this autumn.
(additional reporting: Reuters)
