Archive for the ‘France’ Category

In America, we tend to think of Renault as that wacky French outfit responsible for the Le Car craze of the 1970s and 80s. But in fact, the company has been doing some very interesting work on the EV front, thanks largely to its partnership with Nissan. In that vein, Renault recently launched a website dedicated to "zero emission mobility" -- in other words, minimizing pollution while maintaining our ability to go anywhere we damn well please. No matter how you feel about EVs and the green movement, it's hard to argue with that, right? Here's a clip from the monthly magazine portion of the website, which includes a brief look at the "spa...

The ZOE Z.E. concept car stems from a curious collaboration between French automaker Renault and luxury skincare company Biotherm (a division of L'Oreal). The ZOE Z.E. offers the usual complement of EV conceptual goodness -- it's battery-powered, boasts zero-emissions, is quickly rechargeable, and makes use of solar power -- but it also has a handful of spa-like amenities, including a hydrating a/c system.

Our fave feature, however, would have to be the car's aromatherapeutic element:  "An electric system diffuses essential oils, exclusive active substances adapted to the needs of the driver: dynamic in the morning, relaxing coming home...

Proving once again that juvenile governmental feuds aren't solely the province of the New York state legislature or the South Korean parliament, the mayors of two Parisian suburbs have installed contradictory street signage just make a point -- and to make drivers furious.

In a nutshell: the conservative mayor of Levallois-Perret was tired of traffic clogging up his boulevards, so he converted one of the area's primary thoroughfares into a one-way street, with traffic pointed directly into the adjacent neighborhood of Clichy-la-Garenne. This didn't sit well with the mayor of Clichy-la-Garenne, who is, as it turns out, a socialist; he...