+++ Renault-Nissan is to acquire a majority stake in AVTOVAZ, the Russian state car maker that produces Lada cars. As part of the development, Renault-Nissan will update all core Lada models and launch new cars from all three brands in Russia. 5 models will be built at Avtovaz’s revamped factory in Togliatti, south west Russia, which has a capacity of almost one million cars per year. The deal will allow Renault-Nissan to take advantage of Russian’s economic strength. It has the fastest-growing economy in Europe and should remain in the forefront for several decades, with car and light van sales expected to grow from 2.65m last year to 2.9m in 2012. The Renault-Nissan Alliance sold 878,990 cars in Russia last year, including 578,387 Ladas. With a market share of nearly 33 per cent, Russia is the Alliance’s third largest market after China and the United States. However, Avtovaz has been phasing out the so-called 'classic' Ladas that it still builds, such as the venerable 2104 Station Wagon, and its modern car range needs revamping. Under the terms of the agreement, Renault-Nissan and state-owned Russian Technologies will pool their respective shares in Avtovaz into a joint venture. Then, in 2014, the joint venture will acquire the stake in Avtovaz currently owned by Russian investment company Troika Dialog. Renault, which already has a 25 per cent stake in Avtovaz, will invest about £185m in the deal, while Nissan, which does not currently have a stake in the Russian firm, will put in about £280m. This will give the French-Japanese car group a 67.13 per cent stake, with Russian Technologies’ stake taking the joint venture to a controlling interest of 74.5 per cent. Renault-Nissan Alliance boss Carlos Ghosn said the agreement is, “the latest step in an expanding collaboration that helps modernise the leader of Russia’s auto industry. Just as Renault and Nissan will continue their technology transfer to Avtovaz plants, our Avtovaz colleagues will contribute more and more to the Alliance’s multicultural management bench”. An outline memorandum of understanding was signed today, and the deal is due to be finalised by the end of this year. +++ April turned out to be a very positive sales month in CHINA for 2 of the world's largest automakers, General Motors and Toyota. The Detroit firm and its joint ventures in China set a domestic sales record for April of 227,217 vehicles, up 11.7 percent from the same month last year. In the first four months of 2012, GM's sales totaled 972,369 units, an increase of 9.4 percent on an annual basis. “GM and our joint ventures sold our 1 millionth vehicle in China this year”, said Kevin Wale, president and managing director of the GM China Group. “This is the sixth time and the earliest in our history that we have reached this important milestone in China. It has put us on track to once again set a new sales mark for the year as a whole”. On its behalf, Toyota and its 2 local joint-venture partners sold about 81,700 vehicles in April, an increase of 68 percent over the same month a year ago. According to a company spokesperson, for the first four months of 2012, the Japanese carmaker delivered 293,200 vehicles, up 14.3 percent from a year ago. Toyota said that it is on track to sell 1 million cars in China this year, up from around 883,400 vehicles in 2011. +++ Forget cloth, the upcoming LAMBORGHINI Aventador Roadster will use a removable two-piece carbon fiber hardtop, according to the Italian magazine Quattroruote. The weight-cutting measure means the convertible won't have to stack on the pounds just to include al fresco driving. The carbon fiber roof will weigh less than a cloth top and its underlying metal frame. It also means that the entire rear section of the car won't change from the hardtop model, Quattroroute reports. We first saw the hardtop in spy photos published in February, though we weren't sure of Lamborghini's plans for the 700-horsepower V12 racer at the time. Lamborghini is expected to debut the roadster at the Paris Motor Show this fall. +++ Employees at the LAND ROVER 's Halewood Operations in Merseyside, UK, recently celebrated the production of 300,000th Land Rover Freelander 2. The landmark came 5 years and 7 months after production of the SUV commenced in October 2006. The milestone vehicle is a 2.2 litre Diesel model finished in Barolo Black destined for a customer in Brazil, which has proved to be one of the British brand's fastest growing markets. During a ceremony at the plant, Halewood Operations Director Richard Else, said: "I'd like to congratulate the Halewood team for reaching this superb milestone and also sustaining the highest quality standards on Freelander 2, during the Range Rover Evoque launch period. Freelander was Land Rover's biggest selling model last year retailing around 52,000 units globally". +++ General Motors' struggling OPEL brand may end production of the Astra at its Rüsselsheim plant in Germany after the presentation of the next generation model in 2015, according to a report from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). Citing unnamed senior labor representatives who are involved in restructuring talks, the German newspaper wrote that GM's top brass in Europe is proposing to transfer production of Opel's second bestselling model after the Corsa to its existing factories in Ellesmere Port, England and Gliwice, Poland. Such a move would boost annual production of the Astra from 145,000 to 205,000 units in Ellesmere Port in a three-shift operation, and from 185,000 to 240,000 cars in Gliwice, the report said. The reason why GM's European branch is considering such a drastic option has to do with reducing costs, as the Ellesmere Port and Gliwice factories are said to be cheaper and more flexible to operate than Rüsselsheim, which pays its workers more. Since 1999, Opel has lost a total of $16 billion. In the first quarter of 2012 alone, Vauxhall and Opel racked up losses of some $256 million. According to FAZ, Opel's works council at the Rüsselsheim assembly plant had agreed to accept pay reductions and other cost-cutting measures of up to €70 million to fund the investments needed to upgrade the factory for the production of the next Astra. Opel works council chief Wolfgang Schäfer-Klug told the German daily that moving production out of Rüsselsheim would be a "devastating mistake" for the company. "This is as if Volkswagen would stop producing its Golf model in Wolfsburg", said Schäfer-Klug. FAZ reported that GM would take a final decision on the matter by the middle of May. Neither General Motors nor Opel would comment on the report. +++ In 2015, PORSCHE will add a mid-engined sportscar to its line-up. This 960 upercar will be a bridge model between the 911 and 918. Interestingly, the 960 is said to be a Ferrari-fighting "four-door coupe" powered by a twin-turbo flat-six and will be priced about 300.000 euro in The Netherlands. +++ 2 more cross-over models could soon join the ranks of the compact Tiguan and the mid-size Touareg in VOLKSWAGEN 's lineup, according to a report from German business publication, Handelsblatt. Citing unnamed company sources, the newspaper wrote that a subcompact cross-over built on the underpinnings of the Polo, which would potentially go up against the Nissan Juke and Opel Mokka, as well as an even smaller model based on the Up, are "certain". A Volkswagen spokesperson would not confirm the models on the report, but said: "SUVs are very interesting. Our modular production system allows us further spinoffs. We haven't made a decision yet". Autonews Europe said that in concern of the subcompact SUV, VW had originally planned to base this model on the Suzuki SX4 and that it was to be called the Rockton, but the divorce proceedings between Volkswagen and Suzuki "killed off the project". As for the smaller crossover, Volkswagen has already shown a couple of crossover-ish concepts of the Up including the Buggy Up study at last year's Frankfurt Show and the Winter Up and X Up at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. Albrecht Reimold, the boss of VW Skovakia, which manufactures the Up, told the German business daily that the city car's lineup would be expanded with new variants in the future, without revealing any specific details. "It's certainly an area we must look at", he said. The newspaper added that an Up based SUV would sell for "well under than 20,000" in Germany. In VW's home market, the Tiguan starts from €24,175. +++