Give me a break

From an Automotive News interview with Yves Bonnefort, CEO of DS.    Um, that’s called a station wagon or estate car, mate. You may also like A couple of days before it became official: thoughts on PSA and FCA linking up The top-selling cars in France, 2013 GM’s Holden to abandon C and D car […]

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Carlos Ghosn redresses the balance

It’s been fascinating to watch Carlos Ghosn’s press conference in Beirut, and subsequent interviews, confirming my own suspicions back in November 2018 (as Tweeted and blogged). Carlos Ghosn's criticism of the Japanese justice system isn’t ‘one-sided’ as they claim. For 14 months, they controlled the narrative and the smear campaign against him. He and others […]

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A couple of days before it became official: thoughts on PSA and FCA linking up

Companies in FCA’s and PSA’s histories did once produce the Plymouth Horizon, so historically there is some precedent to a trans-Atlantic arrangement—not to mention the type 220 and 179 minivans and the commercial vehicles currently in PSA’s and Fiat’s ranges. This is a few days old, but it’s nice to know that these hurriedly written […]

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Bypassing the media, Carlos Ghosn tells it as it is

I haven’t blogged much about Carlos Ghosn, though I’ve Tweeted aplenty since his arrest last November. Earlier this week, his lawyers released a video of Ghosn stating his position, and it echoes much of what I had Tweeted. He couldn’t make a personal appearance at a press conference himself, thanks to some conveniently timed (for […]

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Trading identities in the 2010s: when corporate branding and personal branding adopt each other’s methods

Above: Brand Kate Moss was probably seen by more people when the model collaborated with Topshop. In 1999, the late Wally Olins sent me his book, Trading Identities: Why Countries and Companies are Taking on Each Other’s Roles, a fine read published by the Foreign Policy Centre that argued that countries were trying to look […]

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Travel diary (or, a diary that travels)

A photo posted by Jack Yan (@jack.yan) on Apr 9, 2016 at 10:31pm PDT A photo posted by Jack Yan (@jack.yan) on Apr 10, 2016 at 10:37pm PDT   What a fun project! In September, a class in a Québec school set its pupils a travel diary project. The idea: see how well travelled each […]

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The top-selling cars in France, 2013

Interesting what pops up on Weibo: 2013’s top-selling cars in France. 1. Renault Clio IV 2. Peugeot 208 3. Citroën C3 4. Renault Scénic III 5. Renault Mégane III 6. Dacia Sandero 7. Renault Captur 8. Volkswagen Polo V 9. Renault Twingo II 10. Peugeot 3008    The French are a patriotic bunch.    In […]

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Source4Style launches today, seeking to revolutionize the business of fashion

[Cross-posted] Summer Rayne Oakes and Benita Singh’s Cartier award-winning venture, Source4Style, which helps designers source sustainable fabric through a well designed, transparent website, launches its second version today. Lucire has the low-down in the main part of the site, and this story forms part of some of our next 2012 print and other non-web editions. […]

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Chloé chief sees China moving to more understated luxury—or is it?

Geoffroy de la Bourdonnaye of Chloé believes the mainland Chinese market is moving toward more understated luxury.    I believe there’ll always be a mixture. The understated buyer is emerging probably because of saturation by more extrovert brands—and often, buyers want to get something different, rather than conform.    And the top-end luxury brands have […]

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Be vigilant and don’t look

This most recent trip to Auckland was marked by plenty of drama. The first experience was getting a virus the second I hooked up to the internet. The second was, having accidentally bumped the light into beam in my rent-a-Falcon on Ponsonby Road, a very interesting gentleman in a Toyota Picnic in the next lane […]

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