Renault’s espionage situation has been a bit of romantic news within the cold emotionless place that is the automotive industry. Sadly, while we may not have gotten any information about what’s going on as far as the Renault EV spying, we did have a bit of a surprise.

I’m sure plenty of boy racers out there feel like the 2011 Opel Astra isn’t enough of a performance car for them. Inspired by the Opel Astra GTC concept, the 2012 Opel Astra OPC is closing in on a production model as it’s just recently been seen in testing around the Nurburgring.

I’m not one to care for brand image, prestige and so one but I am aware of what a BMW badge can mean to some. To the Chinese though, the BMW brand means more than it does to others and this is because the Bavarian brand has become the People’s republic favorite.

The recent earthquake that hit Japan and the tsunami that followed had quite an effect on the car makers stock. Toyota is one of the first manufacturers to come forward with a losses report of the outcome of this great natural disaster.

Do you know what’s special about surprises? You can never expect them and you never know how to react to it. That’s how the Bavarians at BMW have gotten me at this point because an M3 pickup, that’s pickup was spotted running round the infamous Nurburgring racetrack.