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Shareholders votes on pay are only advisory, not binding.

He went on to detail the method of calculation of the Chairman and CEO’s remuneration.

The Committee consults with a specialist in remuneration and human capital, as well as executive compensation benchmarks. This consultation helps to ensure the appropriateness of the level of compensation set, particularly with regard to the remuneration of leaders of comparable groups.

The remuneration of the Chairman and CEO is then discussed and voted upon by the Board of Directors, in the absence of Mr Ghosn, to ensure full independence of the Board.

Since 2014, the “Say on Pay” reform requires the submission of an advisory opinion by shareholders on the remuneration of executive directors in respect of the preceding fiscal year. In according with the Board’s decision, the remuneration of the Chairman and CEO consists of a fixed and a variable portion.

The board of directors need not follow the advisory opinion of the shareholders. When you write "evolving regulations" and "may soon be required"", that's just a lame attempt to ignore the current reality, while tacitly conceding that European companies are not bound by such votes... My points still stands, The Frank-Dodd act doesn't apply to European companies, and the board of directors of European companies are free to ignore the solely advisory vote of the shareholders.

So, why don't you sign up for both geography and current history lessons , before, to use your own words, you make such an ass of yourself.

Same here!

With an ignition key, I know that I'm in control. If I step out of the car, I'd normally remove the keys (unless there were other passengers already) and do whatever I have to do before returning, knowing that my car would still be there. With the remote, even if I stepped out w/ it, leaving the car unlocked, anybody can just get in and drive some distance. Maybe he won't get far, but the damage would have been done.

In Europe, most cars use a key card system, if you remove the card from it's slot, the car won't drive.

Really? Most cars? I don't think so. Maybe most high-end cars but get in to a cheap hatchback be it European or not in Europe and you'll have a key start.

Renault isn't high end and it won't start if it doesn't detect it's card in the passenger compartment.

All these "commuter" cars are ugly as sin. Why can't we get "commuter" cars that aren't straight chairs with wheels? Get something sleek and futuristic looking and I'll consider buying it. (Like that Lamborghini in the icons above... a single seat, well performing low slung vehicle.)

Like the Renault Twizy?

http://www.betterplace.com.au/

http://www.renault.com/en/vehicules/renault/pages/fluence-ze.aspx

and Renaut doesnt realy make a SUV which is why i suspect they are targeting them

http://www.renault.com/en/vehicules/renault/pages/koleos.aspx - when you suspect, you make a sus ...

Or do you insist that SUVs must actually be pickups in disguise?

Actually, there are millions of people who really do need a larger vehicle.

Right. However what they need is not a 4x4 or a pickup truck. What they need is something like this (or a smaller version thereof).

Exactly, and its already on its way.

http://www.renault.com/en/innovation/vehicule-electrique/pages/modes-de-charge.aspx

Also, Nissan is now in bed with Renault. Yes, it's true, the best japanese automaker :) is in bed with the french.

I can tell you from personal experience that factory brakes on many cars (especially large cars like this) are woefully inadequate for the speeds they are capable of. What happens when your car starts taking off without you stepping on the gas and reaches 120 MPH and you try to panic-stop a large sedan with inadequate brakes is that you end up boiling the brake fluid under the extreme pressures and the extreme heat generated by the brakes at that speed.

I've had this happen to me driving a 1990 Ford Thunderbird SC at approximately 125 MPH and trying to slow down to 65 MPH for a corner that dropped into a valley. The brake fluid boiled at approximately 105 MPH and I had *NO* brakes as I was basically using vapor for hydraulic fluid. Thankfully I had the presence of mind to let off the brakes for a second to allow the rather effective cooling that ventilated disc brake rotors have at that speed, returning the brake fluid to its liquid state and then was able to downshift (manual transmission) and brake at a lesser rate and slow down enough to make the corner using both lanes (thankfully there was no traffic at the time) without plunging over the bank.

Lots of people who have experience in racing can attest to this phenomenon, although it's not very common in race cars anymore since the advent of DOT 5 silicone brake fluids. Needless to say, after this incident I flushed and replaced my brake fluid with racing brake fluid.

The vehicle in this article has an ELECTRONICALLY controlled "hand brake" (which contrary to popular belief is NOT designed as an emergency brake, it is a PARKING brake) which automatically engages when the ignition is turned off, which can only be switched off when the ELECTRONICALLY CONTROLLED transmission is in park. The ignition switch is controlled by a smart card which electronically operates the steering wheel lock and ignition rather than a physical switch you can twist and disable the ignition system and leave the steering unlocked. Cars like this are designed to be idiot-proof to make their owners feel safe.

I can't say with any authority, but I would not be surprised if, in addition to over-rev protection of the engine, that the transmission will NOT shift out of gear while the car is operating at wide-open throttle, as allowing this would likely cause fairly catastrophic transmission damage. Renault's own website highlights many of the features of this vehicle as making them "safer" in addition to increasing the expected lifespan of many of the powertrain components, going so far as to claim that these systems DOUBLE the expected lifespan of many wear-and-tear parts.

I think the only thing in this article that smells rotten is that auto manufacturers are becoming so concerned with being able to wave the "safest car in its class" flag that they're doing poor implementations of electronic "driver-aids." I'm sure they're probably wonderful and great in many circumstances, but the onus of potential software bugs or poor analysis of the situations encountered on public roadways and improper implementation leads to situations where the car takes control away from the driver *regardless* of what the driver knows about what's going on at the time.

Ultimately what it comes down to is that cars like this, with electronically controlled systems DIRECTLY responsible for the safety of the occupants (such as brakes and shifting into neutral and shutting down the engine) need an effective, immediate, simple MECHANICAL bypass.

The engine could not be stopped. Keyless car, and the electronics ignored pressing the 'stop' button. Possible

A drive by wire throttle can theoretically get stuck open due to some electronic malfunction. Fair enough.

The brakes: Power assisted, electronic controlled, but surely these are still hydraulical? Is electronic malfunction likely? I say unlikely, but let's give the benefit of doubt.

So, the transmission... Look at the picture. http://www.renault.com/img/gamme/images/velsatis_i nt4.jpg/ Surely if you shift that thing into neutral, your car WILL loose drive?
The story sounds unlikely, but not impossible in future, as more and more electronics creep into our cars. Mind you, I'm not against electronics, the chips in my car has saved my arse more than once...

Would be bad for the car ;)

The car in question was a Renault Vel Satis.

As the Tom and Ray Magliozzi from Car Talk say about car design, "Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, but nobody imitates the French".

I know Audi had similar problems in the mid 1980's. I guess the French are imitating 20 year old German design flaw.

The issues of cars is charged with emotions, it is difficult to be rational. One of my co-workers has bought a huge car fit for 6 people because (she says) once a year she drives 3,000km to go back to her folk with her sister and her two teenage kids (that's only 4 people, if I can count correctly). The rest of the year she drives the car in the city with just herself in it. With the difference in purchase price alone with a smaller, more nimble car fit for a city, not counting higher running costs, she could rent a luxury car for the trip for 10 years running.

Of course in reality the car is nice and she could afford it and she wanted the status symbol, so there you go. However none of these reasons are rational from the economic point of view.

Having an SUV is convenient but not indispensable. My parents had 3 kids and we had a minuscule car. Most Americans would not even label this thing a car, let alone drive it or consider it for any sort of family car, yet that's the one we had. I remember one of my parent's friends carting us around for music lessons in a Mini. That is one adult, 3 teenagers + instruments in a car you had to lower yourself in. That was fine, and fun in fact.

I regularly see standard 2 adults, 2 kids families in their vast empty SUV. Usually only one adult in fact.

I'm not blaming anybody for buying SUVs, here in Australia they make perfect sense to buy because gas/petrol is still cheap, and they carry tax concessions, under the misguided assumption that only people in the bush (in the country) would buy them. Of course that created a tax loophole where manufacturers jumped in, and now the damn vehicles are so popular that the loophole can't be closed off. Compared with normal large family cars they are actually cheaper to buy. I'd imagine something similar is true in the US.

Of course they also feel safer to drive due to bulk and better vision. However if petrol prices continue to rise I can't see much of a bright future for 4 litres+ engines.

For example, what sports cars do you have in your garage? Ferrari or Porsche I'd assume.

I have a car built by Matra, which is branded Renault. So according to my papers I am driving something else than the brand tells me.

And what's the brand of your kitchen sink?

With kitchen installations it gets complicated. Often the different brands are selling the same utility for the same job. Dishwashers in Europe are often built by Electrolux, but sold as Whirlpool, Siemens, Bosch, AEG... Ovens often leave a Siemens facility, and then they are branded Whirlpool, Siemens, Bosch, AEG...
Same with floppy disks. There was one facility, which produced some 70% of all worldwide sales of floppydisks. But no brand ever reached more than 20% of the market.

Btw: My kitchen sink is called EMSEN .

Anyway, have you tried the Renault Vel Satis? It has an additional 30 cm of head room for a very special, "spacy" room feeling...

If you like the Cooper, you might also like the CLio.
Unfortunately, like many cool pocket rockets its not available in the US.

Personaly, I like cars like my computers. Hacked personally by me. I've recently had a car-hacking rennasaince of a sort.

After hacking with the enigmatic bits and code, it feels good to take a hacksaw to cold steal (thats not just allegorical flowery either, I'm serious that it feels good). After feeling the afterglow of installing Gentoo and finally get it working, I look forward to feeling the rush of punching the accelorator down on my car.

Right now I'm putting a 1.6L turbo engine from a Mercury Capri into a Festiva. My progress is updated in my personal journal at OnRoad. You can read up on how to do it at fordfestiva.com.

We hardly felt that we were towing... Not too bad a mileage. I haven't got anything heavier to tow so I don't know how it would perform otherwise. But for lightweight trailors it's a damn fine car.

Try the new Renault Laguna or Citroën C5. After all it's not a coincidence that limousine and comfort are French words :)