The heavy advertising which has surrounded the launch of the new Jeep Renegade, which is on sale in Ireland right now priced between €22,950 and €38,750, more than indicates how much confidence is being place in the car by both its manufacturer and the dealer network.

US regulators are looking into whether a recall last year by Nissan Motor Co, Japan’s second-largest carmaker, failed to fix a flaw in the air-bag control systems on almost 1 m vehicles.

Fiat Chrysler has announced plans to spin-off sports car maker Ferrari into a separate company.

By David Rocks and Tommaso Ebhardt

While rivals roll out new models and concept cars, Fiat has little to show at the Paris auto show besides another variant of its retro-styled 500 compact car, in what is starting to look like a worrying trend for its namesake brand.

Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, chairman of Italian luxury sports car maker Ferrari, is quitting to be replaced by the boss of parent group Fiat after the two men clashed over strategy and the Formula One team’s poor results.