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As Renault prepares for the market launch of the Clio Estate, the French brand has released a slew of photos of the new model. If you think that Estate body styles are well, lacking in style, the Clio Estate might change that impression. The new Clio Estate had its world premiere at last year's Paris Motor Show and will go on sale in Europe soon. The Clio Estate has an avant-garde front fascia inspired by the Dezir concept car. The Estate model has the same wheelbase as the Clio hatchback but an elongated boot means that the overall length of the car increases to 4,262mm. This improves the cargo-carrying capacity of the boot by 50% against the five-door's 443 litres. When the front passenger seat is folded flat, the new Renault Clio Estate boasts an impressive loading length of 2.48m from the tailgate to the glove compartment. The new Clio Estate is equipped with a selection of the latest power plants from Renault, including a turbocharged 0.9-litres straight-three which produces 90bhp and two versions of the diesel 1.5dCi straight-four, one with 75bhp and the other with 90bhp. All the above mentioned engines produce less than 100g of CO2 per km travelled.

Despite all the gloom and doom in Europe, French automaker, Renault, posted a respectable first-half performance that beats the forecast by analysts. Earnings before interest, taxes and one-time items dropped 23 percent to 482 million euros from 630 million euros a year ago. This figure beats the average 363 million euros estimated by seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The better-than-expected performance is supported by the increased sales in Latin America and Russia. Renault sales in Latin America rose 20 percent to 215,149 vehicles, while deliveries in Russia and other former Soviet states jumped 29 percent to 103,926. "Management has a very good focus on all the important issues," said Kristina Church, a Barclays analyst in London who awarded an 'overweight rating' on Renault