Alpine

Overnight, Seat announced its boss, Luca de Meo, was leaving his post at "his own request and in common agreement with the Volkswagen Group". Interestingly, he will remain with the Volkswagen Group "until further notice". Carsten Isensee, Seat's finance chief, will temporarily take charge of the Spanish car maker. Reports in the European press before the Christmas break suggested de Meo was the leading candidate to become the next CEO of Renault.

Alpine is going back to its roots, revealing a rally-ready racer based on the road-going A110 coupe. The A110 Rally will officially be launched at the Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine this weekend, with sales to start at the 'end of the year'.

Nissan's annual general meeting has approved sweeping governance changes, which were championed by its CEO Hiroto Saikawa. As part of the reforms, the Nissan 11-strong board will feature two representatives each from Nissan and Renault, and seven independent directors. The company also gains three new committees overseeing nomination, compensation and audit. These committees will be led by outside directors, but will have representative each from Nissan and Renault.

What appears to be a road-going version of the Alpine A110 GT4 has been snapped during testing, but exactly what role it'll fill in the range remains to be seen. Our spy photography agency snagged these pictures at the same time as the Renault Megane RS Trophy-R, suggesting the GT4 (or whatever Alpine plans to call it) could share some componentry with the new Nordschleife hot-hatch hero.

Renault is set to propose a merger to Nissan, but the chances of success seem low at this stage. A source has outlined Renault's proposed merger plans to The Nikkei. In the proposal, a new holding company will be formed to own 100% of Renault and Nissan, with current shareholders swapping their current shares for stakes in the new company.