Paul Long from Hertfordshire was having a rather bad start to the day yesterday, when his Nissan Primera broke down on a roundabout halfway through the school run. A man in a hoodie approached his vehicle to see if he needed help, who turned out to be David Beckham.

The boss of Renault-Nissan spoke out yesterday for the first time about allegations of industrial spying on his company's rapid advances in electric cars which shook the French-Japanese car giant this month.

As the global business elite prepare for their annual gathering, Sean O'Grady and Poornuima Subrammaniam offer a guide to what Davos is really all aboutpresent a guide to the global summit

Nissan tries to take on Jaguar and BMW with its new high-end saloon

The chief executive of one of the world's biggest car makers has acknowledged that industrial espionage is a major threat to the company that worries him "every day".

Leading industrialists have been invited to a high-level Advanced Manufacturing Growth Summit at the department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) on 25 January to discuss how to boost the UK's manufacturing economy.

Analysis

French carmaker Renault has suspended three executives, including a management committee member, after discovering that sensitive commercial information has been compromised.

Mishah Ali is 21 and looking for her first car. It needs to be automatic, have five doors, and have a decent sized boot. Reliability and low running costs are a priority. Mishah is planning lots of long journeys and does not want a “manky old car” – as if we would ever recommend one of those! With a maximum budget of £6,000, we should be able to sort something out.

The first green cars to qualify for a subsidy of up to £5,000 were unveiled by the Government yesterday.

Worthy winner, but it’s not really a ‘proper’ car

The stunning setting and spectacular circuit of San Luis, Argentina, will bring the first season of the FIA GT1 World Championship to a fitting finale this weekend. Twenty three GT1 cars will take to the track set inside a vast volcanic caldera.

Those are the subjects that are exercising the minds of leading motor industry managers and experts if discussions at this week's annual automotive sector conference at Barcelona's IESE, the leading Spanish business school, are anything to go by.

The Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo, Brazil plays host to the penultimate round of the FIA GT1 World Championship this weekend. And with the season drawing to a close at San Luis in Argentina next weekend, both the Drivers and Team championships are finely balanced in the FIA's newest world championship.