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Renault’s Drone Deal Signals a New Era for Europe’s Auto Industry

For most of the past century, the European auto industry has been very good at one thing: building cars. But history has a way of bending manufacturing empires toward whatever the moment demands, and in 2025, that moment looks less like crossovers and EVs and more like geopolitics and unmanned aircraft.

Renault, a brand best known for hatchbacks, hot hatches, and the occasional Formula 1 title, has just agreed to build up to 600 military drones at its Le Mans facility in cooperation with French defense contractor Turgis Gaillard. It’s a move that sounds startling—until you remember that automakers have been pivoting into defense production for as long as there have been wars to fight.

Europe’s Auto Industry Is Looking for a Second Job

Europe is increasing defense spending at a pace not seen in decades. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reset the continent’s threat perception, and even distant rumblings—like former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Greenland rhetoric—have reinforced the idea that Europe needs to be more militarily self-reliant.

France alone plans to boost its defense budget by €36.5 billion by 2030, according to President Emmanuel Macron’s recent address to the armed forces. That kind of money needs factories, suppliers, and engineers—and Europe just happens to have an enormous industrial base that’s increasingly underused as car production slows.

That’s where companies like Renault come in.

The Le Mans plant, which normally produces chassis components for Renault, Dacia, and other brands within the group, built 1.3 million parts in 2024 and employs about 1,500 people. In other words, it’s exactly the kind of high-volume, high-precision manufacturing environment defense contractors dream of but rarely own.

Now, some of that capacity will be diverted to drones.

This Isn’t Renault’s First War

If this feels like a dramatic shift for a modern car company, it really isn’t. Renault’s military résumé goes all the way back to World War I, when it built the Renault FT, one of the world’s first modern tanks. Even today, Renault Trucks—though no longer part of the Renault Group—produces armored vehicles for the French Army.

What’s different now is the product. Instead of tanks and troop carriers, Renault is helping build drones: small, software-heavy, electronics-intensive machines that are closer in spirit to a modern EV than to a Sherman tank.

And that’s exactly why automakers are being called in.

Why Carmakers Are Suddenly Attractive to Defense Ministries

Modern military hardware is increasingly defined by three things: electronics, software, and mass production. That’s the same trio that defines the automotive industry in the EV and autonomous-driving era.

Tesla may be the most famous example of a car company drifting toward robotics and AI, but Europe’s legacy manufacturers have quietly been developing similar skills: battery management, sensor fusion, embedded computing, and high-reliability manufacturing at scale.

From a defense perspective, Renault doesn’t need to become Lockheed Martin. It just needs to do what it already does best—designing, industrializing, and mass-producing complex machines—and apply that to a different kind of vehicle.

Renault Won’t Be Alone

Renault’s drone project is just the tip of a much larger pivot across Europe’s supplier base.

  • Valeo is already working with around 100 companies on defense-related drone systems.
  • Schaeffler is developing electronic components for Helsing drones.
  • Valmet is preparing to build armored vehicles.
  • ZF Friedrichshafen and Bosch are also involved, even if they’re not yet treating defense as a core business.

The logic is brutal but simple: European car production is in long-term decline, squeezed by Chinese competition, EV transition costs, and shrinking margins. Defense, meanwhile, is flush with cash and desperate for industrial capacity.

If you’re an automotive supplier staring at half-empty factories, military contracts suddenly look a lot like survival.

Not a Farewell to Cars—But a Hedge Against the Future

Renault insists this drone project won’t affect its car plans and that it has no intention of becoming a major defense contractor. That’s probably true. But it’s also beside the point.

This isn’t Renault abandoning the car business—it’s Renault buying insurance against a European auto market that looks increasingly fragile. If EVs don’t sell, if factories sit idle, if global competition keeps tightening, having another customer with a multi-billion-euro budget is very comforting.

A century ago, Renault helped France fight a war with tanks. Today, it will help with drones. Same company, same factories, different machines.

The badge on the hood still says Renault. The payload just changed.

Source: Renault; Photo: Turgis Gaillard

Auctions

The 1999 Continental SC Is the Rarest Way to Be a Gentleman Racer

Before the Bentley Continental GT became the globe-trotting symbol of nouveau-luxury speed, Bentley was already experimenting with how to make old-money muscle feel modern. One of those experiments—the Continental SC, also known as the Sedanca Coupe—is now resurfacing at auction, and it might be one of the most interesting Bentleys most people have never heard of.

Built in 1999 on the bones of the Continental R, the Continental SC was Bentley’s idea of a high-speed tuxedo with a removable roof. It was part grand tourer, part targa, and entirely unnecessary in the best possible way. Only 73 were built (plus six even rarer Mulliner versions), making this one of the rarest post-Crewe Bentleys ever produced.

And now one of them—barely driven and still looking freshly tailored—is heading to RM Sotheby’s in Miami.

Old-School Bentley, But Make It Sporty

Finished in classic Bentley black, the Continental SC looks exactly how a late-’90s British luxury coupe should: imposing, formal, and just slightly menacing. The upright matrix grille and mesh lower intakes are flanked by red Bentley badges, a subtle nod that this is no ordinary Continental R. The chrome trim is tasteful, not flashy, and the five-spoke 18-inch wheels give the car a planted, muscular stance.

Everything about the exterior says “banker by day, outlaw by night.”

But the real party trick is on the roof.

A Bentley With a Split Personality

The Continental SC is a targa in the most Bentley way possible. Two removable glass panels sit above the front seats, while a fixed glass roof section covers the rear. Whether the panels are installed or stowed away, the cabin remains bright and open—more Riviera than racetrack.

When you want open-air motoring, the glass panels lift out and disappear into a dedicated trunk compartment. To keep the chassis from turning into a luxury noodle, Bentley borrowed structural reinforcements from the Azure convertible, making this part-coupe, part-convertible Frankenstein surprisingly stiff for something weighing well over two tons.

It’s weird. It’s brilliant. And Bentley would never build something like this today.

Wood, Leather, and Late-’90s Excess

Inside, the SC is peak pre-VW Bentley. Heated leather seats with black piping look barely used, and they’re surrounded by acres of burled walnut, cold metal trim, and the sort of craftsmanship that made Rolls-Royce nervous back then.

There’s also an Alpine audio system with a CD changer, which is a reminder that this car was built when people still curated music instead of streaming it. It’s not modern, but it is wonderfully period-correct.

Turbo V8, Because of Course

Under that long, formal hood lives Bentley’s legendary 6.75-liter turbocharged V8. It makes 400 horsepower and a truly absurd 590 lb-ft of torque—numbers that still feel outrageous today. Power flows through a four-speed automatic, because manuals are for peasants, and Bentley had places to be.

The result? 0–60 mph in just over six seconds and a top speed of 155 mph. That might not sound shocking now, but in 1999 this was supercar territory for something with walnut trim and heated seats.

The Price of Rarity

This Canadian-market example is being sold without reserve at RM Sotheby’s Miami auction and is expected to bring between $250,000 and $300,000—roughly what a brand-new Continental GT costs today.

But here’s the difference: a new GT is mass-produced luxury. This is hand-built, absurdly rare, and nearly untouched, with just 4,330 km (2,691 miles) on the clock over 27 years.

You’re not just buying a car. You’re buying a Bentley that Bentley almost forgot.

And in a world of increasingly digital, sanitized luxury, the Continental SC feels like a reminder of when automakers still took wild, wonderful risks—just because they could.

Source: RM Sotheby’s

NEW CARS

Toyota Highlander BEV For North America

Toyota has finally plugged one of its most important nameplates into the wall. The Japanese automaker announced that a battery-electric version of the Highlander will join its North American lineup in late 2026, marking a major step in its famously cautious but increasingly serious push toward electrification. And in a move that should resonate just as loudly in Frankfort as it does in Fremont, the electric Highlander will be built in Kentucky, not shipped across the Pacific.

For a company that made hybrids mainstream long before EVs became fashionable, Toyota’s “multi-pathway” strategy has often looked like a polite way of hedging its bets. But adding a fully electric, three-row SUV to the heart of its family-hauler portfolio sends a clear signal: Toyota is done tiptoeing.

An EV for America’s favorite Toyota SUV

Since arriving in the U.S. in 2001, the Highlander has become one of Toyota’s most dependable breadwinners, racking up more than 3.6 million sales thanks to its mix of space, comfort, and just-enough ruggedness. Turning it into an EV isn’t about chasing tech-bro cool points—it’s about keeping suburban driveways Toyota-shaped in an era when electrons are replacing gasoline.

Toyota debuted the electric Highlander in Ojai, California, but its future is firmly rooted in the Bluegrass State. Production will happen at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, making it the fourth EV in Toyota’s U.S. lineup after the bZ, C-HR, and bZ Woodland. Translation: this isn’t a compliance car—it’s a volume play.

Big battery, big SUV, real range

Toyota isn’t messing around with half-hearted electrification here. The Highlander BEV will offer two lithium-ion battery sizes:

  • 76.96 kWh, aimed at everyday urban driving
  • 95.82 kWh, designed for long-distance cruising and outdoor escapes

Buyers will be able to pair either battery with front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, giving the electric Highlander a surprisingly broad menu of configurations.

The headline figure is the 95.82-kWh AWD model, which Toyota says is targeting up to 320 miles of range. That’s firmly in Tesla Model Y Long Range territory, and it puts the Highlander BEV in striking distance of America’s best-selling EVs—only this one has three rows and room for a soccer team’s worth of gear.

Smaller-battery versions still look competitive, with development targets of 287 miles (FWD) and 270 miles (AWD).

Cold-weather charging, finally taken seriously

Toyota is also addressing one of EV ownership’s biggest real-world pain points: winter charging. The Highlander BEV will include battery preconditioning, keeping the pack at an optimal temperature so fast-charging doesn’t crawl when it’s freezing outside.

The target? Roughly 30 minutes to a rapid charge even in cold conditions. For families road-tripping through snowy states, that’s the difference between a coffee break and a multi-hour ordeal.

Same Highlander, new powertrain

Dimensionally, the electric Highlander sticks close to the gas-powered formula that made it a hit:

  • Length: 198.8 inches
  • Width: 78.3 inches
  • Height: 67.3 inches
  • Wheelbase: 120.1 inches

In other words, this is still very much a full-size, three-row family machine—just without tailpipe emissions and with a lot more torque lurking under the floor.

Toyota finally leans in

Toyota will continue to sell hybrids, plug-ins, and even hydrogen vehicles, but the electric Highlander feels like a turning point. It’s not a niche crossover or a futuristic experiment—it’s one of Toyota’s core products, electrified.

For families who want to go green without downsizing, and for Toyota loyalists who’ve been waiting for a serious EV from the brand they trust, the Highlander BEV might be the most important Toyota launch of the decade.

Late 2026 can’t come soon enough.

Source: Toyota

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