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Group Lotus will no longer sponsor Lotus F1, according to Autosport.com. The manufacturer pulled its endorsement shortly after parent company Proton announced the sale of Group Lotus to DRB-Hicom. Additionally, Proton won’t purchase 50 percent of the race team as previously agreed.

The good news, however, is that Lotus F1 will continue to compete. Team owner Genii Captial has said it believes in the name, and that while it would prefer to not have to fund the team completely by itself, it is prepared to do so. The team has already signed Unilever and Microsoft as sponsors, though there’s still room for a title sponsor to step through the door.

If that happens, Lotus F1 will have more cash flow than the team has ever had in the past.

As Autosport.com points out, Gerard Lopez, Genii Capital owner, had previously expressed interest in owning Lotus. Now that the company has a new owner, that seems to be more feasible. Even so, Lopez says he’s not certain what the new owners intend to do with the brand.

Lotus F1 no longer sponsored by Group Lotus, team to keep name

We already had reason to believe that the next generation of the Infiniti G is poised to add a few new variants, including a diesel model, thanks to recent Nissan trademark filings. But now our spy shooters have caught some Infiniti development mules out in the wild, cars they say sounded like diesels.

There’s not too much that can be seen in these photos, as the mule uses a modified current-gen body. But the car definitely looks like it has a wider track, which could point to the next G being a bit larger (or at least meaning it’s not going to shrink). We can also see two extra air intakes in the front bumper, just under the grille.

The photographers tell us that the cars were snapped near a Mercedes-Benz test facility in Northern Sweden, leading us to assume that a diesel G is likely to be powered by an engine developed out of the Daimler-Renault-Nissan partnership that was announced two years ago.

Check out all the high-res spy shots in our gallery.

Next-gen Infiniti G mule spotted testing in Sweden

In a tire manufacturing landscape thick with companies that are over a century old, the world’s biggest tire maker is a relative upstart with just fifty years under its belt. The Lego Group, yes, Lego, makes more rolling stock than anyone, molding 381 million wheels each year, with sizes as small as a half inch and going up to 4.2 inches in diameter.

It turns out tires are an integral part of the Lego success story. Lego had been producing kits for more than a decade before the 1962 debut of set #400. That kit included the first version of the now-familiar Lego tire and quickly became a best-seller, accounting for 820,400 sales all on its own in 1967. Before the Lego wheel arrived on the scene and kicked off its revolution, cars in the Lego realm were pre-molded affairs, and some clever children created 8-bit-looking wheels with the Lego bricks themselves.

With such a long history of building beloved toys, you’d think Lego would tie up with a manufacturer of car tires and put the Lego brand on tires we can put on our daily drivers. Make ours Z-Rated, please.

Lego world’s largest tire manufacturer, celebrates 50th anniversary of its wheel

Tesla Motors is close to rolling out the first Model S electric five-doors from the company’s Fremont, California plant, and customers who reserved the Model S Signature Series are already sending in their specification requests, indicating that the company will likely hit its July deadline for first deliveries.

Tesla has also added three colors – Piano Black, Lacewood and Banana Leaf – to its interior options and Internet connectivity will be an option on all cars, the company said in a letter to prospective customers that was posted on its blog last week. Tesla also said it would personally deliver the cars to the location of the customer’s choice.

The Model S, the second model from Tesla after the Roadster, will be priced starting at $57,400 for a version with a 160-mile single-charge range before the $7,500 tax credit goes into effect. A 300-mile-range version goes for about $77,000. Read here for Autoblog’s “First Ride” impressions.

Earlier this year, Tesla said 2012 sales may triple last year’s revenue of $204.2 million and forecast Model S sales at 5,000 units for this year. That’s more than double the 2,100 of the $109,000 Roadsters that Tesla sold over the past four years.

Tesla Model S “almost ready”

Canada’s SR Auto Group likes to take a car, any car, and make it wilder. The Audi S4 they did looks intriguingly evil. The wheels they’ve created for the Lamborghini Reventon are amazing.

Their latest canvas is the Scion iQ, which became Project Pryzm. “The objective behind Project Pryzm was to create a car that would leave you speechless,” says SR Auto. Let’s just say they’re getting really close, but we still have a few things to say about it.

These guys apparently took inspiration from the Mitsubishi Evo and one of the pigs from Angry Birds, and we think they’ve come up with mixed results. We like the idea of a more aggressive iQ, we’re just not sure we’re fans of one with this much going on. Passengers are treated to an upgraded interior with leather seats and diamond-stitched suede inserts on the seat centers and door panels.

Check out our gallery for more images, then let us know what you think of this pint-sized mouth-breather.

SR Auto’s Scion iQ looks like it swallowed a Mitsubishi Evo… and an Angry Birds pig

The National Highway Traffic Safety Association announced on its website that Ford is recalling 140,000 Focus models built between August 1, 2010 and October 18, 2011. The defect in question is a seal in the wiring harness connector to the passenger side wiper motor that may be missing.

If the seal is AWOL, water could build up in the connector, which could over time render the passenger-side wiper useless. And if that happens, visibility could of course be altered, resulting in a higher probability of a crash.

To fix the issue, affected Focus owners need to take their vehicles to a Ford dealer for a free inspection of the wiper connector. A technician will clean and seal any connector that needs it, and any wiper motor that no longer works will be replaced free of charge. Hit the jump to read over the NHTSA press release.

Continue reading Ford recalls 140,000 new Focus models over wiper concern

Ford recalls 140,000 new Focus models over wiper concern

Fisker Automotive may drop plans to use a Delaware factory to build its upcoming Atlantic sedan and is looking at “other options,” Automotive News reports, citing an interview with company CEO Tom LaSorda. The company, in an online meeting with owners of the Fisker Karma extended-range plug-in sedan, spelled out some of the issues that have been plaguing the car.

Fisker will hold off on deciding on the Atlantic’s production site until the end of summer, which will delay the model’s debut. LaSorda maintains that Fisker will be able to produce the Atlantic with or without Department of Energy funding, according to Automotive News. Fisker’s director of corporate communications, Russell Datz, tells AutoblogGreen that the company remains “committed to Delaware” but admits that if the rest of the company’s DOE loan money does not come through, the plan to build the Atlantic in Delaware could change.

Follow the jump to continue reading…

Continue reading Fisker may change plans on Delaware production, details Karma troubles

Fisker may change plans on Delaware production, details Karma troubles

There has been plenty of debate about whether bicyclists should be able to take up a lane typically reserved for motor vehicles. While that argument is far from settled, we can all agree that hit-and-run accidents between cars and bikes have got to stop.

At least one bus driver seems to agree with that statement, as evidenced by the action displayed in this video posted by the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania police department. The driver in question, a minor, faces multiple charges.

After seeing the bicyclist get hit, a quick-thinking bus driver can be seen blocking both traffic lanes, leaving the hit-and-run driver with nowhere to go. Well done. Hit the jump to watch the traffic camera footage.

Continue reading Watch a bus driver block escape of hit-and-run driver

Watch a bus driver block escape of hit-and-run driver

It’s always interesting to see what the guys who make and sell speed parts will build to show off their wares. Heck, that’s the appeal of the SEMA show in a nutshell. So we’re intrigued by this new 2013 Mustang project from Ford Racing, despite its unfortunate color, “Gotta Have It Green,” a hue that doesn’t exist in the natural world. (Outside of 1980’s album covers, that is.)

As reported on Mustangs Daily, the project starts with everyone’s favorite Ford V8, the Coyote five-liter, but adds a whole bunch of stuff from the Ford Racing Performance Parts catalog, including a 2.3-liter, intercooled, twin-screw Whipple supercharger. The car has a six-speed manual, of course, and there’s an 8.8-inch axle out back. It’s been lowered an inch, thanks to new FRPP springs paired with matching shocks. Stopping power comes courtesy of a 14-inch, four-piston Brembo setup and Laguna Seca brake duct kit. This project ‘Stang is also equipped with a Mustang GT Side Exhaust System, 19-by-9-inch wheels with massive 255/40/ZR19 Pirelli PZero tires, and the Laguna Seca Adjustable Front Splitter.

While we don’t see any performance specs for the car, we know the supercharged V8 is good for 624 horsepower and 536 lb-ft of torque.

You can check out all the images of the Ford Racing Mustang project car in our gallery.

Ford Racing reveals its latest Mustang project

If you haven’t noticed, NBC’s The Office has really jumped the shark since Steve Carrell left the show at the end of last season. Or maybe the beginning of the end was Pam and Jim’s wedding during the sixth season. Regardless, the point is that the show is no longer very funny or edgy, nor does it ever make the audience uncomfortable in the way the brilliant original BBC version did. Rather, as the main characters in the American version of the show have become caricatures, The Office has grown predictable and formulaic.

And this is why Chevrolet can launch an ad campaign like its “Under The Blue Arch” series. Despite the brief, 30-second running times of the ads, the characters are instantly recognizable and the “plots” are easy to follow. Although the scenes set in a Chevy dealership play with the tropes created by the Emmy Award-winning series, they do so to little comic effect. Because comedy isn’t the point – these are ads, after all, full of ham-handed product information and designed to sell cars.

If anyone should understand that it’s Joel Ewanick, General Motors’ Chief Marketing Officer. Yet he told Automotive News at the New York Auto Show that GM has “talked about turning this into an actual show because we’ve got so much material.”

Well, that Chevy product line isn’t nearly the joke it once was, but if you say so…

Let’s just chalk this one up to Ewanick being a bit starstruck. “Under The Blue Arch” was created by Randall Einhorn, one of the directors of The Office, and it “stars” Wayne Wilderson, who appeared on the NBC show in 2006.

Click past the jump, where you can watch a few of the ads.

Continue reading GM’s Ewanick mulls turning Chevy ad campaign into sitcom

GM’s Ewanick mulls turning Chevy ad campaign into sitcom

Getting word of another special edition from the UK isn’t surprising, as we’ve grown almost numb from the carnival of Mazda, BMW and Citroën models that have been given a few extra gubbins for a few extra quid. But when the Union pairs a Toyota Aygo with Tabasco – as in, the legendary Louisiana hot sauce – consider our eyebrows raised. Except, that doesn’t exactly appear to be what this is – it’s the Toyota Aygo Tobasco. As in the alternate spelling for the pepper that makes up the hot sauce, not the condiment itself.

The Aygo+ Tobasco edition gets a choice of three colors: Orange Spice, Black or Dark Gray, and all come with orange side mirrors and door handles. Inside, orange is splashed all over, on the speedometer and tach, vents and door speakers. Orange upholstery is also on offer.

We don’t know how much you have to love the pepper to check this box, but it’s there if you’re feeling saucy. It joins a suite of other upgrades for the tiny Aygo+ such as new seat trims and a new stereo. Hit the jump for the press release with the details.

Continue reading Toyota offering spicy new Aygo Tobasco special edition

Toyota offering spicy new Aygo Tobasco special edition

Cancer sucks. And pediatric cancer sucks the worst. Without hesitation, we would trade all the exotic cars in the world for a cure.

But you know what doesn’t suck? The new Viper. So it’s pretty cool that Chrysler will auction off the first one to benefit the Austin Hatcher Foundation For Pediatric Cancer. The organization, based in Chattanooga, TN, is an official charity of the American Le Mans Series, which is presumably why it was picked. At the Viper reveal at New York, Chrysler also announced it would resume racing in the series.

So the first 2013 SRT Viper will cross the stage at Barrett-Jackson Orange County, which goes down June 22-24. It’ll be interesting to see what it brings in, considering the first 2013 Chevrolet Corvette 427 convertible’s $600,000 hammer price earlier this year at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale.

And if you aren’t deep-pocketed enough to get in on the Viper hunt, helping out the Hatcher Foundation doesn’t require bidding – you can make a donation at the organization’s website.

Click past the jump for the full press release.

Continue reading First Viper to be auctioned off for pediatric cancer charity

First Viper to be auctioned off for pediatric cancer charity

How do you make the hot-selling Volkswagen new New Beetle even hotter? Chop the top!

Car and Driver says sun worshippers will have a convertible option when buying their Beetle next year. The news should be a surprise to no one, but engine choices could be.

VW says all the powertrain options in the coupe will be availble in the convertible. That means the 170-horse five-cylinder, the 200 hp turbo four and even the 140 horse 236 lb-ft TDI. Both transmissions will be on the menu as well: 6-speed DSG or a 6-speed manual.

Car and Driver speculates that VW will probably show off the convertible Bug at the L.A. Auto Show in November. When it goes on sale in the spring, it’ll be the only diesel convertible available in the U.S. The way VW’s diesels are selling, don’t expect the Bug version to sit around on lots very long.

VW Beetle Convertible coming in early 2013, diesel/manual model promised

“Our mission for the gen-five Viper was to build the best Viper yet.”

Those words pretty much sum up the seven videos we’ve embedded after the break. Of course, a whole heck of a lot of engineering went into realizing that mission, and the team from SRT is justifiably proud of what they have been able to accomplish.

From the evocative curves of the body to the subtle changes to the 8.4-liter V10 that were necessary to net 640 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque, Chrysler turned the cameras on its own staff to show just how the 2013 SRT Viper went from the drawing board to an actual vehicle.

Wanna watch? Of course you do. Scroll on down for the video extravaganza.

Continue reading Watch SRT showcase the 2013 Viper with new series of videos

Watch SRT showcase the 2013 Viper with new series of videos

The 2013 SRT Viper stole the New York Auto Show this week with its 640-horsepower 8.4-liter V10 and the promise of even better tire-melting performance. It’s the crown jewel in Chrysler’s Street and Racing Technology brand headed by Ralph Gilles, President and CEO of SRT, Senior Vice President of Chrysler Design and the man most credited with resurrecting this beast.

Discontinued in 2010, the Viper was always a brutal and unforgiving car. It was the baseball bat of supercars.

Autoblog got a chance to sit down with Gilles and ask him five questions. Always the gentleman, Gilles answered six.

Gilles and his team walked a narrow line refining the Viper to the point of Italian Boss Sergio Marchionne’s acceptance, but still remaining true to the car.

Before, the Viper was brutal, it’s transmission tunnel heated up so much, the sparse cockpit turned into a crock pot. It did not even offer stability control, now required by law, meaning one wrong move, one slip of the clutch and the Viper would be wrapped around a light pole faster than an airbag deployment.

Even getting out of the Viper, with its side-mounted exhaust pipes, could be a challenge, giving the car one last chance to leave its mark, literally, on your calf.

Autoblog got a chance to sit down with Gilles and ask him five questions. Always the gentleman, Gilles answered six.

AB: The new design is pure Viper, but it seems to have some influence from those Italian super cars. What’s the percentage of the Viper that’s American, percentage that’s Italian?

Gilles: Maybe five percent Italian. The seats, the seats are the same supplier as Ferrari. It’s all American. Done inside, done outside, it’s all all American.

Continue reading Five Questions with Ralph Gilles about the 2013 SRT Viper

Five Questions with Ralph Gilles about the 2013 SRT Viper

There have been a number of iconic racing liveries over the course of history – JPS and Gulf spring immediately to mind – and every historic racing fan has his or her favorite. But few are as downright awesome as Martini. The Italian vermouth label has sponsored everything from Lancias to Fords, but many of its very awesomest have been Porsches. Like this bitchin’ 917/LH.

This long-tail version (Langheck in German) of the all-conquering 917 racer was fielded twice at Le Mans: once by Porsche Salzburg in 1970, and once by Martini Racing (which gave it its enduring paintjob) in 1971. It qualified first and second at those respective runnings, but proved fragile over the course of the 24-hour race and failed to finish both times.

The overall results don’t mean that this isn’t a devastatingly beautiful example of motor racing history, or that it’s anything less than priceless. Better check it out in our gallery of images from the show floor before it’s secreted back off to Porsche Museum in Stuttgart.

1970 Porsche 917/LH makes rare trip from Porsche Museum to New York

We love Mini’s sense of humor, and its April Fools’ Day pranks this year were among our favorites. While we really, really wanted the Cowley camper to be real, Mini actually went ahead and built the Amphibious “Yachtsman” – and then brought it to the New York Auto Show, just as promised to in its fake April 1 press release.

Considering that some car companies have been known to release real press releases that are disingenuous at best, we’re even more bemused by Mini’s antics.

Click past the jump to read the entire absurd press release, then go ahead and check out our gallery of high-res images of the Yachtsman.

Continue reading Mini Cooper Yachtsman Concept has us all fooled

Mini Cooper Yachtsman Concept has us all fooled

Chevrolet has over a hundred years of heritage from which it can call upon when the right marketing angle presents itself. Like, for instance, when it launches a brand-new Impala for the 2014 model year, as it has just done at the 2012 New York Auto Show. As such, the automaker has brought a mint 1966 Chevrolet Impala SS 427 Convertible to display alongside its new family sedan.

We’ll get this right out of the way: the 1966 ‘Vert has nothing in common with the 2014 sedan, other than its nameplate.

Regardless, it’s always fun to ogle over a classic muscle car, and this ‘66 Impala is, perhaps, the very best of its full-size breed. The 427-cubic-inch V8 was factory rated at 390 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque – plenty more than necessary to turn those 7.5-inch-wide bias-ply tires into plumes of smoke, and the four-speed manual and 3.55:1 gears mean it’s properly equipped for 1960s-style stoplight showdowns.

Check out this classic Impala SS in our high-res image gallery, and before we all get too sentimental for the old times, remember two points: First, as awesome as this machine undoubtedly is, it could never be sold today due to safety and emissions reasons. Second, most of the millions of Impalas sold over the years were much more pedestrian models than this stunning blue SS.

Caveats aside, we want this car rumbling away in our virtual garage. Badly.

1966 Chevrolet Impala SS 427 Convertible reminds us of days long gone

Anyone with an Xbox 360 and Forza Motorsport 4 will be able to get their hands on a virtual version of the all-new 2013 SRT Viper. As revealed at its New York Auto Show debut, the hotly anticipated American supercar is headed to the game as part of an exclusive Viper Pack.

Turn 10, the studio behind the game’s development, has revealed that the Viper Pack will be available this summer, and in addition to a drivable version of the Viper, will also include a Viper Autovista experience that lets players inspect the car very closely using their controllers or the hands-free Kinect system. Pricing for the pack has not yet been mentioned, and though not confirmed, we hope the GTS-R racing version of the Viper that debuted alongside the production car will also be digitized for the game and included in the pack.

Keep scrolling to watch the official 50-second teaser video of the 2013 SRT Viper in Forza Motorsport 4.

Continue reading Viper coming to Forza this summer, will include Autovista version [w/video]

Viper coming to Forza this summer, will include Autovista version [w/video]

We have to admit to being fairly smitten with the promise of the low-slung Acura NSX concept that debuted at the Detroit Auto Show back in January. But for this moment – and for the next several moments – “promise” is all it is, because Acura says we shouldn’t expect an NSX in showrooms until sometime around 2015. (Back in January, Acura advised that the production car is “expected to debut in the next three years.”) Until then, Honda’s premium outpost is going to do whatever it can to stoke the fires to keep interest high, including star-studded Super Bowl commercial appearances and this – a drophead spinoff that will be Tony Stark’s ride in this summer’s The Avengers blockbuster from Marvel.

We first saw this car thanks to some intrepid movie set shots by would-be paparazzi back in early October, but this is the first official acknowledgement and image of the car that we’ve seen. Early in March, we told you about alleged patent drawings of an NSX convertible that was very similar to the Detroit showcar, which some interpreted as Acura planning both a fixed-head coupe and a roadster for production. However, those drawings look an awful lot like the car shown here with the exception of small details like a unique wheel pattern and differing seatbacks, so while it’s possible that Acura is pondering a topless NSX, the renderings could have simply been to protect design rights to the movie car, especially considering that neither Stark’s ride nor the patent drawings appear to have headlamps.

We’ll have to wait and see what Acura decides regarding its Ohio-built all-wheel-drive hybrid supercar, but we suspect that even if it does greenlight a convertible version, we probably won’t see it until 2016. Which is… a really long time to keep believing in a promise.

Continue reading Acura previews Tony Stark’s NSX roadster from The Avengers

Acura previews Tony Stark’s NSX roadster from The Avengers