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Lotus has put a halt to all development of future models. The news comes after the Malaysian government sold its controlling stake in Lotus parent company Proton. According to EVO, the company’s takeover regulations require all involved parties to enter into a “lockdown” wherein anything outside of normal business is brought to a halt. For Lotus, that means stalling development for 60 days and pushing back launch dates for vehicles like the Exige S, Evora GTE and the upcoming Esprit successor. Lotus CEO Dany Bahar is currently engaged in talks with DRB-Hicom, Proton’s new owner, in an attempt to ensure the industrial conglomerate holds onto the sports car maker.

Odds are we won’t know what the future has in store for Lotus until after the due diligence period comes to a close. In the mean time, Lotus will continue to build and sell cars as well as engage motorsports efforts. It will also be the featured marque at the 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Lotus model development on lockdown as company looks to change hands

Land Rover has made no secret of the fact that the company aims to flesh out its stable between now and 2017 with the addition of around 40 new model variants. Now Inside Line has given us the first hint of what the first of those models may bring to the table. According to reports, the company is in the beginning stages of developing a new leisure range to slot below the current LR2. Details are scarce at the moment, but the vehicle will reportedly be the smallest Land Rover to wear the company’s badge if it gets the nod for production.

The company also intends to give hardware like the LR2 and LR4 a significant update with freshened exteriors and interiors that are more carlike in an attempt to lure in more buyers.

Land Rover is likely hoping to replicate the warm reception of the Range Rover Evoque in a less expensive, more accessible package. Sounds good to us.

Land Rover mulling sub-LR2 “leisure” model

Linsanity’s next stop could be your local neighborhood Volvo dealer. If you live in China, that is.

According to a report by Bloomberg, Jeremy Lin, the sophomore NBA sensation is in talks with the Chinese-owned carmaker about signing up to endorse the brand overseas. Lin, the bilingual point guard from Harvard, has entered the NBA limelight this season while playing for the New York Knicks.

According to Bloomberg, Lin is the first American of Chinese descent to play in the NBA. Former NBA All-Star Yao Ming, a Chinese national, remains one of the most popular celebrities in China after his retirement from pro basketball last summer. Tapping into the NBA’s growing popularity in China could help boost Volvo, which is not as well known as more established luxury brands like Audi or Buick.

For Lin, capitalizing on his nascent success with Volvo would have to be seen as a positive move, given the fickle world of sports endorsements. As talented as Lin is, the annals of the NBA are littered with flash-in-the-pan guys who had but 15 minutes of fame before fouling out of celebrity life forever.

NBA sensation Jeremy Lin talking to Volvo about sponsorship deal

A brand like Mini is as much about image as it is about the vehicles it produces. Hence a seemingly endless array of branded merchandise, joined by this latest collection made in collaboration with Carmina Campus.

The fashion brand directed by Ilaria Venturini Fendi – youngest daughter of the famed fashion-design family – is distinguished by its use of recycled materials, and in the case of the Mini collection, uses all manner of discarded components from the Mini product line. Everything from seatbelts and convertible-roof canvas to scraps of metal bodywork and leather upholstery have been repurposed into a range of travel and city bags for both men and woman.

The collection includes everything from briefcases and laptop bags to purses and suitcases. Only fifty individually-numbered pieces will be made, with prices ranging from 350 to 700 euros (~$450-900) available in store and online. Details in the press release below and the extensive high-res image gallery above.

Continue reading Carmina Campus repurposes Mini parts into bag collection

Carmina Campus repurposes Mini parts into bag collection

Leave it up to the Top Gear crew to put this one together. No, not the famous British crew of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May; the staff behind this video of a Peugeot 207 rally car going up against a downhill skier hails from Italy and represents Top Gear Magazine.

Of course, before any downhill festivities can properly commence, the car needs to make its way up the mountain course… and that’s when the magic starts to happen, making use of the most serious set of spiked tires we’ve ever seen.

What goes up, must come down, right? And so down it goes, chasing the Pug’s co-pilot, Anna Andreussi, right back down from whence it came. It’s all in good fun, with plenty of aerial acrobatics to go along with the expected snow drifting shenanigans. See it all go down yourself in the video below.

Continue reading Top Gear puts Peugeot 207 rally car up against downhill skier in Italy

Top Gear puts Peugeot 207 rally car up against downhill skier in Italy

According to Chevrolet, the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will kick off without an Impala on the starting grid. That’s news itself, considering how intertwined the Impala is with Chevy’s NASCAR presence, earning 70 wins since 2007.

Even more intriguing, though, is that Chevy says it “will be racing a vehicle based on a new nameplate to the brand’s lineup.” That means the 2013 racer won’t be a Malibu or Cruze. Whatever it may be, Chevrolet says that both the race version and the production version will be debuted “in the coming year.”

As far as speculation goes, it’s hard not to point a finger in the direction of the Chevrolet Caprice, which is currently available in the United States for police duty only. Will everyday consumers finally get another crack at a high-performance rear-wheel-drive Chevy sports sedan? If so, what will it be called, and will it wear the coveted SS nomenclature?

We have no idea. What we do know, however, is that Jim Campbell, vice president of Chevrolet Performance Vehicles and Motorsports, says the automaker is testing camouflaged vehicles and that the production version will be “just like” the race car. We’ll just have to wait and see about that… In the meantime, see the complete press release below.

Continue reading Chevrolet to replace Impala in NASCAR for 2013, new production model hinted

Chevrolet to replace Impala in NASCAR for 2013, new production model hinted

A design studio and contract manufacturer, when Pininfarina builds a car it’s typically under another brand’s auspices. That could change, however, with the Cambiano.

Unveiled just last week at the Geneva Motor Show, the 680-horsepower plug-in hybrid coupe concept – which we had the opportunity to examine close-up in the ramp-up to the show – is being considered for limited production.

If built for public consumption, the Cambiano is tipped to ditch the concept’s diesel turbine in favor of a more conventional electric powertrain with its range extended by a diesel engine. If Pininfarina were to build just ten examples, the pricetag on each would amount to about 1 million euros (approximately $1.3 million at today’s conversion rates) but if ramped up to 70 or 75 units, each would fetch around 400,000 euros (about $525,000).

Pininfarina mulling limited production run of Cambiano PHEV concept

It’s pretty obvious that automakers’ definition of the word ‘coupe’ these days is a far cry from the traditional meaning. (We do live in the world of the “four-door coupe,” after all.) That said, Car and Driver reports that Mini will call the company’s two-door Paceman Concept the Countryman Coupe once it hits production.

While it’s true that both the Paceman Concept and most coupes have two doors, the vehicle is more of a CUV/hatchback/crossover, at least to our eyes. Even so, the fact that the vehicle will reportedly share the Countryman moniker is no shock. Both vehicles wear the same nose front fascia, grille, headlights, fenders and hood. Even so, based on the automaker’s current naming convention, that means we’ll have to get used to saying something like “Mini Cooper S Countryman Coupe.” Because that won’t get confusing or anything.

Last we heard, the three-door Countryman will go on sale in 2013 as a 2014 model, and rumor has it that the production model will debut at the Paris Motor Show later this year. A few patent drawings have already made their way to the web, indicating the final version will be remarkably similar to the concept we’ve already seen.

Mini changing Paceman name to Countryman Coupe for production

This year’s Geneva Motor Show served up a scintillating buffet of vehicles, but the Lamborghini Aventador J may very well have been our favorite. With no roof, no windshield and all of the insane running gear of the standard Aventador, the roadster is the embodiment of exotic. But according to Top Gear, the car went from design sketch to reality in record time. Designer Filippo Perini told TG he first sketched up the Aventador J in mid-January after CEO Stephan Winkelmann asked his crew to to come up with something special for Geneva.

Despite the apparent similarities between the Aventador and the new Aventador J, the two models share only a handful of body components, including the front hood, fenders, headlights and rear fenders. Everything else is bespoke just for the concept.

If you like what you see as much as we do and want to take one home, too bad. The world’s only Aventador J is already sold to an unnamed collector for the lofty sum of $2.74 million at current conversion rates.

Lamborghini Aventador J Geneva star conceived, built in six weeks

When we initially reported on the incredible Drendel Family Porsche collection that would be up for sale at Gooding & Company’s Amelia Island auction, we figured that many of the cars would command impressive sums. Now that it’s over, we doubt that even the auction house could have guessed just how successful the sale could be.

Held in conjunction with the Amelia Island Concours in the beginning of March, the auction smashed eleven world records for Porsches. A 1973 Porsche 917/30 Can-Am Spyder broke the record for both the most expensive Porsche and a 917 at $4.4 million, a 1955 Porsche 550 dropped the hammer at a record $3.685 million, and a 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR Turbo sold for $3.245 million. Other records broken include top prices for a Porsche 935, 962, 911 GT1, 906, 934, 924, 968 and 944. In total, ten cars sold for more than a million dollars, and all sales combined for a final sum of $36 million.

See below for more details on Gooding & Company’s 2012 Amelia Island auction as well as a full list of the most expensive cars sold.

Continue reading Million dollar Porsches highlight record-breaking Gooding & Company Amelia Island auction

Million dollar Porsches highlight record-breaking Gooding & Company Amelia Island auction

Residents of Amish communities famously eschew almost all trappings of modernity. No TV, no telephones, limited use of electricity, and, gasp, no Autoblog! But there comes a time in a young Amish person’s life when they’re allowed to go out and taste the world. And sometimes alcohol.

Case in point: Sunday evening, police in Sherman, N.Y. were responding to reports of a group of young Amish having a “buggy party.” Before they could get there, though, another buggy carrying four Amish allegedly switched lanes abruptly and collided with the patrol car.

The buggy flipped, injuring one of the passengers and, we imagine, spilling what police say was the fruits of a beer run.

The crash must have been loud enough for the partygoers to hear, because when the cops finally showed up, several buggies were observed fleeing the scene.

The four passengers of the bashed-up buggy are charged with underage possession of alcohol. The driver, 20, faces additional charges since police say he admitted to being the host of the party.

And, by the way, the horse is fine. Police say it, wisely, fled the scene and took shelter in a nearby barn.

Four Amish charged with illegal alcohol possession after crashing into police car

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began an investigation of the 2003 and 2004 Infiniti M45 late last year over inaccurate fuel gauge readings, and now that probe has resulted in an official recall. The culprit has been identified as a faulty circuit board that causes the gauge to register more fuel in the tank than the car actually has.

According to NHTSA, Infiniti will begin notifying owners in mid-April, at which time they can take their sport sedans to the dealer to be replaced free of charge. Follow the jump for the official word from NHTSA with more details.

Continue reading Infiniti recalling 2003-2004 M45 sedans over potential fuel gauge issue

Infiniti recalling 2003-2004 M45 sedans over potential fuel gauge issue

U.S. District Judge James Selna – who has presided over the unintended acceleration cases against Toyota since 2010 – says the automaker does not have the right to compel 20 named plaintiffs into arbitration. The plaintiffs are seeking class-action status for lawsuits covering economic losses from the alleged issue of unintended acceleration. Toyota had maintained that leasing and purchase agreements signed by the owners denies owners the right to class-action litigation.

According to Bloomberg, although the ruling covers all 20, the are two kinds of plaintiffs in this instance. The judge decided that Toyota had lost its right to arbitration with fifteen of the plaintiffs only because Toyota waited so long to pursue it. Selna concluded that since the plaintiffs had come so far in the litigation process that “They would be prejudiced if their claims were required to be submitted to arbitration now.”

Selna further denied Toyota’s right to arbitration with the remaining five because “the carmaker wasn’t a party to the arbitration agreements between the plaintiffs and the Toyota dealers.” The ruling finalizes the tentative decision Selna issued last month.

Class-action status for the plaintiffs, however, has not yet been granted. Three trials are scheduled for next year, and they will be used to set precedents for evidence, liability and theories. It is expected that a final decision on class-action status will come after the conclusion of those three cases.

Ruling says Toyota can’t require arbitration for unintended acceleration plaintiffs

Fisker has found itself struggling with a range of technical issues shortly after the launch of the company’s Karma extended-range EV, from faulty battery packs to pesky software updates. According to one former employee, that’s no surprise. According to GigaOM, the worker in question reportedly left the company because of a push to get the production model out the door to satisfy Department of Energy loan requirements even though the early cars had a range of technical issues that still required sorting. The report lacks much in the way of specifics, and the unnamed defector now works for another EV startup, Coda, leading some to question the individual’s motives.

Fisker, meanwhile, says quality and customer satisfaction are top priorities for the company, and that the automaker has been quick to solve any issues that have surfaces thus far. Owners have access to a 24-hour VIP help line in the case of a technical problem.

While the DOE awarded the company a $529 million loan in 2009, Fisker has only been able to draw on a portion of the funds due to delays in the Karma development.

Whistleblower alleges Fisker Karma pushed to market prematurely to meet DOE loan conditions

You may never have heard of the French carmaker Facel. After starting out as a coachbuilder for companies like Delahaye and Bentley, Facel moved on to crafting entire cars. From 1954 to 1962, the company produced the Chrysler Hemi-powered Vega. Facel closed its doors in 1964, but some intriguing sketches and renderings have stirred up a lot of chatter on the Internet of a possible revival of the brand.

Details are scarce and almost impossible to verify, but if Google’s translation of French websites are believable, the image above is a rendering of what the resurrected Facel could show off at this September’s Paris Motor Show and we might even see a production version in 2014. But rumors written in French translated by Google are not exactly credible. The images all appear to come from a constantly updated Facebook page called “Facel Vega Concept.”

Swoopy fenders, and a slick greenhouse wrap the four-seater concept in a sports car disguise. The interior sketches show minimal seating that seem more suited to racing than relaxing.

Speaking of performance, there’s no mention of what would power such a car, but it sure is fun imagining that car barking with the power of Dodge’s 392-cubic inch, 470-horsepower, 6.4-liter Hemi. Sinister sexiness.

Facel Vega revival in the works?

The DeltaWing project now has two major corporate backers and, more importantly, an engine. Nissan and Michelin have signed on with the innovative project of designer Ben Bowlby, Dan Gurney’s All-American Racers and Don Panoz. Now called the Nissan DeltaWing, the Japanese firm will provide a turbocharged, direct-injected 1.6-liter, four-cylinder with an output of around 300 horsepower. Known as DIG-T, the powerplant shares the same roots as the engine in the Nissan Juke.

That’s about 200 hp down on the 510 horsepower developed by the diesel V6 in the Audi R18 e-tron Quattro and about half the horsepower developed by other LMP1 racers. However, Nissan says the engine is half the weight of a typical LMP1 motor, and paired with the DeltaWing’s minimal aerodynamic drag, the lap times are said to be somewhere between those of the LMP1 and LMP2 classes. Why does this matter? Because Nissan and Co. are taking this needle-nosed baby to Le Mans.

Of call cars and classes, Nissan says this strangest looking effort is one that will “showcase the pioneering technology that will show one potential direction for the future of motorsport and will feed into the research and development of future technologies, that filter down to Nissan’s road car product range.”

The Nissan DeltaWing will be allowed to run in the 24 Hours of Le Mans following a special dispensation for an experimental car that doesn’t follow any technical guidelines offered by ACO, the organizer of Le Mans. It will use Garage 56, it will wear Number 0, and won’t be classified in the results. Even so, we’ll be watching closely. Follow the jump for a video of the racecar’s development and a press release detailing Nissan’s involvement.

Continue reading Nissan backs DeltaWing racecar, headed for Le Mans [w/video]

Nissan backs DeltaWing racecar, headed for Le Mans [w/video]

If you have your heart set on picking up a new Subaru BRZ, you better get moving. Car and Driver reports the automaker is only shipping 6,000 of the coupes to the U.S. for the 2013 model year. The news reportedly surfaced via a Subaru dealer. While the automaker hasn’t officially announced exactly how many 2013 BRZ Coupe models will be allocated for American buyers, it has said the vehicle will arrive in “extremely limited quantities” in the past.

The news dovetails with earlier reports, which indicated the company would need to sell somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000 units at $25,000 a piece to break even, though at the time, no one mentioned Subaru wouldn’t bump up production if there was demand.

We’ve reached out to the automaker for comment and will keep you posted on any forthcoming information. In the mean time, we’ll leave you to pour over your finances to figure out how to bring one of these fine-handling machines home before there are none left. Word has it Subaru is already accepting pre-orders.

Preorder Now: Subaru only sending 6,000 BRZ Coupes to U.S. in 2013

If you’ve ever wanted to flag down one of Mexico City’s classic Volkswagen Bug taxis, you’d better book your travel now. The last of the iconic cabs will be decommissioned by the end of the year, according to the Associated Press.

VW hasn’t built the classic Beetle since 2003, the same year that Mexico City began requiring that taxi operators switch to four-door vehicles. The last Bugs that entered service as cabs back in 2002 have already been given two extra years of service compared to most taxis, according to the report.

The cabs are considered particularly dangerous, not just because they are essentially 74-year-old cars, but also because cab drivers generally remove the front passenger seat to facilitate access to the cramped rear quarters of the Beetle. But the cars are cheap to operate and according to one former Mexico City cabbie, help make the streets safer.

“Today the cars are bigger, and they drive faster,” Vera Perez told the AP, “Before, they drove more cautiously, because any accident would destroy them.”

Mexico finally stomping out its fleet of VW Bug taxis

Volvo sold 449,255 cars globally in 2011, with 67,240 of those sales coming from right here in the States. By 2020, CEO Stefan Jacoby aims to boost those numbers to 800,000 sales globally and 120,000 here, and to do so, he can’t let the exchange rate between the dollar and the euro stand in the way. That’s why, according to a report in Automotive News, Jacoby says the company will spend “the next two or three years” considering building a plant in the U.S. or Mexico.

Jacoby made much the same comments six months ago at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show, but now he’s added a timeframe to the discussion. Even on the optimistic end, if Volvo decided to build a factory in 2014 and got the site chosen and the facility built in 18 months, it would probably be 2016 before anyone would benefit from locally produced cars. Nevertheless, with the new V40 due for a new generation not long after, that it might make a perfect timing for us to finally get the svelte hatchback we’d much rather have right now.

Jacoby reiterates Volvo considering NA plant

According to Reuters, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has trained its gaze on nearly two million million Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable models over a potential stuck throttle issue.

This past Sunday, March 11, NHTSA announced it would investigate 360,000 Taurus sedans from the 2005 and 2006 model years after the government safety regulator received 14 complaints of a stuck throttle due to cruise control cable detachment. A day later, The Detroit News reported that NHTSA has expanded its investigation to include all 2001 through 2006 Taurus and Sable models for a total of 1.92 million vehicles, and in a letter to Ford, said that it has located a total of 30 such complaints.

Reuters says at least one complaint noted that the Taurus’ engine can race to 4,000 RPM after the car is shifted into Park or Neutral, and there were further complaints indicating that affected models were difficult to slow. In certain cases, the transmission had to be shifted into Neutral or the engine turned off to stop the car.

Ford is reportedly cooperating with the NHTSA probe and no recall has been announced.

NHTSA probing nearly 2 million Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable models over stuck throttles