Lotus Elise News

The Proton-owned company will officially unveil and name the mid-engined 2+2 coupe — the first all-new car from Lotus since the Elise in 1995 – at the British Motorshow on July 22.The car will be powered by a Toyota 3.5-litre V6 with dual VVT-i (‘intelligent’variable valve timing) developing 206kW, sitting on a lightweight chassis Lotus says aimed at ensuring “visceral all-round dynamic performance”.Lotus ride and handling engineers claim that it is faster around the Nürburgring than the Elise and more stable at speed than the Exige.The prototype is said to have a maximum speed of 257km/h and to hit 100km/h in less than five seconds.The Project Eagle production car will be also be available as a two-seater, with the rear seat of the 2+2 given over to luggage space. Lotus says other versions are being planned, including a convertible and hi-po version.The car’s interior features leather upholstery, and high-tech flush-mounted controls with glowing blue LED haloes.Just 2000 cars will be built per year, with deliveries starting in 2009.Penned in-house by Lotus Design boss Russell Carr, Project Eagle is the first of three new models on the Lotus drawing board, aimed at revitalising the company.In the press blurb, Carr points to the dramatically sculpted lines of the car, cab-forward proportion, muscled haunches and gaping air intakes as cues that highlight its “serious” sportscar intent.The fit-out includes sport seats, flat-bottomed steering wheel and touchscreen multimedia system with a removable hard-drive for the satnav function. The Alpine audio set-up sound enhancement technology to cancel acoustic imbalances caused by different areas of the cabin.Lotus swears the boot will take a set of golf clubs, and both back seats feature child seat mounting points to strap the kiddies in tight while you’re exploring the handling boundaries. 

The price premium is good value considering the power gain.Elise SC has a compact supercharger in a special, one-piece casting of the intake manifold to the 1.8-litre variable-valve, four-cylinder engine.It lacks an intercooler, saving weight compared with the supercharged version of its stablemate, the Exige.Lotus says the new Elise SC has been engineered as a fast road car and so gets a progressive throttle response. The variable camshaft does not switch in at a single point but rather comes into effect between 4000rpm and 6200rpm, depending on how the car is driven.The 162kW of power and, at 5000rpm, the 212Nm of torque are each about 15 per cent more than the Elise R. In deeper contrast, it's 62 per cent more power than the Elise S, yet at 870kg is just 10kg heavier.That translates to a 0-100km/h time of 4.6 seconds, so watch out six-litre V8 HSV drivers. But the real talents of the Lotus are in cornering and braking.The SC version has slightly wider rear wheels with 225/45 tyres. Its 17in diameter alloys have a unique design helping Lotus spotters pick it from other Elises, while its rear wing is another identification aid.It has AP Racing calipers at the front and Brembo calipers at the rear on 282mm ventilated discs - more than enough braking for such a light car.Instrumentation includes lights warning to change up a gear as the engine approaches its redline.The Elise S sells for $69,990, Elise R $94,990 and the new Elise SC $104,990.A touring pack costs $8000, a sports pack $7000 and options include removable hardtop and traction control. 

That's because the Rinspeed sQuba can literally dive under the water and continue to operate submerged, just like a submarine.

Hired straight from graduating by Toyota's Calty Design Research studios near Los Angeles, Ian Cartabiano's path was laid out early. His mother was a sculptor, his father an industrial designer and the family were car nuts.He toyed with the idea of becoming a film director, but the cars won out when Toyota signed him on in 1997. So now Cartabiano drives a Toyota-engined Lotus Elise and a bunch of Toyota cars he helps design.Calty senior executive Erwin Lui says the design studio is a “conduit for American tastes and the American market”.Toyota's sales volume, and direct involvement, in the US auto industry has grown considerably since the mid-1990s. Toyota in Japan recognises the worldwide influence of the Californian culture.This is a young, diverse and faddish place with a huge appetite for the latest in style and technology. Equally, California has long been a car place, a hot-rodders' and imports paradise.Among Calty's recent design includes; the wild Toyota FJ Cruiser from 2006 creating a modern spin on the original Landcruiser, then there's the latest Tundra which is a full-sized American pickup and finally the 2007 Kluger known as Highlander in the US.For Cartabiano, the Kluger did not come easy. “It was one of the hardest projects I've been involved with,” he says.“The Highlander (Kluger) is our most mainstream SUV, it's like the Camry of SUVs.”So Cartabiano's early grille for instance the strong horizontal bars, which was abandoned and deemed a little too tough.“This car had to look strong and tough but also intelligent,” he says. “It had to have an intelligent silhouette and be proud of what it is. The previous Kluger had a kind of waddly look and the wheels looked like they had been sucked in.”The new philosophy for Toyota design, still being analysed and understood, is “vibrant clarity”. Automotive design has become more a marketing tool in recent years, manufacturers chasing individual expressions to define the “face” of each car family, he says.Cartabiano gave the Kluger a new wheel focus, a stronger face with more style muscle to the bonnet and more shoulder to the rear. There is the hint of flare over the mudguards and both 17-inch or 19-inch wheels fill out the guards.There is a more athletic look to this next Kluger, without disguising the cabin length and the fact that this is a seven-seater SUV.“There had to be a balance between form and function,” Cartabiano says.He is happy with the production version although, while understanding the need to tone it down, he does miss that original design for the Kluger grille. The end result is a more sophisticated style than the original wagon, inside and out.The new Toyota Kluger is smarter all round, with some similarities to its little brother the RAV4 and Hyundai's Santa Fe. 

Lotus will give its new Europa S Grand Tourer its Asia-Pacific debut at Darling Harbour on 26 October, while Mazda will unveil the folding-hardtop version of its perennially popular MX-5.The Europa S is based upon Lotus' mainstay model, the Elise, but has been extensively redesigned to provide higher levels of comfort and refinement.The new model has a larger boot and luggage compartment as well as a higher roofline and lower sills for easier driver and passenger access.Unique exterior styling and interior luxuries such as leather upholstery, carpets and driver and passenger airbags complete the package.Despite the extra size and features the Europa S maintains the reputation of Lotus for lightweight aluminium chassis construction, tipping the scales at just 995kg.The low kerb weight combines with a torquey 263Nm 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine to give the Europa S a supercar-like 0-100km/h acceleration time of 5.5 seconds.Mazda, meanwhile, has used its expertise in lightweight engineering to give the MX-5 the retractable hardtop treatment.The folding metal roof on the MX-5 Roadster Coupe adds just 37kg to the low weight of the soft-top model, thereby keeping the MX-5's lithe responses unaffected.Mazda says that when the MX-5 Roadster Coupe goes on sale at the Sydney motor show in October it will appeal to a new group of customers."The Roadster Coupe will expand the MX-5's fan base, appealing to those who have expressed the desire to enjoy open-top driving in even greater comfort," says Mazda Australia's managing director, Doug Dickson.Sales of the MX-5 soft-top have exploded so far this year, rising almost 420 per cent over the same period of 2005. The MX-5 Roadster Coupe and Lotus Europa S will be on display at the Australian International Motor Show from 5pm, 26 October and every day until 5 November.