Lotus News

The show has been expanded this year with additional internal and external displays.More than 50 new models will be unveiled amongst the 500 cars on display.Headliners include the world premieres of Mitsubishi's Evolution X cult car, the new generation Toyota LandCruiser featuring new Australian-developed suspension technology, and Holden's new sportswagon. Several other world premieres are expected.Other highlights include a Lexus that parks itself, and cutting-edge concept cars from BMW, Hyundai and Škoda, and new sportscars from Bufori, Lamborghini, Lotus and Maserati.View all the latest news and action on the official Australian International Motorshow website at www.australianmotorshow.com

The GT inspired two-seater is aimed at providing Lotus customers with a spectacular sports car featuring higher levels of practicality and refinement compared with the sport-oriented Lotus Elise and Exige models. The new model has a larger boot and luggage compartment as well as a higher roofline and lower sills for easier access.Despite extra size and features the Europa S maintains Lotus's reputation for light weight, tipping the scales at just 995kg. The low kerb weight combines with a torquey 149kW, 263Nm 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine to give the Europa S a supercar-like power-to-weight ratio of 156kW/ tonne. The Europa sprints from 0-100km/h in just 5.5 seconds. Maximum speed is approximately 225 km/h (140 mph).Lotus has again employed advanced materials including its highly rigid extruded and bonded aluminium chassis, composite body panels and an advanced composite energy absorbing front crash structure.

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. 

Weighing 670kg (dry weight) the 2-Eleven pictured right is the ultimate expression of Lotus founder Colin Chapman's philosophy of performance through light weight.Giving the 2-Eleven its track-rocket performance is a supercharged and intercooled 1.8-litre engine, which puts out a maximum 188kW at peak revs of 8000rpm.Maximum torque of 242Nm arrives at 1000rpm lower with most of it on tap from just above idle.The 2-Eleven boasts a power to weight ratio similar to that of a 1960s Formula One car.“The Lotus 2-Eleven takes our core brand values to the extreme . . . not only phenomenally quick but also very user-friendly,” says Mike Kimberley of Lotus.The 2-Eleven will be built at Lotus HQ in Hethel, Norfolk, and finished in dedicated Lotus Sport workshops with each car given an individually numbered build plate.While a road-going version of the car will be available in the UK, Australian enthusiasts will be restricted to track fun in their $127,500 outlay, although they will get some extra performance goodies such as an enhanced aerodynamics package including high-downforce, single-plane, carbon-fibre rear wing, high-downforce front splitter, brake lights and and FIA approved driver's seat.

Members of the P1 performance club get the pick of some of the world's hottest and most expensive supercars, including brands such as Ferrari, Aston Martin and Lamborghini. P1 Australia director Peter Dempsey says the club has 12 cars and plans to add one new car for every extra five members."With our collection they can take any car out that suits them," he says. The cars are divided into five categories, the top one featuring the most expensive cars, such as a Ferrari F430 Spider and soon a Scaglietti, an Aston Martin DB9 Volante and Vanquish and a Lamborghini Murcielago.Other cars in the mix include a Bentley Continental GT, a Ferrari F430, Aston Martin V8 Vantage and various Porsches. The lower categories might not be quite as impressive, but they'll still turn heads. A BMW M5 and Z4 M Coupe, a Range Rover Sport and a Lotus Exige S2, add to the list.Dempsey says a Hummer H2 will be next to arrive, dressed with a leather package. He is also expecting the arrival of the Audi R8. But getting to drive your dream cars doesn't come cheap."There's a joining fee of $5000 and then there are three different levels of membership, $27,000, $32,000 or $36,500," Dempsey says.Top-end members have a possible 70 driving days a year, with the cheaper membership offering 50 days a year.The company originated in England six years ago, and was co-founded by former Formula One world champion Damon Hill.After two months of operation, the Sydney branch has 50 members. "In Sydney, we cap it at 150 members," Dempsey says. "That's a reflection of the sizeof commercial property that is available to store the cars."The founding British club has 74 cars, including a Ford GT and an Aerial Atom. But Dempsey says they haven't been able to bring these models, as the Atom isn't road legal in Australia and customs won't allow the GT in as it is a left-hand drive. "(But) we're the only ones doing it with the supercars, brand new cars," he says.And it seems that it's not just the usual suspects, the wealthy bankers, lawyers and financiers, who are getting on board.Dempsey says members come from all walks of life and include a greengrocer and a professional golfer. Doctors, dentists, solicitors and barristers are also taking up the chance to get behind the wheel of some amazing cars.The youngest member is a 22-year-old refrigeration engineer from western Sydney.The club takes care of all insurance, maintenance and storage fees and Dempsey says one of the main benefits is that members don't have to worry about huge depreciation on the vehicles."With high taxation, people understand that they're better off putting half a million dollars in an investment and getting to play the field (with) the cars," he says.And while the majority of those taking up the membership are male, Dempsey says women are also driving them as a memberships include two names as drivers."Often guys show the interest and then bring their wives on board as the second name driver," he says.The cars can be taken out for as little as a day, or it can run into months -- depending on members' wants and needs.Dempsey says the weather often forecasts what vehicles will be popular, with the convertibles a hit on the sunny weekends.A second British branch of the club opened in 2004 in Manchester.The Australian section will expand in March, when a Melbourne club is opened, with Formula One driver Mark Weber in attendance again. And Dempsey says that P1 International is also looking towards expanding into Dubai and Hong Kong.

Michael Schumacher retired with seven world championships, but 007 is up to 21 movies — with six different macho men in the role — and still going hard.During the past quarter-century and in 21 official films, Bond has been the target of more bad guys on wheels than anyone else in cinema history, yet he has always managed to escape without a scratch.And he has often pulled a nifty U-turn on the opposition with some sort of car trickery, from concealed machine guns on a 1960s Aston Martin to an '80s Lotus Esprit that morphed into a submarine — and even a remote-controlled BMW 7 Series in the '90s.Now he's back for the noughties, and doing it again in the remake of Casino Royale, which opened in cinemas just before Christmas. And he's back in an Aston Martin, just like the early days.The hype for the new 007 movie got me thinking not only about Bond's wheelwork in the latest British supercar, but also the dream car of my childhood: a scale model of the Aston Martin DB5 Bond drove in the 1960s.It came with all the Bond gear — revolving number plates, concealed machine guns, tyre-slashers, a bulletproof rear shield and even an ejector seat.In 1965, Corgi released its scale model of the gadget-laden DB5, and by 1968 nearly four million copies had been sold.It remains Corgi's best-known model, and I couldn't afford it.The release of the 21st-century Casino Royale has triggered a lot of talk about 007 and cars and movies.The model-making machine is already rolling again, with scaled-down copies of the DBS and even re-done — but de-gadgeted — replicas of the original DB5. And this time, there was a tiny Aston in my Christmas stocking.It's worth looking at what Bond cameos have done for car companies.BMW experienced plenty of benefit when it signed a multi-movie deal that began with its baby Z3 convertible. The world saw the car first when it was driven on the big screen by Bond. That deal continued with the Z8 convertible and the controversially styled 7, and even a BMW motorcycle.But then Britain bounced back for the last of Pierce Brosnan's appearances as Bond, when he slid back into an Aston and the baddies strapped into a rocket-equipped Jaguar.This time around, Agent 007 is driving a gorgeous new DBS, and there's even a special appearance by an original DB5.A poll has been conducted for the television series Top Gear on the most popular car chase in Bond movie history. And the winner is ... no, not the Aston. Not a Jaguar, nor the Lotus, nor even one of the BMWs.First choice was a crazy little Citroen 2CV that suffered all sorts of punishment — including being cut in half — when it was driven by Roger Moore in the 1981 film For Your Eyes Only. The four-wheeled co-stars:Dr No (1962): Sunbeam Alpine, Chevrolet Bel AirconvertibleFrom Russia With Love (1963): Bentley Mark IVGoldfinger (1964): Aston Martin DB5, Rolls-Royce, Mercedes 190SL, Lincoln Continental, Ford Mustang convertible, Rolls-Royce Phantom IIIThunderball (1965): Aston Martin DB5, Ford Mustang convertible, BSA Lightning motorcycle, gyrocopter1967 You Only Live Twice: Toyota 2000 GT, BMW CSOn Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969): Aston Martin DBS, Mercury Cougar, Bentley S2 Continental, Rolls-Royce CornicheDiamonds Are Forever (1971): Ford Mustang Mach 1, Triumph Stag, moon buggyLive And Let Die (1973): double-decker London bus, Chevrolet Impala convertible, MiniMokeThe Man With The Golden Gun (1974): AMC Hornet and Matador, Rolls-Royce Silver ShadowThe Spy Who Loved Me (1977): Lotus Esprit, Wetbike concept, Ford Cortina Ghia, Mini MokeMoonraker (1979): Bentley Mark IV, Rolls-Royce SilverWraithFor Your Eyes Only (1981): Citroen 2CV, Lotus Esprit Turbo, Rolls-Royce Silver WraithOctopussy (1983): Mercedes-Benz 250 SE, BMW 5 Series, Alfa Romeo GTVA View To A Kill (1985): Renault taxi, Ford LTD, Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II, Chevrolet Corvette C4The Living Daylights (1987): Aston Martin DBS and V8 Vantage, Audi 200 QuattroLicence To Kill (1989): Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, Kenworth petrol tankerGoldenEye (1995): BMW Z3, Aston Martin DB5, Russian tank, Ferrari 355Tomorrow Never Dies (1997): Aston Martin DB5, BMW 750iL, BMW R1200C motorcycleThe World Is Not Enough (1999): BMW Z8, Rolls-Royce Silver ShadowDie Another Day (2002): Aston Martin Vanquish, Jaguar XKR, Ford Thunderbird convertibleCasino Royale (2006): Aston Martin DBS and DB5, Jaguar E-type roadster, Fiat Panda 4x4, Ford Transit, Ford Mondeo

Alfa Romeo stepped up straight after the Peugeot unveiling of a woman, I mean a car. A 207 apparently.

It is, in its way, the best show for ages, with a quotient of concept vehicles and exotica balanced by real world stuff you'd actually consider buying.Highlights?It's hard to walk past Audi's R8, a fully-fledged supercar likely to come in with a "bargain" tag of substantially less than $300,000. Next to it is the second generation Audi TT, mightily improved and not screamingly unaffordable from $68,500 the entry model and about $20K more for its 3.2 V6 quattro sibling. We drove both of these through the Austrian Alps in June 2006, and will hazard the guess that Audi will struggle to meet demand for this superbly executed coupe.And, just for show, is a model of the R10 – the amazing V12 diesel that took first and third at this year's Le Mans.The great thing about concept cars is that they needn't conform to such tiresome criteria as Australian Design Rules - hence the lack of an A pillar on Saab's Aero Concept X. The lack of any pillars for that matter. Slightly more tangible is the 9-5 bio ethanol-powered wagon - a car to gladden the hearts of sugar cane growers.Lotus has revived an iconic brand name with the Europa S, a car that should affirm two-seater motoring can still be an unadulterated and largely unconstrained experience. When the product of mainstream manufacturers seems to keep getting fatter, like a choc-addicted neurotic, the mere existence of Lotus serves to remind us of (hard) core driving verities.Mazda's Kabura sports compact - with its cute 3+1 seating arrangement - is a concept from which the theme and shape of Mazdas to come can be divined. Ditto Honda's Sports 4 Concept for that marque. Or so we hope. While Honda's SH-AWD system is damn clever, it'd be neat to see it attached to something a little more athletic than the globulous Legend.A few metres away from the Kabura is the CX-7 - the crossover SUV with much of the Mazda 6 MPS's drivetrain - which you'll be seeing on our streets soon. It's one of two vehicles that perfectly defines what marketing types like to call the "zeitgeist" of the Australian buyer at the moment.The other, you may or may not choose to believe, is a Volvo. The S80 all-wheel-drive V8 luxury sedan might be the Swedish marque's new hero model, but their decidedly groovy 2+2, the C30, could be the car that finally puts paid to those ancient "bloody Volvo driver" cliches.It also points firmly in the direction that Australian private buyers are going ie: those of us not enamoured of soft road SUVs are downsizing but up-speccing.And speaking of good things in small packages, those who have queued long for the Volkswagen Golf GTI will be delighted to see that not only is demand being addressed, but the new to Australia three door-model starts $1500 under the five door at $38,490. VeeWee's highly desirable Eos CC, the big drawer at last year's Frankfurt motor show, finally made its Australian debut ahead of its release early in 2007.And yes, that's a turbo diesel variant you see parked near the turbo petrol. If diesel seems anomalous in a (part-time) open top car, it works.Given the mudslide of Holden hype this year, it comes almost as relief not to see some lurid concept jobbie from them for once, although unveiling the Hummer H3 did at least provide comic relief.With the pomp and circumstance we've come to expect from Holden on the opening day of the show, the covers were hauled off to anything but the reception they've come to expect.Far from the rapturous and somewhat sycophantic applause that greeted their Torana and Efijy creations, there was … well, the sound of no hands clapping. In fact, the silence that greeted this spectacularly pointless and ugly apparition could best be described as stoney.Nissan's Foria is a concept car we’d very much like to see come into fruition. Apart form the corporate grille, this is an elegant Lancia-like coupe intended as an MX-5-like alternative. 

The GT inspired two-seater is aimed at providing Lotus customers with a spectacular sports car featuring higher levels of practicality and refinement compared with the sport-oriented Lotus Elise and Exige models. The new model has a larger boot and luggage compartment as well as a higher roofline and lower sills for easier access.Despite extra size and features the Europa S maintains Lotus's reputation for light weight, tipping the scales at just 995kg. The low kerb weight combines with a torquey 149kW, 263Nm 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine to give the Europa S a supercar-like power-to-weight ratio of 156kW/ tonne. The Europa sprints from 0-100km/h in just 5.5 seconds. Maximum speed is approximately 225 km/h (140 mph).Lotus has again employed advanced materials including its highly rigid extruded and bonded aluminium chassis, composite body panels and an advanced composite energy absorbing front crash structure.

New Cars at Australian Motor Show