Our aim is to raise the Lotus brand equity back to its rightful place as it existed in the 1970s when it competed with the likes of Ferrari, Porsche or Aston Martin. Maintaining the unique Lotus DNA is crucial, but with more relevance, greater efficiency and even more sustainability than we have had in the past.

Accelerating up the motorway slip road, the Ampera charges hard and deceptively quickly up to 50mph, but by then the single-speed electric motor’s flat torque curve has begun a nose dive and acceleration at high speeds is poor.

The 0-62mph time of 9 seconds and top speed of 100mph are an indication of this – most family hatchbacks with that sort of sprint capability will have a top speed of nearer 130mph

The Telegraph‘s Andrew English lays into the Chevy Volt/Opel Ampera’s high-speed acceleration, in an early test drive on European roads. Apparently an Opel engineer was embarassed enough by the performance to tell English that

We are considering driving the wheels directly from the petrol engine

Huh?

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Pity the automotive industry. With a minimum three-year lead time for new product development, timing vehicle launches to coincide with appropriate fuel price levels is never easy. Chevy’s Volt, for example, was developed and hyped during the gas price spike of 2008 when it seemed almost anyone would pay a hefty premium to ease some of the pinch at the pump. Now though, with gas prices holding steady at around $3, there’s reason to question whether consumers will flock to unproven, expensive vehicles like the Volt, absent a pressing economic incentive to reduce gas consumption. The Freep takes on this topic today, asking with gas prices so low, will anyone buy a Volt? And this is not mere media hype. Bob Lutz fretted about this possibility last year, when he said

If gasoline stays cheap, then the American public says, “I’m not interested in that; I will keep my Tahoe longer.” It puts us in the industry in a position where we are at war with the customer

This would be a depressingly familiar position for GM to find itself in, especially since it would be a product of The General striving to do something different. Gas prices are slowly beginning to go up again, but there’s no sign that this summer will see the kind of energy price volatility that will have the Volt and Cruze (let alone the Nissan Leaf) flying off dealer lots. Do you see gas prices going up soon? How expensive will gas need to be before Americans see cars like the Volt as a mainstream option? What happens to the Volt if gas prices stay level, or even drop? No only are these intrinsically interesting questions, but there’s also lots of money (including lots of taxpayer money) riding on the outcome. What say you?

Note to Volkswagen marketing: it’s important to know your competition. The Acura RDX is a compact SUV that comes with a standard turbocharged engine, a fact that makes your already-questionable marketing claim look just plain stupid. Alternatively, this is yet more proof that Acura is the most invisible brand in America. [Hat Tip:Alex Rashev]

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Possibly worried that SUVs are falling out of favor along with the dinosaur juice that keeps their desert kingdom afloat, Saudi Arabia is getting into the SUV business, with this Ghazal 1. Personally approved by King Abdullah, some 20,000 of these peculiarly-styled utes will be sold around the Gulf Region each year, according to Top Gear. The project started life as a Mercedes G-Wagen, which was re-skinned by students at King Saud University. Apparently the king was so impressed with the design (or just bored enough with his Escalade) that he approved the thing for production. Pricing, equipment and options are not available at the moment, but don’t expect the Ghazal 1 to do particularly well outside of the circle of Saudi Royal Family dependents. On the other hand, that is one hell of a market right there…

Nothing is worse than turning into something you’re not. I am not my father, and yet here I am besmirching his Curbside Classic series with this mystifying find. This Mk1 Scion xB is emphatically not a HUMMER, and yet… well, just look at it.

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Cars are rarely built for very long. This is, after all, the industry that invented the concept of planned obsolescence, and ever since GM surpassed Ford in the first half of the 20th Century cars have come and cars have gone. Of course there are a few exceptions. South Africa’s Citi Golf was a 25-year run of slowly-evolved Mk1 VW Golfs. And here’s news of another Volkswagen Methuselah: ChinaCarTimes reports that FAW will build the same Mk2 Jetta it’s been pumping out since 1991 until… 2015. If you could (given the hypothetical resources and market necessary for such a foolhardy venture) start with one car and slowly evolve it for 25 years, what would you start with and why? Are there any modern cars you could see being built for a 25 year run? Me, I’d do for the Lotus Elise what several small British companies did for that other great Lotus, the 7. Not because it would necessarily be easy, cheap or popular, but because it’s a vehicle that will likely never be replicated again, especially with Lotus now aiming for the Ferraris of the world. In 25 years, I’d be shocked if it had any real competition. Or if I ever got bored with it. What about you?

If you’re hoping the US market is in the midst of an upswing, it’s time to start adjusting expectations. Ford’s Mark Fields says the market has “flat-lined” since Q3 of last year, telling BusinessWeek

The consumer is feeling a bit better, but not enough to go out and go back to the old ways of spending. It gives us pause because of the tight labor market and the overall situation in the credit markets

Edmunds has released its forecast for June, and though it shows sales up consistently from May 2009’s miserable numbers, there seems no question but that June’s sales will be lower than May’s. Edmunds sees an 11.2m unit SAAR for June, down from 11.6m last month. We’ll wait to see the actual June numbers before we officially end all hope of a strong recovery, but it’s starting to look more and more like 2009 was closer to “the new normal” than anyone wants to think.

One Ford? Not in the all-important D-Segment. While America’s poncy Taurus languishes in sales, Europe’s Mondeo has been facelifted and is ready for another round of competition. And with a full compliment of Ecoboost four-cylinders and diesels, it’s likely to continue selling well there. Meanwhile, the Fiesta, Focus and more models from Ford’s European stables are headed stateside, but there’s still no word of a global unification of Ford’s D-segment offerings. Given that the Taurus has sold 60k units in the last 12 months, it might be time to consider bringing the Mondeo to America.

Since the start of the World Cup, chief sponsor Hyundai has already miffed the Catholics, and one of its ads accidentally caused British viewers to miss England’s first World Cup goal. So, to get things back on track they’ve apparently decided to sponsor… a giant vuvuzela? “Annoying” and “mildly offensive” were probably not the brand values Hyundai was looking to promote when they decided to sponsor the event. But hey, at least they’re not throwing competitors in jail.

If you go to www.alfaromeo.com, you’ll be invited to celebrate Alfa Romeo’s Centenary, which is officially marked today. Try to click on the “celebrate with us” button, however, and all you get is some digital smoke (bottom left) before being stranded by the side of the information superhighway. A temperamental machine? An inelegant operator? None of this matters when the view is so good. Click on “models” tab (the rest of the site works just fine) and you’ll see that, after 100 years, Alfa is still making some undeniably ache-worthy cars. The brand finds itself in an all-too familiar position: once great, and having slid languidly from grace, now in the midst of a life-or-death comeback. And though Alfa’s storyline may be familiar, its cars have always been, for better or for worse, distinctive. In this day and age, what more could a brand ask for?

Happy 100th, Bella!

This video, of the presentation at GM-SAIC’s 2010 Shanghai Expo pavilion, is not the newest video to hit the web (nor, necessarily, the most exciting), but it’s definitely worth a peek. The world of the future, as imagined by the automaker, is a classical leitmotiv of the industry, and its changes over the years can often reveal deep truths. Granted, this particular show is aimed at the international and Chinese audiences, but the contrast to footage of Futuramas past couldn’t be more stark. See for yourself, after the jump.
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Throughout the debate on Wall Street reform, I have urged members of the Senate to fight the efforts of special interests and their lobbyists to weaken consumer protections.  An amendment that the Senate will soon consider would do exactly that, undermining strong consumer protections with a special loophole for auto dealer-lenders.  This amendment would carve out a special exemption for these lenders that would allow them to inflate rates, insert hidden fees into the fine print of paperwork, and include expensive add-ons that catch purchasers by surprise.  This amendment guts provisions that empower consumers with clear information that allows them to make the financial decisions that work best for them and simply encourages misleading sales tactics that hurt American consumers. Unfortunately, countless families – particularly military families – have been the target of these deceptive practices.

This is what president Obama said just six weeks ago about efforts to exclude car dealership financing from consumer protection measures included in the forthcoming Financial Reform bill. With that bill moving towards Obama’s desk, all that stands in the way of its passage are angry dealers who don’t want to be subject to oversight. And despite the tough talk about standing up to financial interests to pass this reform, it seems Obama has caved to America’s auto dealers.

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According to a hot tip from Autocar, Toyota is using the delay of its FT-86 sportscar (top, right) to develop a larger “Supra” version, said to be hinted at by the FT-HS concept (bottom) and boasting a V6 hybrid drivetrain. A similar powerplant, based on the Highlander Hybrid system, was recently shown in a mid-engine MR2 evolution prototype (top, left). That model has apparently been approved for development, albeit with a 1.5 liter hybrid system, and aimed at Honda’s recently-released CR-Z. Which means that Toyota will go from offering nothing resembling a sportscar to selling two flavors of front-engine, rear-drive coupe and a mid-engine roadster. That’s what we call Moving Forward. Still, you have to wonder why these models weren’t released to take advantage of the LFA’s already-fading halo.