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Lotus Evora 400 arrives in December for $89,900

It's been three months to the day since Lotus revealed the new Evora 400. And if you've spent the intervening time pining and wondering just how much you'd need to set aside to put one in your driveway, you need wonder no longer. The British sports car manufacturer has just released pricing for the new-and-improved Evora 400, which will retail at Lotus showrooms in America for $89,900. Now that's a fair bit more than it was charging just last year for an Evora ($68,400) or the Evora S ($78,480), but for all that extra scratch, you get a lot more. The 400-horsepower model packs 55 more horses than the Evora S, weighs almost 50 pounds less, features a new diff, carbon-ceramic brakes, bodywork and interior, and benefits from returned electronics, suspension, gearbox, and more. (Buyers will also be able to opt for an automatic transmission, upgraded interior trim, appearance package, forged alloys and painted calipers, all at additional cost.) The result of all those upgrades – costly as they are – is a 0-60 time of just 4.1 seconds, a top speed of 186 miles per hour and a lap time around the company's test track at Hethel clocked at 1:32 – a full six seconds faster than the existing Evora S. If that sound enticing, North American deliveries are set to commence in December. Related Video: Show full PR text Lotus announces prices for Evora 400 · Prices start at GBP72,000 (UK) · High level of standard specification · Fastest and most powerful production Lotus ever · Deliveries from August 2015 Lotus Cars is delighted to announce the prices of the new Evora 400. The latest supercar from Lotus combines high performance with the legendary Lotus benchmark handling and is lighter, more efficient and dynamically better than ever, providing a purer driving experience. UK prices will start from GBP72,000 (for other markets, see table below). For this price the car benefits from a high level of standard specification including 370 mm composite two piece brake discs from AP Racing, a Limited Slip Differential, automatic air-conditioning and infotainment system including satellite navigation. In addition to this, the options list includes automatic transmission at GBP2,000, Alcantara or Leather trim upgrades at GBP2,500 and metallic paint at GBP900.

Lotus says it's hiring 200 new engineers in effort to expand

Lotus is making moves to rise back up in the automotive world. A report from The Telegraph says the British company will hire 200 new engineers. This batch of hiring comes from the pockets of new Chinese owner Geely. The plans also include the opening of a new engineering center in the U.K. away from its longtime home in Norfolk. Lotus CEO, Phip Popham said this about the new moves. "Lotus has been in survival mode for many years. We're taking on people here and also in the Midlands. We need to tap into the industrial resource outside Norfolk to help our growth," Popham said. These new hires are all part of a multi-billion dollar investment into Lotus from Geely to try and turn the company around. Ultimately, Lotus wants to triple its current production all the way up to 5,000 cars per year. One of the initiatives from this investment is an all-electric hypercar we saw teased not too long ago. Popham also spoke of making cars with a slightly different focus than the Lotus we know of today. "A car not just for the weekend, but one you can live with," Popham says. Ideas of a Lotus SUV or grand tourer have bounced around in the recent past, and those still appear to be in the company's plans. The British brand plans on tapping Geely for many items it doesn't already have, according to the report. These include modern items like digital display screens and parts required for electrification of its vehicles. A new platform meant to house these "livable" Lotus cars is said to be in the works.

China's Geely says it has no plan to buy Fiat Chrysler — as FCA stock leaps

HONG KONG — Chinese carmaker Geely Automobile denied media speculation on Wednesday that it planned to make a takeover bid for Fiat Chryslerk Automobiles (FCA), the world's seventh-largest automaker. Geely was one of several Chinese carmakers cited in by Automotive News, which said representatives of "a well-known Chinese automaker" had made an offer this month for FCA, which has a market value of almost $20 billion. "We don't have such a plan at the moment," Geely executive director Gui Shengyue told reporters at an earnings briefing, when asked if Geely was interested in Fiat. He said a foreign acquisition would be complicated, but he did not elaborate. "But for other (Chinese) brands, it could be a fast track for their development," Gui added. However, a source close to the matter said FCA and Geely Automobile's parent firm, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, had held initial talks late last year, without disclosing their nature. The source confirmed Geely was no longer interested in FCA, noting that the parent company had only three months ago announced its first push into Southeast Asia with the purchase of 49.9 percent of struggling Malaysian carmaker Proton, a deal that also included a stake in Lotus. Geel's denial failed to dent FCA's stock. The price of its Milan-based shares has jumped more than 10 percent to a 19-year high since Automotive News first reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources, that FCA had rejected the Chinese offer as too low. FCA stock on the New York Stock Exchange rose sharply on Monday from $11.60 to $12.38 and on Wednesday was trading at $12.84. FCA declined to comment on Wednesday. FCA Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne has repeatedly called for mergers as a way of sharing the costs of making cleaner, more advanced cars, but he has repeatedly failed to find a partner and retreated from his search for in April, saying FCA would stick to its business plan. He has also spoken of spinning the successful Jeep and Ram divisions off from FCA. Europe's largest carmaker, Volkswagen, and General Motors have both said they are not interested in talks with FCA. On Wednesday, Geely Automobile reported a doubling of first-half profit, above expectations, as cars designed with Sweden's Volvo won over domestic consumers. Volvo is a unit of the Zhejiang Geely group, and has recently announced it will share its technology with Geely.