New 2013 Lotus Exige S Cup Aspen White Car #5 Of 10 Built By Lotus Motorsport! on 2040-cars

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Lotus admits its fancy London shop is a waste of money

Piccadilly in London is one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world. And right by where they filmed that awesome scene from American Werewolf in London, Lotus has a showroom. I wandered in last week. Handmade suit, posh watch, smart shoes. But the lack of interest from the sales staff made me think I was wearing a Kimi "Leave me alone I know what I'm doing" T-shirt. To the cognoscenti it's a bit confused. There is no separation between the Lotus F1 team and Lotus cars. Even though a friend at Lotus F1 once told me that the team has a closer relationship with Microsoft than it does with Lotus Cars. What makes this especially strange is that the F1 stuff is front and centre: overpriced caps, T-shirts, and team gear, with the cars playing second fiddle. Yet this is a store paid for by Cars. You have to wonder what the shop is going to sell next year when the Enstone F1 team drops the Lotus name to become Renault. But that is nothing to the wondering you start to do when you speak to the staff. On a previous visit I'd asked about the relationship between Lotus F1 and Lotus Cars, and the sales staff insisted that they were one and the same. A short time after that I spoke to Lotus CEO Jean-Marc Gales at an event where he'd been the guest speaker. He told me that moves were underway to fix the problem and that they would soon have staff in the shop that knew about the cars. So last week's return visit was depressing. In the back there is an Exige and an Elise. I asked the difference and the girl suggested that we look it up on the internet. She took a business card, I made my excuses and left. Daft really I might not have bought a car but I was seriously tempted by the GBP20 carbon fibre pen. My local dealer, Hexagon, called and mailed, but what was really telling, and bloody impressive, was the call from Hethel. I vented my disappointment with the Piccadilly store, and the Lotus man explained. And impressed. Normally you'd get some dreadful company line about how the shop wasn't for people like me, that it was all deliberate to avoid scaring people off and welcome new blood to the brand. But instead he was honest. He told me that the shop was a folly. That it was one of Dany Bahar's many expensive ideas. He signed a ten-year lease on the shop at a million pounds a year and they can't afford to run it. They did train up some good people but, as you can't pay people rural Norfolk salaries and expect them to work in Piccadilly, they left.

Lotus Cars, Williams Advanced Engineering announce technical partnership

Sports car company Lotus announced a technology development partnership with Williams Advanced Engineering, more commonly referred to simply as Williams. Lotus says the partnership will be specifically focused on propulsion systems. And this has us very excited. Lotus doesn't need much introduction; it makes ultralight and spectacular handling sports cars. Williams is a bit more obscure, but it works on some of the coolest vehicles in the world. For decades the company has participated in Formula 1, and still has a team competing. It developed a wild 500-horsepower flat-six engine for Singer, and it worked with Jaguar on the C-X75 concept car and made stunt versions for the James Bond movie "Spectre." The company even has electric car experience with four seasons of Formula E and development work on the Aston Martin Rapide E on its prodigious resume. The subtext of these various Williams projects is that we could see almost any kind of powertrain show up in Lotus sports cars in the future. The companies could have some high-revving, high-output internal combustion engines for the near-term, then they could create electric drivetrains for future Lotus cars. Think first-generation Tesla Roadster but developed by a company with racing experience. Perhaps the two could even create some hybrids in between launches of the two powertrain types. Of course we're speculating, but none of this out of the question considering Williams' capabilities. In fact, since the Formula E experience is specifically highlighted in the Lotus announcement, we bet electric Lotus cars are all but guaranteed. We will be watching for developments with great anticipation. Related Video:

Forza Horizon announces January Recaro Car Pack with LFA N"urburgring Edition

Another month, another car pack for Forza Horizon. This time it's the Recaro Car Pack featuring a motley gang of cars and trucks: the 1983 GMC Vandura G-1500, 1995 Ford Mustang Cobra R, 2012 Cadillac Escalade ESV, 2005 Mercedes-Benz SLR, 2012 Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition and 2012 Lotus Exige S.
It'll be up for download on Xbox Live on Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013 for 400 MS Points. As usual, if you have the Forza Horizon Season Pass you can get them all free, and Season Pass holders will also get a bonus car that's not pictured: the 2009 Pagani Zonda Cinque Roadster.
The Pagani is everything opposite to that Vandura, but while you might not ever win anything with the van, you can always use the back of it as a place to give out free hugs. Check out the video and press release below for more details.