“You can only invent the car once; after that, it’s just constant refinement. That’s what we’ve been doing with safety. From crumple zones and the airbag—and even before that—we’ve kept on pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, all in an effort to make the road a safer place for everyone. Note that some features depicted [...]

“Chief testing guru Matt Becker puts the Lotus Evora S IPS through its paces at our Hethel test track. The Evora S IPS combines the power of the supercharged S with the versatility of an auto transmission, and in sport mode, it’s a dynamic race bred machine.”

 FROM EDMUNDS INSIDE LINE:  DRB-Hicom, the new Malaysian owner of Group Lotus, which has just agreed to buy a controlling stake in the sports car maker’s corporate parent Proton, will consider selling the British marque.

Mohd Khamil Jamil, managing director of DRB-Hicom, said Wednesday that the company is “open to options.”

“We will need time to look [...]

 FROM WASHINGTON POST:  Swedish Automobile NV, the parent company of Dutch luxury car maker Spyker and the now-bankrupt Saab Automobile, says it will push on with the sale of the Spyker brand and issue new shares in a bid for survival, in spite of an exodus of its supervisory board.

The company, known as “Swan”, said [...]

FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL:  Ford Motor Co. plans to open a research lab in Silicon Valley early this year, joining a wave of other companies investing in the area and trying to mine it for cutting-edge technology to build into their products.

The lab, run by Ford Research and Innovation, the Dearborn, Mich., company’s advanced [...]

FROM NY DAILY NEWS:  Fiat’s 500 supermini will reportedly come in a larger version, to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

The Italian brand, which has seen poor sales of the 500 since launching it in the US, is gearing up to release a wagon version of the tiny model, reports Automotive News.

Although [...]

FROM USA TODAY:  Having decided against killing it outright, Ford is willing to give its Lincoln luxury division at least one more try with seven new models over the next few years and more attention by dealers. How hard will the turnaround be?

“It will take every ounce of our energy to execute Lincoln in North [...]

FROM BUSINESSWEEK:  Tesla Motors Inc. surged the most since March after the company’s chief executive said production and sale of its all-electric Model S sedan won’t be delayed by two top engineers leaving the carmaker. Tesla plunged a record 19 percent last week after news broke of their departure.

“I’m highly confident we’ll deliver at least [...]

“Just like its legendary predecessors, including the 550 Spyder, the new Boxster is a Porsche that continues to epitomise the feeling of genuine freedom and advancement.”

“We have redefined the Boxster in terms of its performance, and defined how the roadster of the future should look. In doing so, we have once again succeeded in creating [...]