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Driving the 2020 Lotus Evora GT, and Defenders at a trickle | Autoblog Podcast #631

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Producer Christopher McGraw and Road Test Editor Zac Palmer. First, they talk about driving the 2020 Lotus Evora GT. Then they take some time to update any new happenings and opinions on our long-term Subaru Forester and Volvo S60 T8 plug-in hybrid. In the news this week, the new Land Rover Defender is in short supply, and Tesla is rumored to be creating a 12-passenger shuttle for use in The Boring Company tunnels. Finally, we reach into the mailbag to help a listener replace a Mazda3 hatch with something to better match their lifestyle. Autoblog Podcast #631 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving: 2020 Lotus Evora GT 2019 Subaru Forester long-term update 2020 Volvo S60 T8 long-term update The 2020 Land Rover Defender is in short supply Tesla may be working on 12-passenger shuttle for The Boring Co. Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Lotus Evija whirs onto Quail lawn to tempt 130 prospective customers

At last, we've met the Lotus Evija in its compact, electric-charged glory. The carbon-fiber-bodied electric supercar looks like liquid metal poured over some skeletal biologic form. The coupe represents the first all-new Lotus since the ten-year-old Evora went on sale, the first Lotus developed wholly under Geely ownership, the first in-house all-electric vehicle from Hethel, the first Lotus with a one-piece carbon fiber monocoque tub, and the first one Hethel HQ will send to the Nurburgring to break a lap record. Lotus announced that lap record tilt saying it should be "comfortably quicker" than the all-electric NIO EP9 road-legal EV that ran a 6:45. That has since been broken by the 6:05 figure Volkswagen achieved with its ID.R, a purpose-built electric race car. The 'Ring doesn't yet divide EV times into classes, so we'd still like to see Lotus go for outright honors. That is indeed unfair, but the Evija has the numbers to at least make a go of it. The four electric motors in the ID.R produce a combined 680 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque to move a car weighing 2,500 pounds. The Evija's 50 percent heavier at 3,700 pounds, but has almost triple the horses and more than double the torque, its two motors making a combined 2,000 horsepower and 1,254 pound-feet of torque. It does have active aerodynamics, including a moving rear wing, but it's still short a bunch of race aero, a giant front splitter, and a DRS button. No matter how the German caper turns out, we expect Lotus will be able to find homes for all the Evijas it offers for sale. Only 130 will be made, each one starting at around $2.1 million.

Volkswagen looking to acquire Proton, Lotus?

Let's say you're an automaker bent on world domination looking to grow your sales. That's going to have you looking at Asian markets, because that's where some of the biggest growth has been, and that's exactly what Volkswagen is doing as it considers making another run at Malaysia's Proton.
Reuters reports that Volkswagen is interested in at least a partial stake, if not a controlling interest in Lotus-parent Proton as a way to continue a production presence in the region without having to build its own factory.
Volkswagen already builds the Passat in a DRB-HICOM facility in Pekan, Malaysia, and plans are in place to build the Jetta and Polo there, as well. With both southeast Asia and its relationship with Proton figuring so importantly in Volkswagen's plans for expansion, buying into Proton can help ensure stability. Volkswagen is being tight-lipped about the whole idea, but CEO Martin Winterkorn did recently say, "it's our clear goal to continue the successful (expansion) course of past years with great dynamics and stability," which sounds an awful lot like deals are on the table to smooth the path to further growth.