2005 Lotus Elise 2dr Convertible on 2040-cars

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Renault formalizes return to F1 with Lotus acquisition

No longer satisfied with simply providing engines, Renault confirmed that it will return to running its own Formula One team next season. Though the terms of the deal are still being worked out, the French automaker will re-acquire the team currently known as Lotus. Renault previously owned and operated this same operation for nearly 10 years. Renault first entered the series in 1977. The company shut down the original Equipe Renault Elf in 1985, but continued powering Lotus, Ligier, and Tyrrell for another season. After a three-year break, it returned as an engine supplier with Williams in 1989, winning championship titles with the likes of Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, and Damon Hill behind the wheel. The 1995 season saw the start of the partnership with the team now in question when Benetton switched over from Ford power. After several years of success and more titles, Renault bought out the team and ran it as its own from 2002 through 2011 – winning two more titles with Fernando Alonso – before selling the operation to Genii Capital, which has run it since under the Lotus name. Even after Lotus switched to Mercedes power, Renault continued supplying other teams with engines, most notably winning back-to-back world titles with Red Bull before the new turbo hybrid engines arrived and Renault's performance dropped off. Now, in another case of history repeating, Renault is gearing up to bring the team based in Enstone back in-house. The move will likely see the Lotus name disappear again, after it was hotly contested with the Caterham team that ultimately disappeared as well. With it, Renault will return as a full-on works effort with its own engines, just like rivals Ferrari and Mercedes. Renault Announces Return to Formula 1 in 2016 - Carlos Ghosn announces his decision that Renault will return to Formula 1 with its own team for 2016 season. - Renault, 12-time Constructors' Champion with nearly 40 years in the sport, is an iconic brand in Formula 1 and intends to play an active role in the sport's development. - F1 is a technology showcase and accelerates development of Renault's innovation and range of sports cars. Following the September announcement of the signing of a Letter of Intent with Lotus F1 Team, teams at Renault continued to evaluate the possibility of a return to Formula 1. Particular attention was paid to competing successfully with its own team in a financially sound way starting in 2016.

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 offers Exige S Roadster for sale, but not in North America

The first thing you need to know is that this is the Lotus Exige S Roadster, unchanged from the Exige S even in price and officially the fastest convertible Lotus has ever made. The second thing you need to know is that if you live in the US, you won't be getting this car.
Now that that's out of the way, the lack of a roof, rear wing and front splitter help make it 22 pounds lighter than the coupe, coming in a 2,565 pounds, and the supercharged 3.5-liter V6 in this topless blossom discharges 345 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. For historical comparison with a non-convertible, those numbers nearly match the 2004 Lotus Esprit V8 Final Run edition - which had twin Garrett turbochargers. Yet the Exige S gets from a stoplight to 60 miles per hour in 3.8 seconds, nearly a full second quicker than that Esprit. Fair play, though, the Esprit did weigh 3,040 pounds.
It will be fitted with a six-speed manual only, and cost 52,900 pounds ($79,667 US), 55,378 euros ($71,404 US) or 8,500,000 yen ($82,078 US), depending on where you live. Here in the US we'll be sticking with the track-only Exige V6 Cup and Cup R models. The press release below offers more on the fine points.