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Renault bailing out Lotus F1 Team to pay $4M tax bill

The road ahead looks to be clear for Renault to reacquire the Formula One team that once bore its name. The latest reports have it that the French automaker is prepared to pay a multi-million-dollar tax bill to the British government to keep the Lotus team from entering bankruptcy proceedings. According to the report from Autosport, the Lotus F1 Team owes a massive GBP2.7 million – equivalent to over $4 million at current exchange rates – to the Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs authority for income tax and national insurance (Brit-speak for social security). The team was supposed to have withheld and submitted the funds on behalf of its 400 employees dating back to June, but since it has yet to pay up, it's being taken to court by the UK government. Apparently unable to foot the bill, the cash-strapped team looked poised to enter bankruptcy just as the Caterham and Manor/Marussia teams did last year. But Renault is now poised to step in to the team's rescue. Those with a longer memory for F1 history will point out that the Lotus team – which has little to do with the sports car manufacturer of the same name – dates back to 1981, and has changed title and ownership several times over the years. What was founded as Toleman was then taken over by Benetton. Renault acquired the team in 2000, but sold it to its current owners Genii Capital in 2009. The team based in Enstone, UK, won back-to-back world championships with Michael Schumacher in 1994-95 and again with Fernando Alonso in 2005-06, but has struggled both competitively and financially over recent years. Consigned to an engine-supply role since divesting itself of majority interest in the Lotus team, Renault has been rumored to be preparing to reacquire the outfit from Genii – and in all likelihood switch it back from Mercedes power to its own. Paying the outstanding tax bill will likely emerge as the first step in that reacquisition. Once it takes over full ownership again, Renault is expected to rebrand the team in its own image, and will then have to decide on driver and other personnel contracts for next season. Related Video:

Lotus proves it's alive and well by releasing its most powerful road-going car

The future hasn't always looked bright for Lotus, but the British company is skating on much thicker ice under Geely ownership now than it was in the middle of the 2010s. It continues to claw back from the brink by releasing a GT-badged evolution of the Evora that delivers a meaner punch than its predecessors, and comes with a list of options that nearly rivals Porsche's. The GT replaces the Sport 410 and the 400 variants of the Evora. Presented as the most powerful road-going Lotus ever sold in the United States, it's powered by a 3.5-liter V6 engine supercharged to 416 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and 317 pound-feet of torque at 3,500 rpm. Those figures allow it to hit 60 mph from a stop in a brisk 3.8 seconds, and reach a 188-mph top speed. It's still a little bit slower than the Evora GT430 released in 2017, but Lotus kept that model away from American roads. The Evora GT comes standard with a six-speed manual transmission. Enthusiasts not interested in using a clutch can select an automatic gearbox that they can leave in drive or shift manually with aluminum paddles mounted on the steering wheel. Torque goes up to 332 pound-feet when the six shifts through the optional automatic, but the Evora GT posts the same performance figures regardless of how many pedals are in its footwell. Lotus makes the Evora GT using carbon fiber to keep weight in check. Buyers can honor company founder Colin Chapman by adding lightness if they're willing to add dollars, too. Priced at $10,000, the Carbon Pack includes a roof panel, a tailgate, a front access panel, and a diffuser all made with carbon fiber. Ticking that box shaves 50 pounds; put another way, Lotus charges $200 per pound.  Selecting the $8,000 titanium exhaust removes another 22 pounds. The Evora GT tips the scale at 3,104 pounds in its lightest configuration, but getting there requires paying for a Volkswagen Golf's worth of options. At least downforce comes standard, and the GT has more of it than its predecessors. The new GT designation doesn't bring significant exterior styling changes. It's the same story inside, where Lotus continues to offer the model as a strict two-seater, or with a pair of rear seats big enough for very, very small occupants. Every GT comes standard with a 7-inch touchscreen compatible with both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. On sale now, the 2020 Lotus Evora GT starts at $96,950. Deliveries will begin by the end of 2019.

James Bond Lotus submarine sells in London for $966,560

With the $966,560 sale ($863,000 plus a 12-percent buyer's premium) of the white 1977 Lotus Esprit S1 submarine used in the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, we now know "the Roger Moore discount."
Recall that Sean Connery's silver 1964 Goldfinger Aston Martin DB5 was sold by RM Auctions in London in 2010 for $4.6 million. Three years later, the same auction company in the same city has sold the aforementioned Lotus for just under $1 million.
An unscientific poll of those in the room showed that people preferred Sean Connery's Bond to Roger Moore's by a rate of four to one. And thus it translated into the bidding for their respective cars. No word on the identity of the buyer or his plans for what is, in fact, a working submarine.