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Lotus Emeya concludes winter testing, brings unique treats

Think of the Lotus Emeya as the sedan form of the Eletre SUV, transferring Lotus' newest brand values into a body style closer in spirit to the old Lotus. As the automaker marches toward production later this year, we've got a few more details on what's to come with the English foe of the Taycan competitor. Battery size is said to be 102 kWh; if that's accurate, that would be down slightly on the Eletre SUV's gross 112-kWh battery that provides a usable 109-kWh. Lotus says the sedan's range will be "broadly similar" to the Eletre, which is rated to go up to 373 miles on the WLTP cycle. The sedan, like its brother, is built on an 800-volt system capable of 350-kW fast-charging, and uses two motors to power both axles. A top-shelf Emeya R trim should pack the same power as the Eletre R, 905 horsepower and 726 pound-feet, the Emeya's lower profile and lighter weight taking a coupe of tenths off the Eletre's 2.95-second sprint to 60 miles per hour.  At least two wild specs separate the Emeya from the Eletre: A 55-inch augmented-reality head-up display. Lotus says the projection on the Electre is 29 inches. In addition to being "the largest and most advanced in any Lotus," it offers "a Snow Mode which turns the display blue, helping the driver to see the outline of the road more easily against a white background." Who needs an Apple Vision Pro, eh?  The sedan also fits an active rear spoiler that's four inches broader than the SUV's from front to back, at 11.7 inches compared to 7.7 inches. Adjusting the spoiler's angle on the SUV can produce up to 112.5 kilograms of downforce. The sedan's spoiler rings up a maximum of 215 kg of downforce at speed. The Emeya's top speed is an electronically capped 159 mph, six miles per hour below the SUV's, done to preserve battery health.  Lotus recently concluded a series of winter tests that are part of the company's three-year development testing across 15 countries, working out the Emeya in temps as low as negative 13 Fahrenheit and locking the car in a freezer at -40 F to gauge how its systems performed.  After going on sale in China, the Emeya heads to Europe and then to the U.S., so we shouldn't expect it until sometime next year, joined by the Evija hypercar. Car magazine said it saw a Lotus presentation that mentioned an MSRP of $100,000, almost identical to the base Porsche Taycan's U.S. MSRP.  Related Video:

Radford Type 62-2 is rad, a coachbuilt sports car based on Lotus underpinnings

There’s a new coachbuilder out there, and the company calls itself Radford. Today, Radford revealed its first car — the Type 62-2 — and itÂ’s based on the chassis and underpinnings of the Lotus Evora. ThatÂ’s an extremely good place to begin building from. Plus, the company has some big names attached to it. F1 racer Jenson Button is the one who dialed in the carÂ’s driving dynamics. Mark Stubbs, formerly of Bentley, Bugatti, Aston Martin and more, led the design process. And Ant Anstead, now co-hosting "Wheeler Dealers," is handling the build/production work. There may be an Evora underneath all the new bodywork, but this vehicle doesnÂ’t look like one on the outside. Instead, itÂ’s meant to take after the original Lotus Type 62 race car. Take one quick look at both, and it appears as though Radford has done a standup job of getting it there. ItÂ’s even been revealed initially in livery worn by the old Type 62. WeÂ’ll note that there will be two cars with slightly different looks. The first is a “Classic” version without a wing and fitted with staggered 17/18-inch wheels. The other model is called “Gold Leaf,” and it has the Type 62Â’s wings, can be done in the livery you see here and features larger center-locking 18/19-inch wheels. Thanks to the aluminum-intensive structure of the Evora, the Radford Type 62-2 weighs just under 2,205 pounds. Radford saved additional weight by using all carbon fiber body panels. This lightweight body is propelled forward via the 3.5-liter Toyota-provided supercharged V6 used in the Evora. Its base tune in the Type 62-2 offers up 430 horsepower. However, upgrading from the Classic to the Gold Leaf brings an increase to 500 horsepower. Radford says it gets the extra power via upgraded pistons, connecting rods, camshafts and new electronic engine mapping. If you want the extra power in the Classic, Radford says you can still optionally have it. As you may already suspect, a six-speed manual transmission is available on the Type 62-2. Unlike the Evora, though, you can also spec a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. ItÂ’s the only transmission available if you spec the engine up to 500 horsepower, so pick your poison on that front — thereÂ’s no manual available for the high-power version. As for the suspension, Radford says itÂ’s lowered the car more and changed the suspension geometry a bit compared to the standard Lotus design — thanks, Jenson.

China's Geely says it has no plan to buy Fiat Chrysler — as FCA stock leaps

HONG KONG — Chinese carmaker Geely Automobile denied media speculation on Wednesday that it planned to make a takeover bid for Fiat Chryslerk Automobiles (FCA), the world's seventh-largest automaker. Geely was one of several Chinese carmakers cited in by Automotive News, which said representatives of "a well-known Chinese automaker" had made an offer this month for FCA, which has a market value of almost $20 billion. "We don't have such a plan at the moment," Geely executive director Gui Shengyue told reporters at an earnings briefing, when asked if Geely was interested in Fiat. He said a foreign acquisition would be complicated, but he did not elaborate. "But for other (Chinese) brands, it could be a fast track for their development," Gui added. However, a source close to the matter said FCA and Geely Automobile's parent firm, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, had held initial talks late last year, without disclosing their nature. The source confirmed Geely was no longer interested in FCA, noting that the parent company had only three months ago announced its first push into Southeast Asia with the purchase of 49.9 percent of struggling Malaysian carmaker Proton, a deal that also included a stake in Lotus. Geel's denial failed to dent FCA's stock. The price of its Milan-based shares has jumped more than 10 percent to a 19-year high since Automotive News first reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources, that FCA had rejected the Chinese offer as too low. FCA stock on the New York Stock Exchange rose sharply on Monday from $11.60 to $12.38 and on Wednesday was trading at $12.84. FCA declined to comment on Wednesday. FCA Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne has repeatedly called for mergers as a way of sharing the costs of making cleaner, more advanced cars, but he has repeatedly failed to find a partner and retreated from his search for in April, saying FCA would stick to its business plan. He has also spoken of spinning the successful Jeep and Ram divisions off from FCA. Europe's largest carmaker, Volkswagen, and General Motors have both said they are not interested in talks with FCA. On Wednesday, Geely Automobile reported a doubling of first-half profit, above expectations, as cars designed with Sweden's Volvo won over domestic consumers. Volvo is a unit of the Zhejiang Geely group, and has recently announced it will share its technology with Geely.