2013 Lotus Evora S 2+2 Tech Pkg,prem Sport,big Whls,htd Seats,manual,wow! on 2040-cars

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Renault paid GBP1 to buy back its F1 team

Running a Formula One team is anything but cheap and straightforward, but it didn't cost Renault much to reacquire the Lotus team from Genii Capital. In fact, according to the latest reports, the French automaker paid just GBP1 – less than a buck fifty – for the privilege. Still, the process was deeply complicated. The reason Renault was able to get it so cheap is because the team was deeply in debt, part of which Renault will now assume. Less than a year ago, the team was said to be nearly $200 million in the red, and just a few months ago Renault came to its rescue to pay a $4 million tax bill to the British government. Under the terms of the new deal, Renault will assume the debt that the team's previous owners had accrued, but will be spared the nearly $150 million which its stakeholders loaned to the team. The history of the outfit based in Enstone dates back to 1981 when it was founded as Toleman Motorsport. French fashion giant Benetton bought the team in 1985, which in turn sold it to Renault in 2000. A decade later, after two world championship titles, Renault began stepping back its involvement in the team and gradually transferred ownership to investment firm Genii Capital, which has run it ever since under the Lotus name that it secured from the automaker under contract until 2017. Unable to fund a competitive team, Genii has now sold the team back to Renault, but the financial intricacies of the deal are far from straightforward. To start with, Genii and its subsidiary Gravity Motorsports (the team's parent company) didn't hold all the shares in the operation, so it bought back over 6 million shares from Whiterock Alliance to add to its own 60 million shares. The vast majority of those shares were then transferred (for that princely sum of GBP1) to Gringy (UK) Ltd, the shell company that technically owned the team in its Benetton days. Gringy (a wholly owned subsidiary of Renault) will hold a 90-percent stake in the team, with the last 10 percent remaining in Genii's hands and those of its investors. In the process, the outfit will now rejoin the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes among the F1 teams developing their own powertrains. Related Video: News Source: Motorsport.comImage Credit: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Earnings/Financials Motorsports Lotus Renault F1 genii capital

Lotus rolls out new and improved Evora 400

Having canceled its overly ambitious plans, Lotus is going to have to get by on its existing lineup for a while longer. But if this is what "getting by" looks like, count us in. What you see here is the Lotus Evora 400, the latest evolution of Hethel's 2+2 sports car and the fastest, most powerful production model the legendary British automaker has ever offered. Lighter and more potent than previous versions of the Evora, the new 400 packs a revised 3.5-liter supercharged V6 with – you guessed it – 400 horsepower, or 55 more than the Evora S, and backed up by 302 pound-feet of torque. In pursuit of its founder Colin Chapman's enduring ethos of "adding lightness," Lotus has found nearly 50 pounds of excess weight to trim from an already lean machine. While they were at it, the engineers also tweaked the electronics, re-adjusted the suspension, fitted a revised aero kit for increased downforce, bolted in a new limited slip differential, retuned the gearbox and mounted new brakes. The styling has also been revised inside and out, with new doors allowing for easier ingress and egress as well as more interior space. The result of all these improvements – aside from making the Evora look cooler – is a 0-60 time now quoted at 4.1 seconds, a top speed quoted at 186 miles per hour and a lap time of the Lotus test track a full (and very impressive) six seconds faster than its predecessor. Lotus is increasing its workforce by 50 percent in order to increase output at its UK factory from 45 cars per week to 70 in the coming months, and will distribute the new Evora 400 through an expanding dealer network that's set to grow from 168 locations worldwide at present to around 200 by year's end. THE ALL NEW LOTUS EVORA 400 - All new supercar from Lotus - Fastest and most powerful production Lotus ever - Lighter and more efficient than before The new Lotus Evora 400 is the latest pure and focused supercar from Lotus, combining high performance with the legendary Lotus benchmark handling. It is faster and dynamically more capable than the previous Lotus Evora leading to greater agility and a more involving drive. Maximum speed is 186 mph (300 km/h) and acceleration 0-60 mph is just 4.1 seconds (0-100 km/h in 4.2 seconds). This enables the new Lotus Evora 400 to lap the challenging test track at the Lotus Headquarters in Hethel, Norfolk, a scintillating SIX seconds faster than the previous model.

2015 Ram ProMaster City Tradesman First Drive [w/video]

From the perspective of a reviewer, there's a refreshing clarity to be hand when approaching a vehicle like a small commercial van. Where the inherent value equation for most vehicles is composed of both objective facts (price, fuel economy), and subjective opinions (looks, emotional response while driving), the reckoning of something like the new Ram ProMaster City is more straightforward. The light commercial van segment in the US has seen a remodel over the last half-decade, moving from paneled-over minivans to the versatile, economical, European-style boxes on wheels you see with increasing frequency today. Ford, Nissan and Chevrolet are all players here (though Chevy's City Express is essentially a rebadged version of Nissan's NV200), and though Ram's entry could be seen as late to the party, it also matches up very nicely in many of those straightforward areas of measure. Kindly, Ram brought along both the Nissan and the Ford for us to test alongside its new product, so we could get firsthand comparative impressions. The 2015 ProMaster City is roomier, more powerful and more maneuverable than its competition, though it trades those advantages for a higher price and a thirstier engine around town. We headed down to Texas where, between breaks for tacos and Topo Chicos, our goal was to see if Ram had created the new best box van in the US. Based on the already successful Fiat Doblo van from Europe, the baby ProMaster's visual transformation after its continental hop isn't radical. Ram has fitted a crosshair grille, new headlights and taillights, but largely the curvaceous, nose-forward styling remains the same. As we mentioned at the top: style is going to be very low on this list of priorities for a buyer of light commercial vans. Still, we'd rate the City as mid-pack for the options in the US; more attractive than the Nissan/Chevy twins and less so than the crisp Ford Transit Connect. (Though the optional five-spoke wheels of our test vehicle make it seem downright sporty in this group). Open the driver's side door and slide into the almost totally flat front seat, and any notion of "style" goes right out the window. Surfaces are almost exclusively black and gray, with workaday textures and frustratingly easy-to-scratch-plastics. This is a functional space though; trays, cubbies, cupholders and bins are far more numerous than you'd expect from a compact, two-seat cabin.