ing sandwiches with reporters over lunch in Detroit.The Mazda2 four-door, introduced in Geneva last year, has been a hot seller overseas. The three-door Mazda2, set to debut at the 2008 Geneva Auto Show tomorrow, is expected to be just as well received. O’Sullivan rightfully pointed out that the passenger car market in the United States is showing signs of evolving. Smaller cars are becoming more widespread and accepted (witness the 20,000 pre-orders for the Smart fortwo), and the compact Mazda3 has historically sold very well. While we welcome a Mazda2 in gas or diesel trim, bring us a Mazdaspeed2 like this, and if it is anything like the Mazdaspeed3, we’ll be first in line.

[Source: AutoBlog]

Apparently, bigger is not necessarily better for Toyota’s youth division Scion. The two original Scion models that launched with the brand were replaced by new models last year – the xD and xB – that are larger, heavier and less efficient. The buyers who made Scion a success in its first few years of existence have not been impressed, as sales have taken a dump over the last year and a half. A long gap between the end of production of the previous models and availability of new models certainly didn’t help, but the new models have gotten decidedly mixed reviews including our own drive of the new xB. Even with the new models having been available now for six months or more, sales compared to the previous year have dropped for 16 months in a row. More Toyota dealers are selling Scions now, but sales per dealer have dropped from 11.9 in January 2006 to 8.1 in 2007. The Scions now have a bunch of new competitors in the subcompact class that they didn’t have in 2003 when the brand launched, including the Honda Fit and Nissan Versa. Worse news still for Toyota is that more new competition is coming, like the Ford Fiesta transplant from Europe. Perhaps Scion’s initial success was less a factor of offering attractive products than the fact it was the only game in town for small, efficient and hip econocars.

[Source: AutoBlog]

Things are getting a little racy for the Fiat 500. With just days to go before the race-inspired 500 Abarth is unveiled in Geneva, and just weeks to go before the 500 makes its racing debut in Melbourne, comes news of a new 500 racing series to take place in Europe. Called the 5Hundred Cup, the one-make series is being organized by Speedway Communications, and looks to consist of two parallel schedules: one pan-European and one just in Italy.

An official announcement was set to take place this past Friday, but details remain sketchy, even on the series’ website. What we do know is that the 5Hundred Cup won’t be using actual racing versions of the 500 Abarth. (At least, not yet.) The cars will be based on the 100-hp 1.4-liter 500, tuned to produce 120 hp and stripped of 50kg of extra weight down to 880kg. Upgraded brakes and a competition roll cage will also likely form part of the package, but we’ll have to get back to you when more information becomes available.

[Source: AutoBlog]

Porsche announced today that production of the iconic 911 has resumed at its plant in Zuffenhausen, Germany after an explosion in the spray-painting unit brought things to a halt last week. No one was injured, but the external combustion caused several hundred thousand euros worth of damage and cost the German automaker 800 units of production. Porsche said the cause for the explosion was a technical defect, and the aforementioned damage would mostly be covered by insurance. As for the missing 800 units, Zuffenhausen workers can expect some additional overtime hours this year as the plant works to make them up.

[Source: AutoBlog]

We just detailed the changes made to the Lamborghini Gallardo as it evolves into the spectacular LP560-4. And while the name might not be exciting, the car sure is. New front and rear fascias, as detailed here, give the “baby” Lambo a menacing new look that’s backed up by an upgraded 5.2L V10 that reportedly dishes out 560 PS/ 552 HP while tipping the scales at 44 lbs. less than the Gallardo. That’s what fast is made of. We’ll continue to update the photo gallery and post the official specs as soon as they’re released.

[Source: AutoBlog]

While assorted activists, politicians and random individuals carry on about the spectres of global warming, imported oil, CO₂ emissions and other issues that combine to create timetable-free doomsday scenarios, there are people working on potential solutions that do not involve us driving around four-wheeled Segway scooters. That’s right: the “dreaded” internal combustion engine might yet provide the answer — or at least an answer. And because Lotus is the entity searching for the answer in this particular case, the end result might not only be green — it looks ridiculously fun, too.

The car you see here is the Geneva-bound Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel concept, the successor to 2006’s Exige 265E, which made 265 horses running on E85. The 270E goes a step further. Not only can it run on gasoline or ethanol, it achieves its peak output — 270 horsepower and 184 lb-ft — on methanol, hence the Tri-Fuel label. Incidentally, that power figure is the highest yet for an Exige coming out of Hethel. Even more interesting, however, is Lotus’ research into producing carbon-neutral synthetic methanol. You can read about it in detail after the jump, but in summary, the process involves using atmospheric CO₂ and reacting it with hydrogen created via renewable electrical power to create methanol. Liquid methanol could be transported and distributed much in the same way gasoline is now, making for a feasible infrastructure if the idea were to take hold somewhere down the line.

Lotus is also hunting for solutions involving EVs, as well as optimizing the traditional gasoline-powered ICE through its Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Group. One must admit, however, that the idea of a sustainable, synthetic, carbon-neutral fuel driving internal combustion engines with the same levels of power we currently enjoy is the equivalent of having your cake and eating it.

[Source: AutoBlog]