Under its current management, Lotus has proven nothing if not ambitious. Lotus can’t achieve its goals without help from the outside, however, and thus has has teamed up with established racing teams to field cars under the Lotus name in countless motorsport series, hunted for new capital from external investors and collaborated with Mansory to customize its vehicles. It’s that last joint venture that the British automaker is now preparing to expand.

The collaboration goes back a little over a year when Lotus brought Mansory in to tart up the Evora with some extra carbon fiber bits that debuted at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show. That led to the production Evora GTE (pictured above) and subsequent special editions based thereon, but now Lotus and Mansory are preparing to roll out an entire customization range not only for the Evora, but also the Elise and Exige models. Read More »

General Motors struck back at the mighty Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 with the similarly brawny Camaro ZL1, and now it looks like GM has taken aim at the Mustang Boss 302 as well.

According to posts on the Camaro5.com forums, a dealer reference guide has revealed buyers will be able to opt for a new performance track package for the 2013 Camaro. The 1LE pack includes a number of aerodynamic tweaks, including an aggressive front splitter and unique rear spoiler, both painted in smoke gray. Red Brembo brake calipers, a hood wrapped in matte black vinyl and 20-inch wheels shod in Goodyear Eagle Supercar tires are all part of the party. Those big rollers are actually borrowed from the ZL1.

Larger sway bars front and rear as well as stronger axle half shafts help the vehicle withstand track abuse. A Tremec six-speed manual gearbox with a higher 3.91 final drive and a liquid cooling system is also standard. Finally, the report says the Camaro 1LE will feature an optional dual-mode exhaust similar to what’s found on the Chevrolet Corvette. Read More »

Recalls have been issued for four 2012-model-year General Motors products over steering-gear issues. The Chevrolet Suburban and Express and GMC Savana and Yukon XL could suffer from pitman shafts that weren’t hardened properly, potentially leading to a fracture and a loss of steering. There are 6,159 vehicles involved in the recall.

GM will begin notifying owners early next month, at which time they can take their SUVs and vans to the dealer to repair the problem free of charge. Follow the jump for the full notification from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Read More »

BMW has announced it is recalling a whopping 1.3 million 5 Series and 6 Series vehicles from the 2003 to 2010 model years. Of those, Reuters notes that some 368,000 examples were sold in the U.S. – most of them sedans like the one above.

It doesn’t sound like too difficult of a problem to fix, but the automaker says the cars’ battery cable covers could be incorrectly mounted. BMW says no accidents or injuries have occurred because of the issue, but there is the potential that affected models may fail to start, or worse, catch fire. Read More »

The new BMW M5 is taking a one-week, 3,300-mile U.S. road trip, and not only will it tour the skeevy diners, restless rest areas and truck-stop toilets of this fine land, it’ll eat up its tires on nine of our nation’s finest tracks. If you think that sounds like the Tire Rack One Lap of America, you’d be correct.

In addition to providing the official vehicles for the event, the Munich firm is sending a team of drivers from its BMW Performance Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina to compete in the newly created ‘Showroom Stock’ category. This year’s week-long race begins May 4 in South Bend, Indiana, and as with all the other entries, the M5 will get just one set of tires to test its gumption in various motorsports disciplines and thousands of highway miles. Follow the jump for a press release with more info and be sure to check out One Lap Of America’s website for updates when the event kicks off in May.

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Keen European demand was the expected reason for us not getting the BMW X1 until the Summer of 2013, when it would get a mid-cycle refresh. And at the time it was reported, few wagers would have been put on that timetable since U.S.-market delivery had repeatedly been delayed and the exact wording used was “postponed indefinitely.”

But in a press release announcing its wares for the New York Auto Show, BMW slipped in this line: “The updated BMW X1 will be available in U.S. showrooms in summer 2012.” For now that’s all there is to know, although we’d expect more details to be given out at the Javits Center, perhaps even pricing. The model’s stying elicits strong opinion, but for those of you with X1 lust you now know what to circle on the calendar.

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Automotive News reports Bentley is staying the course with the company’s EXP 9 F SUV Concept. The ultra-luxury automaker plans to bring the vehicle to the Beijing Motor Show exactly as it appeared at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month, despite the fact that the concept didn’t exactly debut to resounding acclaim. Critics described the design as awkward and unbecoming of nameplate like Bentley, but the automaker says it wants to vet the design in as many markets as possible before finalizing the exterior. Here’s hoping the crowds in China are as repulsed as those in Switzerland.

The EXP 9 F has already been green-lit for production, and while we have no qualm with the thought of a high-riding luxury brute with a twin-turbo 12-cylinder engine under the hood, we’d like to see something a little less muddled outside. Bentley says an SUV will give the company a leg up in markets like the Middle East and China, where luxury SUVs remain king. Through the first two months of this year, the company’s sales are up 66 percent in China, putting the country ahead of the United States as the largest market for Bentley products.

[Source:Autoblog]