News

Lotus Advanced Performance is a new division that will create several limited-edition bespoke models.The division is hoping to have both a new car and customer event by the end of the year.Simon Lane, the director of Lotus Advanced Performance, previously lead the similar Aston Martin Q division. Although Lotus just had its best sales year in a decade, selling 1710 units worldwide in 2021, that’s still a small batch of vehicles. But that isn’t stopping the company from getting even more exclusive. Lotus has now created a new division called Lotus Advanced Performance (LAP) aimed at creating bespoke cars and experiences for its customers.We sat down for a chat with Simon Lane, the new director of Lotus Advanced Performance and visionary for the group. Lane comes to Lotus fresh from heading up Aston Martin’s similar Q division.

When Lotus announced the new division in February, it released an enticing photo displaying what looks like the rear end of an open-wheel race car with a large wing. Notably, two exhaust pipes can be seen sticking out the back of the teaser car. We think it looks a bit like the Lotus 72, or perhaps the Type 49, but all Lane would give was “It’s clearly a very significant car for Lotus.” Excitingly, Lane also told us that, as the rest of Lotus moves toward full electrification, this division is retaining the right to “play” with internal combustion engines, albeit in very low volumes. LAP isn’t waiting around to get the ball rolling on production. Lane described the division as having four main “product streams,” with motorsport being one. Earlier this spring, it launched its first car, the Emira GT4 as a dedicated track machine based on the Emira mid-engine sports car. Lane told us that talks have started on what the team wants its next motorsport-focused car to look like, but there are no concrete decisions yet. He did explain that the proposed Electric GT series from the FIA is something his team is looking at, though offered no additional clues on that particular front.

Lotus Cars

The second “product stream” or “model line” would develop cars built on existing platforms. That means something on the Emira platform other than the aforementioned GT4, something on the Evija platform, or perhaps a performance version of the upcoming Eletre to compete with other performance SUVs. Bespoke options like unique paint jobs or liveries would also fall into this category. Modern Take on the PastHere’s where things get exciting. The third stream for LAP is set to consist of historic vehicles, both period-correct continuation cars and restomod-style cars with old designs and newer mechanical components.“I’ve discovered that there are a number of original drawings for cars that were completed in the Colin Chapman era, that never made it off the drawing board,” said Lane. “That’s really exciting, there were some amazing cars that were designed back then. And I think using a blend of original beautiful designs for cars that were designed by Colin, and modern technology offer us the opportunity to develop some really cool cars.”

Lotus Cars

Looking ahead, Lane also told us that LAP is hoping to launch its second car by the end of the year. “I would like to think that you will see something from us by the end of the year,” said Lane. The target for the first bespoke vehicle in the restomod line is later in 2023.It’s important to note that these will all be incredibly limited in number. We were told that most cars from Lotus Advanced Performance would have less than 100 made, and some would be as low as single digits. The fourth stream for LAP is in the experiential world with things like track days or tours of the company’s factory at Hethel. This page shows a great example of the sort of experience Lane put on with Aston Martin and works as a marker for what customers can expect Lotus to put on in the coming months and years.
This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More

EV startup Canoo has made an agreement with Walmart to provide 4500 of its electric commercial vehicles for use in last-mile delivery. Walmart will be the first to receive a special model called the Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle (LDV), which has been specifically modified for short-range delivery purposes.The announcement saw Canoo’s stock open Tuesday at nearly double the value it closed at on Monday. Walmart will row its boat for the final leg of online-order deliveries with 4500 Canoos. As part of its initiative to achieve zero emissions by 2040, the superstore chain said today that it has signed a “definitive agreement” with Canoo, an U.S. EV startup, to purchase 4500 of its electric vehicles for use in last-mile delivery. It will also have the option to purchase up to 10,000 more later.

Canoo announced the agreement Tuesday, which involves the brand’s specialty Lifestyle Delivery Vehicles (LDVs), which Walmart will become the first entity to receive. The LDV is a modified version of Canoo’s pod-shaped Lifestyle Vehicle (LV), an all-electric consumer utility vehicle with up to seven seats in a unique limousine-esque U-shape. The Delivery version, however, forgoes rear seats for cargo space and boasts 250 miles of range via an 80.0-kWh battery. Canoo also claims a 1464-pound payload capacity.

Lineup of Canoo LV models.
Canoo

Walmart will use the LDVs for last-mile delivery, which is the final step in an online-order package’s delivery. Basically, the Canoos will take your package from a local transportation hub to your front door. In the release, Canoo claims that the vehicles should hit the road for Walmart in 2023, but that LDVs will begin limited use in the coming weeks around the Dallas/Fort Worth area so Walmart can fine-tune the vehicle’s configuration. Car and Driver recently reported financial troubles for the up-and-coming EV startup, but Tuesday’s announcement saw Canoo’s stock open at $4.65 a share, nearly double its Monday closing value of $2.37. The company went public in December 2020, opening at $22.75 a share, but it has since steadily declined, though it’s important to note that other EV startups to have recently gone public—Rivian, Lightning eMotors, and others—have been following the same trajectory.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

The Walmart deal comes after another big Canoo announcement regarding fleet-use of the LV. The spunky pods were recently commissioned by NASA for use as transport vehicles in the upcoming Artemis moon-landing missions. All in all, things may be looking up for Canoo.
This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More

Lynk & Co is an EV brand from Chinese automaker Geely Group that was once a strong contender to cross into the U.S. market.Its first model was the 01 crossover (pictured above), which went on sale in China in late 2017.At the time, we were told sales in the U.S. would start in 2020.When we last checked in with Lynk & Co, the Chinese carmaker—part of Geely Group’s automotive empire—was planning to expand its operations from China and Europe into America with the intention of opening an outpost in San Francisco by 2020. That was a couple of years ago, and it obviously has not happened—but that’s not because the company has lost interest.

CEO Alain Visser remains focused on bringing his EVs here. “My ambition, without a concrete plan, is to go to the U.S.,” he told Car and Driver, speaking with us at Lynk & Co headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden. “I’m convinced there’s a market for our offering. Not everywhere, but in California, New York, and some other places.”Lynk’s structure is unusual. For a flat fee of around $500 per month, users acquire the use of a car, including all insurance and maintenance fees. There’s no commitment, so they can keep the car for one month or any other number of months. If they keep it for a year, it gets replaced with a new model. And with the touch of a button on their infotainment screen, users can offer up their car to share with anyone who is a member of the Lynk & Co app, for any duration—hour, day, week, month—at whatever price the market will bear. So, it’s like Airbnb for cars, but Lynk doesn’t even take a cut.Currently, Lynk & Co. operates in seven countries in Europe with 120,000 users on the app there and more than 17,000 cars on the road. In China, the company claims to be selling 150,000 cars per year.Plan B: Texas, Not California In keeping with the company’s offbeat nature, Visser now hopes to open the first Lynk USA brand experience center—”club,” in Lynk parlance—not on the coasts, but in Texas. “If I could do it now, I would open a club in Austin, without a car,” Visser said, though he admits he’s never visited the city. “I would just build the brand, the experience, talk about what it is we stand for, build the activities that we do in the clubs here in Europe. And then a year later, maybe add a car.”So what has prevented the company from doing just that? Well, the brand’s unique selling proposition wasn’t operational in 2020. “The sharing functionality wasn’t ready then,” he said. “We would have had just the concept of you use a car for a month, you pay the flat fee. And we wanted to wait because we think that the sharing is really what makes the business model sustainable.”

Lynk & Co

But now that that works—we saw on the Lynk App that there are hundreds of thousands of members throughout seven European countries looking to loan or borrow a car—what’s the holdup? Part of it is the U.S. insistence on an independent, franchise-based dealer network, which Lynk eschews—it does 99 percent of its business online. Visser, however, believes there might be a workaround. “We would almost be registered in the U.S. as a rental car company more than a car-selling enterprise,” he said. “We won’t have dealerships. But if Tesla had problems as an American company in the U.S., it would be definitely difficult for us.”If creating interest within the world’s second-largest automobile market for a completely unknown, garishly styled compact crossover made in China and sold with a wholly unfamiliar ownership model sounds like a challenge, Visser seems up for it.”We launched our first ever club in Amsterdam (pictured above), which is the most car-hating city in Europe,” he said. “And we said, let’s go there because it’s a clear signal that we go against the grain of the car industry. And I think I see Austin a bit like that. It’s in Texas, it’s the pickup state. So we start there.” We shall see.
This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More

The Challenger is on its way out the door. After an incredible 15-year production run, Dodge finally plans to retire the retro muscle car we know and love in 2024. But if these latest rumors are to be believed, the Challenger is going out on a 909-hp high note. (Shown above, the Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock.)Mopar Insiders, citing an unnamed source close to the project, claims Dodge is planning a new Challenger SRT Hellcat model that’s able to run on E85 fuel. E85—sometimes called flex fuel—is a mixture of ethanol and gasoline with a higher concentration of ethanol versus your average gasoline mixture. It’s a popular fuel source for tuners looking to make more power, as it provides more thermal efficiency and, in some cases, improved fuel consumption.If Dodge wants to send the Challenger off on a high note, it likely wants to do so with as much power as possible. And since E85 is an easy way to make more power, the rumor makes sense. Mopar Insiders’ source claims this Challenger variant will make 909 hp—69 more horses than the Challenger SRT Demon makes running on race gas. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of a high-powered production car that runs on E85 from the factory. The Koenigsegg Jesko uses E85, along with a set of other tricks, to help it pass emissions while making 1600 hp. This Challenger rumor is far from official news, of course, so take it with a grain of salt. We’ll likely know more by the end of the year.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More