Sports Cars

The 2013 Lotus Elan, revealed at the 2010 Paris Auto Show, won't be seeing production for fear of it stepping on the toes of the all-new Esprit, but there's good news to come from its demise: Lotus will use the funds from that project to build its own engines. Lotus, in its former pre-Bahar guise...

The latest promo ad for the Chevrolet Camaro features yet another tie-in with the Transformers franchise. Surprised? Neither are we. Interested? Of course. Chevy's involvement with the Transformers movie series has been nothing short of intensive, but we have a hard time arguing with sports cars...

The official unveiling of the 2012 1-Series Hatchback, still, unfortunately, not for U.S. consumption, took place last week. Now we have an image of the M Sport package for the car, showing a more aggressive styling package, and perhaps explaining these spy shots we published back in March. There's...

Two years ago MINI unveiled a pair of new sports car concepts at the Frankfurt Auto Show, one called the Coupe and the other the Roadster. Now, just a couple of months out from the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show, MINI is giving us a preview of the production version of one of these concepts, the 2012...

Jaguar's latest XK family member, the XKR-S, isn't a 240-mph hypercar, and it's not the lightest, nimblest, or even the prettiest of the more run-of-the-mill super sports cars. But it does sound spectacular while offering a sampling of the best, and last, of the current XK. This video shows the...

It’s been a while since we last heard about the trio of new roadster models being developed at Volkswagen Group brands Audi, Porsche and Volkswagen, though at one point last month there were claims that Audi’s version of the lightweight sports car had been canceled. Now, just a few...

Both Toyota and Subaru are scheduled to unveil their own separate versions of their jointly developed rear-wheel drive sports car at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show this December, and while we’ve seen and heard plenty of Toyota’s version (nee Scion FR-S), not much is known about...

Rumors of BMW model proliferation continue to spread like wildfire, with the latest being a resurrection of the Z3 roadster. It's a somewhat convoluted chain of development and re-development that gets us there, too. Consider this one highly speculative for now, but plausible at the same time. BMW...

Whether you're a fan of Lotus' transformation under the leadership of Dany Bahar or not, it's happening, and it may soon take a much more drastic path. According to reports from a roundtable last week, Bahar is considering a partnership with a larger car maker or possibly spinning the brand off...

It's been almost one year exactly since talk of the BMW M2 trademark last circulated--likely as a result of refreshing the intent to use the mark--and that has inspired a new round of speculation on what it might mean. Coupled with trademarks from last October for the 228, 230, and 235 names, the...

Well, after years of giving electric car hopes and dreams, the Tesla Roadster is winding down toward an end. According to paperwork filed with the SEC, Tesla plans to stop Roadster production in December. Instead of a sexy, Lotus-based convertible, Tesla will be transitioning to more practical...

Revealed in concept form at this year's Geneva Motor Show, the compact and dashing Alfa Romeo 4C coupe is already tagged as the brand's leader in the return to the U.S. market, but it may get some in-house competition in the form of a Maserati-branded version. The details are still a bit sketchy...

Electric-folding soft tops have become the norm in convertibles over the past few years, where they haven't been replaced by complex power hard tops, but MINI is going back to basics for its upcoming Roadster two-seater, according to the latest reports. The news is a bit surprising given MINI's...

Fresh off its debut last weekend at the 2011 Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este, the stunning Aston Martin V12 Zagato is preparing for its racing debut at the Nurburgring later this week. More accurately, Aston Martin is busying preparing the concept for the track. And while it's not quite ready to...

Mercedes-Benz has a number of high-performance models in the pipeline, most of which we know are coming. Things like the SLS AMG Roadster, next-generation SL-Class, new SLK AMG, new C63 AMG and even a high-performance C63 AMG Black Series. However, there apparently are plans within the German...

Porsche may not be the first name you think of when you think electric cars--Tesla, Nissan, Chevrolet, even Smart are more likely--but that may change, especially if you're into speed and handling. Porsche recently reaffirmed its promise of a year ago to build electric performance cars. A year ago...

Last fall we brought you a preview of the coming KTM X-Bow R, and, finally, it's launched. What does that mean? It means 300 horsepower from a Audi-sourced 2.0-liter TFSI powerplant packed into a lighter, sharper version of the already light and sharp X-Bow chassis. Unfortunately, in the U.S., the...

Formula 1 is more interesting this year than it has been in any of the recent five, and though that has little to do with Infiniti's tie-up with Red Bull, the new partnership may yet spawn something even more interesting, and more relevant to those of us in the U.S., who won't get to witness F1...

You may have already read reviews of the 2011 BMW 1-Series M Coupe (aka 1M), but if you have, you've likely suffered through strained historical analogies, detailed comparisons to previous M cars, and sheets of performance data. You'll find a minimum of that here. Instead, I offer you a fellow...

Lotus has teamed up with another legendary company, Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC), the manufacturer of Hawker and Beechcraft business jets, with the two firms working together on a number of unique initiatives. And to mark the occasion, HBC will be giving away a free Lotus sports car to...