20 years ago, Lotus debuted its Elise, a roadster so light and nimble, its still regarded as a benchmark for performance to this day. This year, Lotus celebrates the anniversary of this phenomenal vehicle with the unveiling of the Lotus Elise 20th Anniversary Special Edition.
“It’s hard to believe that the Elise has been around for 20 years,” said Group Lotus CEO Jean-Marc Gales. “Over the years, we have improved and refined the Elise but we have also ensured that we have retained the purity of the driving experience and for the Elise to remain as the sports car to which other marques aspire.”
The new edition essentially reconfigures a few things on the Elise S Club Racer, the model that sits just above the Elise S in the lineup. It weighs 10 kilograms less than the Elise S and packs a lightweight, aero-optimized body, although Lotus doesn’t specify what, if any, changes were made from the CR. Sitting behind the driver is a 1.8-liter supercharged four-cylinder engine that sends 217 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque to the back wheels by way of a six-speed manual transmission.
The little sprinter is capable of jumping from 0 to 60 in 4.6 seconds and tops out at 145 mph. Additions to this anniversary model are new, lighter black forged wheels, a new lighter center console that matches the body color, and sports seats swathed in either leather or Alcantara with contrast stitching. Naturally, 20th anniversary decals are located throughout
Disappointingly, the Elise and the Exige Coupe are no longer offered in the U.S., having much to do with not meeting stricter safety regulations. If you have a convenient garage tucked away in a backroad-laden European country, then the special edition Elise can be yours for around $60,000.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.