The Lotus Exige S may be the best overall car inthe company’s lineup. This is both great and terribly sad.
The Exige name is synonymous with the road-going track car class, and it has the specs to back it up. Weighing in at just 2,592 pounds, the Lotus has a righteous, 345-horsepower supercharged V6 providing thrust, which translates into a very confident and precise machine. Previous generations were powered by a Toyota-sourced inline four, so they were even lighter at around 2,000 lbs.
The sad part is, after dual-stage ‘smart’ airbags became required in road cars in 2012, Exige production ground to a halt in the United States. The lightweight sports car did not meet the law’s demand, and was thus exiled (except on racetracks).
To increase saturation in the markets it still occupies, Lotus has announced a six-speed automatic version of the dynamic Exige S.
The auto offers “the involvement of a manual paddle-shift with all the convenience of an automatic,” says Lotus. The auto is actually a hair faster than the manual too, with 0 to 60 mph coming in 3.9 seconds as opposed to 4.0 seconds.
“By introducing a paddle-shift, we have expanded the Exige product range to make it more accessible to customers worldwide,” said Jean-Marc Gales, Lotus Chief Executive Officer. “Now, customers who are more accustomed to two pedals and automatic transmissions can enjoy the unbelievable performance and handling of the Exige S without compromise.”
Related: Need to evade some baddies? James Bond’s Lotus Esprit submarine is on eBay for $1 million
The auto option is available on both the Exige S and Exige S Roadster for €2,185 ($2,768) in Europe.
We can probably guess the answer to this, but which would you prefer?
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.