Lotus Australia has just received an addition to their lineup fresh off the heels of delivering their first truly all new car in years, the Evora, and the release of a hard core track tuned Lotus Exige Cup, the lightweight English sports car builder has just revealed another version of their compact thrill machine. The Lotus Elise Club Racer is a very simple and straightforward sports car that borrows a few shades of paint from Colin Chapman’s personal pallet from the 1960s, colors like Elite Yellow, Carbon Grey, Sky Blue and Old English White.
According to the Director of Lotus Cars, Luke Bennett, "Special Editions of the award winning Elise have always proved popular with our customers around the world, and I expect the Elise Club Racer to be no different. We have taken colour schemes from our past, used on the Elite and Elan in the 1960s and cleverly brought them up to date with a modern feel to the interior. The whole design package is modern with a classic twist, which of course matches the peerless ride and handling of a Lotus and the convertible experience of the Elise perfectly."
Called the Elise Club Racer, the new lightweight English sports car is based on the 134 HP version of the Lotus Elise S and is scheduled to arrive in showrooms on September 15th and go on sale for around $40,000. The car makes use of silver and black highlights in the interior as well as an anthracite anodized gear knob and handbrake with the Club Racer "CR" logo embroidered everywhere. The Lotus engineers even saw fit to incorporate a smaller diameter steering wheel and a set of lightweight six spoke alloys for that extra sporty look and feel. The Elise Club Racer will make its official debut in February 2010 and will be priced at $72,990.
Just like any warm-blooded, auto-loving homo sapien, we appreciate smart and witty car commercials when we see one. Unfortunately, this particular Toyota Yaris commercial from the Land Down Under can be described in neither of those terms.
While we have no problem with a little subtlety, the sexual undertones in this commercial are a little too blatant, which also raised some alarm bells in Australia, prompting the sanctioning folks to ban the ad from airing on TV.
Fortunately, no such ‘bans’ exist on the Internet and you can watch the entire commercial in all its entirety.
The great thing about YouTube is you that can scour its site for a few minutes and find auto commercials from other countries that you wouldn’t be able to find simply by flipping through the channels on your local cable network. While there may be times where different languages prevent us from fully-comprehending these ads, the sheer satisfaction that comes with watching them is sure worth it, even if we don’t understand them sometimes.
Thankfully, this particular Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution commercial from Australia is dialogue free so we can enjoy it for what it is: a visceral treat that promotes the Mitsubishi Evolution as capable of defying the laws of physics. Give it a look and tell us that you weren’t floored by this visual masterpiece.
One of Australia’s few supercar exports is now headed to the UK.
Coming in two different engine packages, the Australian rally car Skelta is
looking to the UK by storm. Named after the famous Beatles song “Helter Skelter”, the Skelta will make its formal debut in the UK at the Autosport International show in Birmingham, England in January of next year.
Among the car’s main selling points is the fact that prospective customers can choose what type of engine they want on their ride. They can choose from a supercharged, 2.0-liter Honda four-cylinder engine that can churn as much as 340 horsepower or opt for the more powerful option: a Hartley 3.0-liter V8-engine that pumps out as much as 480 horsepower.
While the engines are up for choice, the rest of the car comes with the same stylistic and technical packages, including a carbon fiber body that keeps the weight of the car to just around 750 kilos, making the car quick on its feet in and around the block. In addition to that, the Skelta also comes with a rear wing, a diffuser, and front air intakes that allows the car to pack 200 kilos of downforce to stabilize it when speeds reach 90 mph.
In addition to the engine choice, buyers can also choose the type of two-seat versions they’d want on the Skelta. The choice includes a gull-wing, removable targa top, called "G-Force" or a wide-bodied, open-topped two-seater, called the "Spyder."
No word yet as to how much the car’s are being sold so we’ll all have to wait for its official unveiling at next year’s Autosport International Show to find out how much the Skelta is going to cost.
The 2010 Camaro SS has made its way to Australia, although if you’re thinking of getting yourself one, you might want to check your bank statements first.
Performax International, a Queensland-based importer of US vehicles, recently announced the upcoming launch of an RHD Camaro in the Australian market. But before our Aussie friends can rejoice over the prospect of driving a Camaro, they should be informed that the going price for the 6.2-liter V8 Camaro SS comes at around $139,000 AUD – that’s $128,000 USD.
If you must know, the exact same model of the Camaro SS sells in the US at just $33,745 USD, which, if you’re astute in math, is one-fourth of the selling price in Australia. We don’t exactly know as to why Performax is selling their Camaro’s at such an inflated price – actually, inflated seems to be an understatement – but according to them, orders have been coming in droves already.
In an effort to justify their position, Nicholas Vandenberg, Performax’s GM said, "For something that will be an absolute standout on Australian roads - and drive as good as it looks - it’s great value for money."
While he does have a point about the Camaro standing out in Australia, we still can’t fathom why they’re selling the car at such an exaggerated price, especially when you consider that the HSV Clubsport R8, a high-performance version of the Holden Commodore that compares to the Camaro in terms of performance sells for half the price tag - $65,990 AUD - of the American muscle car.
