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How safe are new minicars?

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently tested a total of 11 minicars in its relatively new small-overlap crash test, and the Chevrolet Spark was the only one to earn an Acceptable rating. The small-overlap crash test was instituted in 2012 with the goal of better replicating real-life car crashes, most of which don't follow the pattern of traditional government crash tests. Instead of a car hitting a stationary object with 100 percent of its front making contact, the small-overlap test examines how a car behaves in a frontal impact at 40 mph where only a quarter of the car's front hits an object.

One lap of the web: A Lotus superbike, a track-only Z06 and a pair of M cars

Motorcycle News Lotus has licensed its name for this 200 HP superbike. Motorcycle News is reporting that Lotus, the beloved sportscar manufacturer that launched a thousand acronymic reliability jokes--"L.O.T.U.S, Lots Of Trouble, Usually Serious"--has lent its name to a 200 HP, V-twin-powered superbike that is to be manufactured by a new company. While it does wear a lovely JPS-style livery, it's not clear where the lightness has been added or if it's been simplified.

Fiat 500 gets Stop-Start

Flavour of the month, stop-start, and here’s another to add to the list. The Fiat 500 gets Start&Stop (I’ve lost count of the different monikers) as an option on the 1.2 Lounge, using Bosch technology to beef up the system to make it reliable. The Stop/Start also gets another Fiat moniker – Blue&Me – which gives the driver EcoDrive to aid emissions and adds hands-free phone and an entertainment system.