4541210 Rh Rear Quarter Panel Extension W/oem Trim Garnish Belair Caprice Impala on 2040-parts.com

Autoweek in review: What you might have missed

Lotus has jumped on the trendy bespoke train and joined forces with controversial design firm Mansory. It sounds as if the two firms are conspiring to add weight and chavish cosmetic embellishments to the British performance cars. We hope they will prove us wrong.

OFFICIAL: Alfa Romeo 4C laps the Nurburgring in 8:04s

The Alfa Romeo 4C (pictured) laps the Nurburgring in 8:04s We wouldn’t normally report on a car lapping the Nurburgring in around 8 minutes; after all, the Nurburgring lap record for a full production car is sub-7 minutes, so 8 minutes seems almost a stroll. But the lap time round the Nurburgring for the Alfa Romeo 4C is worthy of note because it’s a new lap record for a production car with less than 250bhp, and puts the Alfa 4C very much on the map as a performance car. We’d heard rumours a few weeks ago that Horst von Saurma has managed the impressive time in the 4C round the Nurburgring, but Alfa has now confirmed the time – with the 4C shod with road-legal Pirelli Zero Trofeo tyres – was completed on 23rd September 2013.

Autoweek in review: Ferrari teases supercar, Mini flips out and the 2013 Porsche Panamera GTS

While many of us spent Monday honoring our favorite presidents (still Taft, Van Buren and R.B. Hayes), Ferrari teased us with shots of its Enzo successor and gave us some pricing details. By now you should have saved at least 20 bucks toward that $1.3 million.