Lotus Eterne: Lotus flagship saloon revealed

The Aston Martin Rapide mimicking Lotus Eterne You’ll have to stick with this if you’re going through these in chronological order. There was no way we could seriously do one story on all of the Lotus announcements today, so you’re getting one for each. Sort of.

Ford's net profit slips to $1.65 billion for the third quarter

Ford Motor Co., hurt by accounting changes related to commodity prices, said third-quarter net profits fell slightly to $1.65 billion from $1.69 billion a year earlier. Pretax profits fell to $1.94 billion from $2.06 billion a year earlier. North American pretax operating profits were essentially flat from the year-earlier period at $1.6 billion.

New Ford Mondeo to get new 1.5 litre EcoBoost engine

The new EcoBoost engine will also be turning up in the Ford Fusion for North America, but the UK and Europe are going to have to wait until at least the end of 2014 – when we get the new Mondeo - before the new engine is on offer. The 1.5 litre EcoBoost offers improved economy and emissions compared to the 1.6 litre currently available  - with similar power, performance and torque compared –  but one of the main reasons for offering it is that many countries offer tax breaks for engines under 1.5 litres. The new engine will be built by Ford In Romania initially (although it will get churned out elsewhere too in due course) and offers turbocharging, direct fuel injection and variable valve timing.