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Lotus Evora does special duty for Italian Carabinieri

In a tip of the hat to Britain, the Italian Arma dei Carabinieri, a division of the army charged with civilian police duties, accepted two new Lotus Evora S models for special duty. The headquarters of the Carabinieri in Rome hosted a ceremony culminating in the Evora twins being turned over by Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar. “Everyone knows that Italy has more than its fair share of high-profile sports-car manufacturers, so it’s a real honor for a relatively small British brand to be in this position,” Bahar said.

Thomas Ingenlath: Volvo Concept C to end 'vanilla' design era [w/Video]

Volvo has promised a radical change in its future design language that will be embodied in its Concept C coupé, the first concept to be developed since head of design Thomas Ingenlath's appointment in July 2012. Our first look at the concept, which debuts at this month's Frankfurt motor show, comes from a video starring Ingenlath (see left). At first it seems to just show him sketching while he explains how some people see Volvo design as "vanilla" – nice, but not iconic or cutting-edge – but if we slow it down at around the 11-second mark, we get a preview of what we can expect.

LA Motor Show: Mercedes previews fast GLA compact SUV model

MERCEDES has unveiled an almost production-ready AMG compact SUV concept with a banzai 355bhp engine. The Concept GLA 45 AMG is the German company’s vision for a rapid car to rival the upcoming Porsche Macan, which like the Mercedes was also unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Using an extremely highly-tuned four-cylinder turbocharged engine similar to that first seen in the A 45 AMG hatchback, the GLA 45 AMG produces enough muscle to fire itself to 62mph in ‘less than five seconds’, according to Mercedes.