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Lotus Exige S Roadster arriving Summer 2013 (video)

So the revelation that the Lotus Exige S Roadster – which had an outing as a concept at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show – is finally making it in to production and will arrive in the Summer of 2013 is exactly the sort of Lotus news we want to hear. Lotus has revealed the Exige S Roadster as a reality in a short tease video (below) telling us the new Lotus will be ‘Ready for the Summer’, although by the time it gets in to the hands of customers summer will probably be already over (if it’s not already – we have had a few nice days in a row). The Exige S Roadster will get the same 345bhp 3.5 litre V6 complete with supercharger as the coupe which will be enough to get you to 62mph in just 4 seconds, and you’ll be able to row it along with either a six-speed manual or automated manual ’box plus, thanks to a very lightweight folding roof and the loss of the back spoiler, the Roadster will weigh no more than the coupe so should handle exactly how a Lotus is meant to.

2013 Astra Convertible spied on video – The new Vauxhall Calibra / Opel Manta?

2013 Astra Convertible Spy Vauxhall and Opel have now managed to reveal much of the new Astra Model range – with the Astra GTC debuting at Frankfurt last month being the latest – but there’s still the drop-top Astra Convertible to come. The 2013 Astra Convertible – which may arrive as the new Vauxhall Calibra – has been caught on video testing ahead of an expected debut at Paris in 2012, before going on sale across Europe in 2013. Looking very much like the GTC with a cloth top, the new Astra Convertible loses the tin-top of the old model and gets a folding canvas top in the name of economy, lightness and dynamics.

Video: Chris Bangle delivers “Empowerment: Design without Designers” talk at Creative Mornings/London

Chris Bangle – the undisputed front man of car design – needs little introduction, so the prospect of the former BMW Design Director and now founder of Chris Bangle Associates giving a talk in our home town of London was too good to pass up. His presentation (which you can watch in full in the video to the left) touched on his time at BMW, but was more focused on the idea of empowering others to create: "design without you in the middle", as Bangle says. From the story of the co-creation of the staircase in his Italian studio to the idea of encouraging people to think about their culture when designing, his philosophies transcend disciplines.