Caterham Supersport R extends Caterham 7 range

Caterham has added the Supersport R to its range of ’7′ models with a 2.0 litre Duratec Ford engine delivering 180bhp. In the meantime, Caterham’s core road car business is the old Lotus 7 range of Caterhams, so it makes sense to keep that more appealing and relevant until new cars start to arrive, so we get the Caterham Supersport R as an addition to the range to slot in between the Supersport and the Superlight models. The Supersport R gets a Ford Duratec 2.0 litre engine which produces 180bhp, which doesn’t sound a huge amount, but when you consider the Supersport R weighs in at just 535kg it starts to look plenty.

Opel not for sale, GM exec says

General Motors Vice Chairman Steve Girsky says Opel is not for sale. "We're developing plans to make Opel work," he said at the Automotive News World Congress on Tuesday. Opel and PSA/Peugeot-Citroen were mentioned as possible targets of Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, who said on Monday he may seek to combine his company with another automaker to increase efficiencies and cut development costs.

Hyundai Suicide ‘Advert’ causes a rumpus

It’s not easy advertising your wares and finding the right balance between mainstream and innovative to capture attention, as Hyundai has found out to their cost with an ‘advert’ for the hydrogen powered ix35 FCEV which, rather distastefully, depicts a man trying to commit suicide by running a hose from the tailpipe to the cabin before realising he can’t achieve his aim as the FCEV’s only emissions are water. It’s a proper cock-up from Hyundai – usually so sure-footed with their PR – but, despite Hyundai US putting the blame at the door of Hyundai UK, there’s more to this suicide ‘advert’ than meets the eye. It seems the suicide video was put together by Innocean – a European Ad Agency owned by Hyundai’s Chairman Chung Mong-koo and his daughter, and responsible for much of Hyundai’s marketing output – and was a clumsy attempt to gauge reaction to the somewhat macabre take on the benefits of an FCEV.