Motor Engine Polaris Sportsman 500 Ho Efi 2008 on 2040-parts.com

Lotus news at 2009 Tokyo motor show

Lotus was one of only three foreign manufacturers to exhibit at the 2009 Tokyo show, and as well as shouting about the success of the Evora (including a mention of it scooping CAR's PCoTY title), the company unveiled a special-edition Exige. Called the Exige Stealth is Japan – and the ugly-sounding Scura throughout the rest of the world – it's black all over. There's matt black paint, lots of carbonfibre bits and pieces, and the supercharged Toyota engine pushing out 257bhp.

Mazda CX-5 gets new trim levels

Mazda CX-5 gets new trim levels When car makers come up with trim specifications for their models, they do so in a way that gives easy stepping stones in equipment levels, from hair shirt to over the top. They also expect that many buyers will pay a visit to the options list to add in a few extra goodies to the standard spec, but it looks like Mazda has been getting the same request repeatedly from buyers of the CX-5 compact SUV – give us a sunroof and leather. Until now, the only way to get sunroof and leather was to opt for the range-topping Sport trim – which costs from £27.5k – but now Mazda has added two trim levels beneath the Sport - SE-L Lux and SE-L Lux Nav – which come already equipped with the two most requested extras.

Vauxhall & Opel could merge with Peugeot Citroen.

GM Europe (Opel and Vauxhall) could extend their deal with PSA (Peugeot Citroen) with a Joint Venture or merger. When GM Europe and PSA announced they were forming an alliance earlier this year, we asked if this was an admission that the mainstream car market in Europe had changed forever, and an alliance between Opel, Vauxhall, Peugeot and Citroen was the only way to keep the brands viable. But we did also question what use a projected annual saving of €2 billion by sharing suppliers and co-developing platforms would be to PSA and GM considering their woeful losses.