Suzuki 55320-95311 Bolt (6x15) on 2040-parts.com

Lotus's glimmer of hope: Proton stands by Hethel

After another painful year of sales for Lotus in the UK – down 58% on 2011 - Norfolk's beleagured sports car brand has kicked off the New Year with the grand unveiling of its new flagship Malaysian showroom, and the thumbs-up from senior Proton company suits that Lotus isn't on its last legs. The announcement comes in the same week Lotus’s sales figures were released for 2012. Showing a substantial 58% decrease in sales and selling just 137 vehicles, Lotus Cars was the worst performer in the UK with a woeful 0.01% share of the market.  Are Lotus's Malaysian owners sticking by the company?

New BMW M1 isn’t happening

BMW won’t be building a new M1 A new BMW M1 Supercar has been mooted for some time – BMW even produced the M1 Homage in 2008 – but it’s not going to happen. We’ve expected BMW to bite the bullet at some point and recreate its mid-engined M1 Supercar. After all, car makers like a halo and, although BMW has some very impressive cars, they don’t really have anything like the Mercedes SLS.

BMW 4 Series stars at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show

This is the first ever BMW 4 Series coupe, debuting here at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show. It’s BMW’s efforts to better separate and identify the 3 Series saloon and coupe models, so now the two-door coupe gets its very own ‘4 Series’ boot badge. We’ll cut to the chase, too – it’s good, very good.