Bad news for people who were looking to find comfort on the 2010 Lotus Evora. Though many expected it to be a car built for 4, it looks like it will only be built for two.

Lotus plans to keep the Evora hype going by adding new features to the car each year – including a paddle-shift gearbox and a high-performance supercharged variant – culminating in a roadster model in 2012. However, to make room for the convertible top, Lotus engineers had to do away with the Evora’s rear seat.

“It’s not going to be easy to fit the roof in,” Steve Crijns, the Evora’s exterior designer, told Autocar. “It will have to go in front of the engine, where the rear seats are now. The rest of the car has been designed with the cabrio in mind; the doors, for instance, are styled so that they can accommodate the system without any changes.”

Crijns also revealed the Evora will do with a soft top rather than a retractable hardtop. The decision to use a more conventional soft top will not only save on engineering time but will also keep the car’s weight down.

(Source) Left Lane News

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The bad news is that Toyota Australia is scaling back in production but the good news is that they are not announcing any immediate job cuts. That is for now. The global car industry is in a deep downturn and figures released this week show February was the worst month for car sales in Australia since 2003. Sales were down 22 per cent from last year.

Toyota’s Max Yasuda has told ABC1’s Inside Business the company is hoping its new green cars will help generate a recovery in the market early next year.

“Our first priority, even in these difficult times, is to keep our workforce … to keep our jobs,” he said.

He says federal and state governments should commit to using the green car when it is released.

“This is the most serious challenge that we’ve faced … in the 50-year history of Toyota Australia,” Mr Yasuda said.

“I think we have to invent something that we have never done before in terms of production system as well as … in terms of how to sell a car.”

(Source) ABC News

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