Porsche Macan 2.0 litre 4-cylinder coming to the UK – but not Europe

The Porsche Macan 2.0 litre Turbo will be available in the UK Porsche quietly revealed their first car with a 4-cylinder engine in almost a generation at the Beijing Motor Show last month with the arrival of the Porsche Macan 2.0 litre turbo, produced to mop up sale in China. China’s tax system mitigates against thirstier, bigger-engined cars, so a 2.0 litre turbo attracts tax at less than half the rate of the 3.0 litre V6 in the Macan S, so it will be the big volume model for China. But the demand from China for the 2.0 litre Macan means Porsche won’t have the capacity to build it for other left hand drive markets, so Europe won’t be getting the little-engined Macan.

Mercedes S-Class production increased to meet demand

Mercedes S-Class production increased We’ve reported recently on the strong sales Mercedes is enjoying with the new A-Class (and its swoopy-coupe sibling CLA), but it’s not just Mercedes compact cars that are flying out of showrooms. Mercedes has revealed it’s having to increase production at its plant in Sindelfingen by prolonging shifts by 74 minutes (after increasing them by 30 minutes earlier this year) in order to churn out enough S-Class cars to meet strong demand. But it’s not just the S-Class (as well as the A-Class cars) that are selling strongly, Mercedes are also upping production at Bremen to build more GLK and C-Class models.

Lotus explosion: Elise, Esprit, Elan, Elite & Eterne (2010)

It’s only a few days since Lotus shocked us with details of the all-new Lotus Elite – a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 GT with a folding hardtop, the engine up front, and all-aluminium construction. Now, at the 2010 Paris motor show, the Norfolk firm is unveiling four more cars: Elise, Elan, Esprit and Eterne. On sale in 2015, the Elise is furthest from production, but we already know it will be a radical shift from today’s car.