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McLaren turns the corner, posts first profits

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 04 June 2014 10:48 McLaren Automotive today announced it had broken even for the first time in its brief three-year history, posting a £4.5 million pre-tax profit in 2013. It's great news for the young supercar brand, which until now has lost money every year. McLaren's turnover was £285m, up from £267 in 2012, as it increased production towards its long-term goal of 4000 cars a year.

BMW Vision ConnectedDrive (2011) first pictures

This gorgeous two-seat roadster is the BMW Vision ConnectedDrive, set to be unveiled at the 2011 Geneva motor show. Unlike some of BMW’s other Vision-tagged concept cars, this unfortunately isn’t a thinly disguised production car, but a study designed to highlight the company’s driver assistance systems.  However, although BMW has released no details on the engine or layout under the sexy skin, thankfully the Vision ConnectedDrive’s stunning styling (including the shark nose, wrap-around rear lights and layered body) will find its way onto future production BMWs.  For a start sensors in the headlamps and rear lights monitor the traffic situation and the environment around the car, while instead of wing mirrors there are antennas that receive navigation data and transmit other information. Inside the driver has a 3D head-up display, and the system can project information about the chosen sat-nav route so it appears at the exact point of a possible turn-off. The 3D system also displays information in the foreground or background of the display depending on its relevance.

Elemental RP1 track-focused sports car revealed

The Elemental RP1 revealed ahead of Goodwood FoS At the beginning of the month we ran a tease from a new start-up car maker teasing their track-focused sports car – the Elemental RP1 – and now, ahead of its debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this week, Elemental have done the full reveal of the RP1. Due to be ready to sell by this time next year, Elemental bravely proclaim the RP1 as previewing a new generation of world class British sports cars, and the spec does at least offer more than a hollow promise, fingers crossed and lots of hype. Based on a lightweight carbon and aluminium tub wrapped in body panels to fully enclose the underpinnings, has double wishbone suspension with inboard Eibach springs and Nitron dampers, 4-pot Caparo calipers and 17″ alloys.