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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?

Toyota Yundong Shuangqing, Dear Qin concept cars at Beijing

If you want an idea of how important the Beijing motor show has become, get this: Toyota showed 38 production and concept cars in China this week. But two stood out: the Yundong Shuangqing and Dear Qin concept cars. Great names!

Land Rover Range-e plug-in diesel hybrid grabs SMMT Award

Land Rover Range-e wins SMMT Award Just like every other car maker in the world, Jaguar Land Rover are flirting with and developing hybrid powerplants to keep the government-targeted economy and CO2 levels in check, even though neither Jaguar or Land Rover are close to actually launching a hybrid. In fact, Jaguar recently said that 4WD was the next ambition for their cars – not hybrids – and we won’t see a hybrid from Land Rover until the next wave of Land Rover models start to hit the road in 2013. And even then, any hybrid powerplant is likely to be well after initial launch.