Maserati GranCabrio Fendi, 2012

• Maserati GranCabrio Fendi, 2012

The Maserati GranCabrio Fendi designed by Silvia Venturini Fendi was born from the union of two iconic brands of the made in Italy, which share common values such as craftsmanship and tradition.

A masterpiece of technology and craftsmanship, the Maserati GranCabrio Fendi will be introduced at the 2011 Frankfurt MotorShow.

The Maserati GranCabrio Fendi is crafted at the historical Maserati headquarters in Modena, with exclusive materials bespokely created in various colours for this project.

The three-layered body colour named Grigio Fiamma Fendi is a special dark grey with an iridescent golden finish on the surface. The wood trim Pergamena Fendi runs across the width of the dashboard, on the doors and on the top of the gear lever, all in the iconic FENDI yellow, like the brake callipers and the embroidered yellow trident on the headrests.

Adding a stronger yet elegant character to the GranCabrio is FENDI's unmistakable double F-logo, stitched on the seat, also appearing in the centre of the 19-inch Trident design alloy wheels, and the FENDI logo along the rocker panel.

Cuoio Romano, Fendi's most precious leather of its Selleria line, has been used for such details as the instrument cluster cover, for the gear lever and for the profiles of the floor mats. It also features in the Limited Edition Travel Set of luggage and accessories.

The Maserati GranCabrio Fendi represents a perfect marriage between the art of a handmade product with the ultimate technology and research of its 4.7-litre V8 engine coupled with automatic transmission, which brings out to life a unique roar, music to the ears of car connoisseurs.

Silvia Venturini Fendi's specially crafted logo seals this collaboration. A silver oval plaque with the engraving of the Maserati trident, Fendi logo and the 5-digit series number (five being an iconic number for Fendi) is located on the dashboard, in front of the passenger seat, and on both sides of the black cloth folding roof.

A special black car cover with a ton-sur-ton double F logo dresses the GranCabrio, hiding this marvellous secret from indiscreet eyes until the very last moment.

Lotus Elise Club Racer, 2012

 

 

 

 

•  Lotus Elise Club Racer, 2012

Anyone harbouring under the misapprehension that Lotus might be moving away from performance through lightweight only needs to take a quick ride in the new 1.6 Lotus Elise Club Racer to know that's definitely not the case. The bright engineers at Lotus put even the lightest of Lotus' modern cars on a diet and managed to shed a further 24kg.

So how did Lotus manage to make one of the lightest models on the market even lighter? The engineers behind the Lotus Elise Club Racer took a stripped-to-the-bare-bone approach visualised by the body-coloured seats but materialised in many ways such as the motorsport derived lightweight battery and the deletion of noise insulation. Attention to even the smallest of details has ensured that Lotus' passion for performance through lightweight has been translated throughout the car.

For the first time ever an Elise variant comes complete with a Sport setting for the DPM (Dynamic Performance Management) allowing even the less experienced sports car drivers to feel at the top of their game, while the ability to switch it off completely will please the more established track orientated drivers. DPM combined with improved agility courtesy of Lotus finely tuned sport suspension and an adjustable anti-roll bar will make the Lotus Elise Club Racer equally versatile for both road and race track fun.

Wolf Zimmermann Chief Technical Officer Lotus Cars said: "The traditional Lotus approach of reduction and purity has lead to one of the most zeitgeist and contemporary sports cars around. For over 15 years the Lotus Elise has become an icon in the sports car market, carving out a niche market with a dedicated following of lightweight fans. The new Club Racer will definitely give these people something extra to get their teeth stuck into. This car epitomises everything that's cool about the Elise - it's fast, raw, responsive and a huge amount of fun to drive."

Quality throughout the vehicle has been a top priority, highly regarded component suppliers such as Eibach for springs and Bilstein for dampers ensure that the Lotus Elise Club Racer is a car of substance as well as style.

The Lotus Elise Club Racer pleases the eye as well as the soul with a choice of six striking colours (Sky Blue, Saffron Yellow, Ardent Red, Aspen White, Matt Black and Carbon Grey) and bespoke design elements that emphasise the character of the car.

It's pocket pleasing too, at £27,500 / €34,450 / CHF48,900, the Lotus Elise Club Racer marks the new entry level sports car from Lotus. And with the Elise standard of just 149g CO2/km plus the weight reduction, the new Club Racer provides maximum fun without so much of the green-guilt usually associated with high performance driving.

Lotus Elise Club Racer: Purity, performance, pleasure - a TRUE Lotus.