This past Wednesday, Lotus sent us an invitation to take part in the world premiere of a "special edition of a special edition" Evora at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show.

The company's invitation noted that the car would be an F1-inspired version of the limited-edition Lotus Evora GTE first shown at the Frankfurt auto show last year. This

"We're launching a special edition of a special edition, and to make things extra special our Lotus F1 Team driver Kimi Raikkonen will be there to field questions. Now, it doesn’t get more special than that…," read the British automaker's invitation.

Lotus did not release any photos of the car leaving us more or less in the dark, but today, Patrick Garcia from French auto site Caradisiac, sent us these photos of an F1-themed Evora that he discovered at a parking lot during a trip to Jerez to cover the F1 pre-season testing earlier this month.

A tenth of a second is an eternity in Formula 1. In qualifying runs, it can mean the difference between the pole position and third place or even worse at the starting grid. During a pit stop, it can make or break your entire race.

Moreover, if you multiply that tenth by 50 times or more, i.e. the number of laps in a Grand Prix, it is the difference between spraying the champagne on the podium and heading to the pits with your head down in disappointment.

That valuable split-second is what hundreds of people strive for months each year. Shortly after the new season starts, the designers back at the factory start working on next year’s car.

For a company that hadn’t revealed a brand new car in 12 years until it launched the Evora in 2008, revealing five new models in the same auto show like Lotus did in Paris in 2010, was a ballsy move.

The Proton-owned company said at the time that the concepts previewed its all-new range that is under development. The new Elise, Esprit, Elan and Eterne saloon, as well as a city car, were impressive indeed.

However, the company has been bleeding cash ever since it was acquired by the Malaysian carmaker in 1996. With Proton facing a few problems of its own, such as seeing its share in the local market reduced by almost 50 percent, selling Lotus was a logical option.

Automakers just love teasing us before major international motor shows such as the upcoming 82nd Geneva Salon. Today, we received an email from Lotus with a cryptic message about the company's plans to "blow the roof off" of something at the Swiss show.

Aside from the very summery picture strip you see above, Lotus' message also said: "MAXIMUM Exposure...Lotus’ philosophy has always been ‘less is more’. Now, with a display of true fighting spirit, we’ll take this one step further in Geneva."

Albeit a little late to the party as Renault and Lotus parted ways in F1 at the end of 2011, German tuning firm of all things related to the Renault Group, Elia, has presented a Formula 1-themed version of the Renault Wind.

The small French roadster is dressed in the former Lotus Renault GP team's colors with decorative livery placed throughout the body of the car.

For the past couple of months, there were rumors circulating that Proton wanted to get rid of its loss-making Lotus unit selling it to either Genii Capital or SAIC. Then, on January 16, the Malaysian carmaker announced that DRB-Hicom had acquired the government's 42.7 percent stake in the company.

Analysts hailed this movement as a win-win situation for both parties. They obviously didn't factor in Lotus CEO Danny Bahar who, according to a report from The Sunday Times citing unnamed sources, is looking for a partner to join him in bidding for a buy-out of the British automaker.

It's been rumored for a while now that Malaysia's national automaker, Proton Holdings Bhd, is looking for a partner while recently it also became known that the company is considering selling the Lotus brand.

After certain reports on GM's interest in one of the firm's Malaysian plants appeared on the local media, Proton came out with an official statement confirming that it is in preliminary talks with General Motors to sell it a stake in its Tanjuing Malim factory.

"The Board of Directors of PROTON Holdings Berhad wishes to inform that talks with GM are only at a preliminary stage and as such warrants no announcement at this point in time," the Malaysian firm said in a statement.

Four centuries ago, they used to say that “the sun never sets on the British Empire”. Today, the Brits are content with much less – and the sun has more or less set on their local automotive industry after many decades of bad management and even worse products. As a result, foreign car groups own all major carmakers that managed to survive.

Lotus Cars, which was founded by the ingenious Colin Champan in 1952, was acquired in 1996 by Malaysia's Proton. Since then, it has introduced many variations of the lightweight Elise, its first new car in 12 year, the Evora, and showed no less than five new models in concept form at the 2010 Paris Motor Show.

A minor spat has broken out on Youtube over whether or not a Lotus Exige GT3 traveling close to 250km/h [155mph] should have passed in between a Mazda MX-5 and a Porsche Boxster during the Production Sports Cars CUE Enduro Series held at the Phillip Island circuit in Victoria, Australia.

If you watch the first video shot from an inboard camera on the MX-5, it looks like a rocket ship flew by inches away from the Japanese roadster. In fact, it all happens so fast that you have to actually pause the video to see the Exige GT3 driven by Barton Mawer.

According to the Philip Island Circuit's official website, the driver in the No66 MX-5 was Michael Hall. Here's what he said on Youtube:

"I'm chasing down a Porsche Boxster in the #66 Mazda MX5 whilst trying to hang onto the lead of Class E. Meanwhile Barton Mawer is trying to hunt down Alan Simonsen in the Lambo for the overall lead, and obviously not in the mood to waste any time."

It seems that every recently retired Formula 1 world champion is just itching to get back in a racing seat again. Michael Schumacher’s comeback is the most well known example, but Mika Hakkinen also returned to the track, driving a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3.

Now, 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen, who made a switch from F1 to rallying, has returned to Formula 1, signing a two-year contract with the Lotus Renault GP team.

Less than eight months after the purchase of Caterham Cars by Team Lotus, the company’s chairman, Tony Fernandes, confirmed the creation of a new group with four divisions that will all bear the Caterham name. Fittingly, the announcement was made at this past weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix

"We have been talking for some time now about our plans for Caterham in all its guises, from the road car company to Formula 1 and GP2, and in the technology, design and innovation fields”, said Fernandes.

Always the bridesmaid, never the bride: this perfectly describes Mark Webber’s participation at the 2011 Formula 1 season so far. Despite driving the best car on the grid and being in the top-performing team, the Australian not only watched his younger teammate clinch the title with considerable ease, but until the last race of the season didn’t have a single win to show for himself. Read more »

The Seven, be that the original Lotus model or one of its many clones produced throughout the years, may be extremely light and nimble, but it also packs mighty punch and can easily turn around and bite you just when you're least expecting it -a fact that makes this driver's skills all the more impressive.

This five-year old video was said to have been shot during the Hagley and District Light Car Club's annual international autotest event in England, with some claiming that the Super Seven seen here is a Locost and not a Caterham model.

Whatever the brand, you have to admit that the man behind the wheel of the Seven, Christopher Evans, is one very talented driver. Watch the video for yourself right after the break.

The 2011 Formula 1 season may have been a very exciting one as far as the racing was concerned, thanks to the new rules that resulted in lots of overtaking and wheel-to-wheel battles between drivers, but in one aspect, it has also been confusing.

Outside the tracks there was a bitter legal battle between two teams over the right to use the Lotus name since the end of last season.

Proton, the Malaysian owner of Lotus, released a statement where it dismisses reports that appeared in several media outlets and which said that it is planning to sell a stake of the British sports car manufacturer.

Here’s what the company stated: "The alleged moves between Group Lotus and Genii Capital are untrue and the reports are highly speculative in nature. Proton’s relationship with Group Lotus is as good as it has ever been.”

Lotus has released a new limited run special of its Evora S sports car that pays homage to the brand's Formula 1 team. As such, it is painted in the racing team’s colors with black bodywork and gold-painted stripes on the hood, the profile and the roof, as well as a gold-hued “Lotus” decal at the rear. Read more »

Lotus is a brand with a long and distinguished history – yet that's not enough if your present situation is dire. In the first eight months of the year, Lotus sales were merely a blip in the UK sales chart as only 272 cars were delivered, a 24% decrease to the already depressing 358 units of the same period in 2010.

Karl Heinz Kalbfell, who used to work for BMW, was brought in last year in an effort to increase sales. He says that the reason Lotus can’t sell more cars is that the public isn’t aware of the company's products.

Back in April, when the owners of Formula 1’s Team Lotus acquired British sports car maker Caterham, they promised to “have all the ingredients and the launch pad to take Caterham to new exciting horizons with innovative products and greater brand exposure.”

True to their word, Caterham's new owners announced on Monday that they are creating a new, standalone engineering business named CTI (Caterham Technology and Innovation).

After receiving positive feedback and ongoing interest from buyers, Lotus decided to expand the availability of its special edition Evora GTE road car instead of sticking to its original plan that called for a limited production run of 114 cars for the Chinese market.

The special edition is based on the Evora GTE racecar featuring the same 3.5-liter supercharged V6 engine delivering 444-horses, up from the Evora S' 350-ponies.