Today, Lotus said the last of the Elise, Exige and Evora sports cars were made. Their assembly lines will be dismantled to prepare for production of the new Lotus Emira mid-engine and last Lotus petrol-fueled (gasoline Yank) sports car. A total of 51,738 of the traditional rear-drive sports cars were built during the past 26 years.
Combined, they represent almost half of the total production of Lotus in its 73-year history. In addition, 9,715 sports cars were built for Lotus’ third-party clients, including GM and Tesla. (AutoInformed: Lotus Emira to Make US Debut with F1 Racer Jenson Button; Hazel Chapman Co-Founder of Lotus Dead at 94; Alpine and Lotus to Study Joint Development of an Electric Sports Car as Groupe Renault Restructures) Continue reading












Nikola to Pay $125 Million to SEC on Fraud Charges
Badger (Noun) secondary meaning: The weasel that dug a hole for Trevor Milton of Nikola.
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Nikola Corporation, a publicly traded company created through a special purpose acquisition company transaction, will pay $125 million to settle charges that it defrauded investors by misleading them about its products, technical advancements, and commercial prospects. The settlement follows the SEC’s litigated action filed earlier this year against Trevor Milton, the company’s founder and former Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman. (AutoInformed: SEC Charges Nikola Founder Trevor Milton With Fraud)
The SEC’s order says that “before Nikola had produced a single commercial product, Milton embarked on a public relations campaign aimed at inflating and maintaining Nikola’s stock price. Milton’s statements in tweets and media appearances falsely gave investors the impression that Nikola had reached certain product and technological milestones.”1 Continue reading →