Lotus Eagle

We’ve seen the fuzzy spy image which circulated the Net a short while ago and now Lotus has come clean and revealed the first official image of its new sportscar.

The much-anticipated newcomer from Lotus, codenamed ‘Project Eagle’ is the first all-new car from the company since the Elise in 1995 and it will make its official debut at the British Motor Show on 22 July.

Styled in-house by Lotus Design, the car will be sold in a 2+2 configuration and as purely a two-seater, the space in the rear being allocated to luggage storage.

Performance won’t be lacking - the stock model will be powered by a 280PS V6 2.5-litre engine and a higher performance derivative is planned for the future, along with a convertible option.

Two thousand units is the annual production forecast and deliveries will begin in spring 2009.

Auto stocks rise and oil prices fall

Share prices for automakers climbed by their largest margins in recent months today, while oil prices have dropped by $10 a barrel in two days.

Shares of General Motors and Ford Motor Co. each gained more than 15 percent after taking almost daily beatings in the stock market in recent weeks.

At close, GM shares finished up $1.64 or 16.6 percent to $11.48 a share. Ford shares closed at $5.49, up 84 cents or 18.0 percent.

The stock market drew support from oil prices, which pulled back by a combined $10.58 a barrel in two days. Light, sweet crude fell $4.14 a barrel, to $134.60, today after a drop of $6.44 on Tuesday, July 15.

Oil prices declined after Energy Department figures showed that domestic inventories of crude oil and gasoline rose last week rather than dropping, as analysts had expected, The Associated Press reported.

The recoveries of GM and Ford stock prices came despite credit rating agencies downgrading or threatening to lower their ratings for each automaker.

Moody's Investors Service said it would review its ratings on Ford, while Fitch Ratings on Tuesday downgraded GM to B-minus from B.

The agencies cited a dire outlook for automakers trying to ride out a worse-than-expected U.S. sales year. While making $15 billion in cuts and other changes to its spending Tuesday, GM said 2008 will be the worst sales year in a decade.

The following suppliers and dealership groups also posted gains in afternoon trading today:

Dealership groups

• AutoNation Inc.: $8.00, up 5.6 percent

• Penske Automotive Group Inc.: $12.50, up 5.8 percent

• Sonic Automotive Inc.: $8.89, up 5.9 percent

• Group 1 Automotive Inc.: $16.19, up 7.3 percent

Suppliers

• Johnson Controls Inc.: $29.61, up 4.0 percent

• Lear Corp.: $14.97, up 7.7 percent

• Dana Holding Corp.: $6.56, up 7.5 percent