Lotus Europa S

The Europa S is a new closed-roof car from Lotus that aims to offer a slightly less hardcore driving experience and image than the Elise. Under the skin and inside the car it is mostly a mix of Opel Speedster (also designed and built by Lotus on a lengthened Elise chassis) and Elise, with the main differences being slightly shallower side chassis members to allow for easier ingress and egress.

The form of the car is not typical for a Lotus with little tension and in general quite a conservative feel – perhaps it was originally conceived as a Proton sports car? The large shutline gaps inherent in its GRP body are rather conspicuous in a car with upmarket aspirations, particularly around the tailgate which also had a rather self-defeating feature of allowing the unlovely Opel engine to be seen through the rear screen!

Lotus have clearly had limited resources for developing this car but that doesn’t wholly explain why this is such an underwhelming design. After the M250 concept we were expecting more.

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Lotus M250 concept - Geneva 2000

Tramontana

Tramontana is Spanish specialist company located near Barcelona who are showing a new supercar powered by a Mercedes V12 engine, with output planned at twelve cars per year from a Barcelona-based factory. The tandem 1+1 layout follows a familiar format as used by several minor sports car makers with an F1-inspired centre tub and exposed wheels, but what's most surprising about the Tramontana is the sheer scale of it: at 4.8m long and nearly 2.1m wide it occupies as much road as a V12 S-Class. The design is dominated by huge side pods for radiators with a concave scoop section on the sides, while the central fuselage is accessed via a lift-up cover with optional lift-off glass canopy.

Headlamps and taillamps are mounted in chromed pods mounted on the double aerofoils front and rear and teak wood finish is used on the lower bodysides for contrast. Leather gaiters cover the front wishbones and leather saddlebags are used for cabin storage. Overall, it's a strange combination of advanced materials and vintage detailing – and seems unnecessarily big.

Castagna Imperial Landaulet concept

According to Italian coachbuilder Castagna, this Porsche Cayenne-based concept represents “the perfect balance between elegance and sportiness”. We saw a feast of straight lines, flat surfaces and unrelated curves, with a front end out of Gotham city and literally frightening LED lamps. To make a limousine look narrow and underwheeled on 24" wheels takes some doing, but Castagna have managed that too!

We found it impossible to take this concept too seriously, but given that it is being entered in the Prototype category at this year’s Pebble Beach Concours extravaganza, Castagna obviously are…

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