General Motors' April Sales Down 34 Percent, Inventories Drop 10 Percent

Like FoMoCo, General Motors' car sales in April were slightly better than the previous months of the year, with the automaker delivering 173,007 vehicles in the U.S. which is a 34 percent drop over the same month a year ago but up 11 percent or about 16,600 units when compared to March, 2009. GM also revealed that its inventories dropped to around 742,000 vehicles at the end of April, down about 82,000 vehicles (or 10 percent) compared with last year.

Last week, the American automaker announced that it would shut down 13 of its factories for multiple weeks to lower production by approximately 190,000 vehicles through the early part of the third quarter in order to reduce inventories to an expected level of about 525,000 vehicles by the end of July.

Lotus Evora Sports Coupe: Updated Photo Gallery, New Details

With the delivery of the first examples of the all-new Lotus Evora in Europe only weeks away in early June, we thought we'd update our album of the mid-engined British sports coupe with the latest batch of photos that include static shots as well as images from the building process. Initially, the sports car will be offered with a mid-mounted, Toyota-sourced 3.5-liter V6 rated at 276 horsepower at 6,400 rpm and 252 lbs-ft or 342Nm of torque at 4,700 rpm.

Toyota has also provided the vehicle with a six-speed manual gearbox that sends power to the rear wheels. Buyers can also opt for close ratio version of the stick shift while an automatic transmission is planned for the near future.

Lotus claims that with the six-speed manual the Evora can sprint from zero to 100 km/h (62mph) in just over 5 seconds and has a top speed in excess of 260 km/h or 162mph. Thanks to its lightweight construction, the Evora boasts a relatively low fuel consumption figure for this type of vehicle with an average of 8.7 liters/100 km which is the U.S. equivalent of 28.1mpg.

As well as being sold in a 2+2 configuration, the car will also be available as a two-seater, the space in the rear being allocated to luggage storage. The British sports carmaker has also revealed that it is planning to introduce other derivatives of the Evora in the next few years including a convertible and more hardcore versions. In North America, the Evora will arrive in the beginning of 2010.