Wheelies: The Sinking-Feeling Edition

In which we bring you motoring news from around the Web:• Saab must begin paying debts to two companies on Wednesday or face collections proceedings, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports. A Norway-based supplier of car-seat parts and a consulting group based in the automaker’s home market of Sweden are owed payments; failure <a href="http://www.louisvuittononline-discount.com/miumiu-0602g180-offwhite-handbags-p-15869.html"><strong>miu miu bag</strong></a> to pay suppliers led to the initial shutdown at Saab’s primary production facility, which, despite a brief resumption earlier this summer, has remained idle for nearly five months. The brand announced earlier this week that it would not have an official presence at the Frankfurt auto show in September. (Bloomberg)• Aptera Motors, the California-based manufacturer of electric vehicles, is returning customer deposits for its 2e, a three-wheeled vehicle that the company had estimated would achieve 100 miles per gallon. Aptera stopped accepting new deposits last month. In a report by Popular Mechanics, Marques McCammon, the company’s chief marketing officer, rejected rumors that the company’s financial health was poor. “We returned the deposits simply to streamline our administrative process,” Mr. McCammon said. Aptera is waiting to learn whether it secured a low-interest loan from the Energy <a href="http://www.louisvuittononline-discount.com/gucci-jolicoeur-monogram-black-p-16401.html"><strong>cheap louis vuitton purses</strong></a> Department’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing initiative. (Green Car Reports)• Swizz Beatz, the hip-hop producer and husband of the pop vocalist Alicia Keys, was named the vice president of creative design and global marketing for Lotus Cars this week. Beatz, whose real name is Kasseem Daoud Dean, featured a Lotus Evora Bespoke edition in the video for his recent single, “International Party.” Since unveiling five concept cars at the Paris auto show last year, Lotus has moved aggressively into lifestyle marketing, with a new magazine and clothing line, in a bid to raise public awareness of the niche carmaker. (Car and Driver)• Lotus also will mark the end of production of its Elise-derived Exige sports coupe with a matte-black special edition, to be shown during the Pebble <a href="http://www.louisvuittononline-discount.com/gucci-wave-monogram-black-p-16364.html"><strong>genuine louis vuitton handbags</strong></a> Beach collector car festivities this week. The car is limited to a run of 25. In a first for the Exige, the edition will be limited to North American customers. Pricing, however, was not announced. (Lotus Cars)• The University of California Riverside received a 1.2 million grant from the Energy Department to study driver-feedback systems for improving fuel efficiency. The efficacy of systems like Ford’s SmartGauge, a digital instrument feature that sprouts green leaves when a judicious foot is on the gas, will be studied, and the school also will examine driver education initiatives that seek to teach better habits for maximizing fuel efficiency. (The University of California Riverside)