Lotus To Be Offloaded by Proton?
Discussion
I just looked on the Bloomberg web site and saw this at the top of the UK news. Slow financial news day clearly, but a quick Google suggests it's been picked up by a few other places.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-26/lotus-sal...
But quotes like this
“Proton is better off without Lotus,” said Alexander Chia, a Kuala Lumpur-based analyst at RHB Capital. “There are no product synergies.”"
seem to suggest that this may be just an element of wishful thinking by investors.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-26/lotus-sal...
But quotes like this
“Proton is better off without Lotus,” said Alexander Chia, a Kuala Lumpur-based analyst at RHB Capital. “There are no product synergies.”"
seem to suggest that this may be just an element of wishful thinking by investors.
too much nostalgia for lotus, the elan was nice, the esprit too complicated and unreliable, the elise is just an ugly slow bathtub for hairdressers, the exige is about passable if your a midget and can actually get in one and the new stuff is silly money, so you may as well get the better porker option
Dave Hedgehog said:
too much nostalgia for lotus, the elan was nice, the esprit too complicated and unreliable, the elise is just an ugly slow bathtub for hairdressers, the exige is about passable if your a midget and can actually get in one and the new stuff is silly money, so you may as well get the better porker option
What a load of rubbish, especially about the Elise. 22k for a 118bhp 650kg car, (with added lightness) that was avery good car and sold extremely well. Sure Porsche make great car but so what? Plenty of room in the market for all sorts.
Gargamel said:
What a load of rubbish, especially about the Elise. 22k for a 118bhp 650kg car, (with added lightness) that was avery good car and sold extremely well.
Sure Porsche make great car but so what? Plenty of room in the market for all sorts.
not rubbish at all my opinion of them, cant stand the elise, its a pretend sports carSure Porsche make great car but so what? Plenty of room in the market for all sorts.
you can get a faster, better handling caterfield thats also less ugly, and if you want a sports car to live with every day then go porker
what they needed to do was make a grown up exige about 10 years ago to raise the brand image, rather than just trying to see how different body shapes they can stick on the same bath tub, the vx220 was a mistake as well, probably too late now
noble are making the cars lotus should of been making
Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Tuesday 27th December 22:04
Yes, have to agree, that take on the Elise makes no sense to me. I couldn't live with a Caterham and Porsche don't sell anything that interests me - they're too far the other way. For me the Elise is in the sweet spot for price, performance, tactility, rawness, running costs, usability and specialness. I quite understand that it isn't everyone's choice, but those comments look like simple trolling.
Dave Hedgehog said:
not rubbish at all my opinion of them, cant stand the elise, its a pretend sports car
you can get a faster, better handling caterfield thats also less ugly, and if you want a sports car to live with every day then go porker
what they needed to do was make a grown up exige about 10 years ago to raise the brand image, rather than just trying to see how different body shapes they can stick on the same bath tub, the vx220 was a mistake as well, probably too late now
noble are making the cars lotus should of been making
You are talking utter bks. You are in the tiny minority that does not think that an elise is a proper sports car. The elise saved Lotus and that 'bath tub' you refer to is a work of genius. you can get a faster, better handling caterfield thats also less ugly, and if you want a sports car to live with every day then go porker
what they needed to do was make a grown up exige about 10 years ago to raise the brand image, rather than just trying to see how different body shapes they can stick on the same bath tub, the vx220 was a mistake as well, probably too late now
noble are making the cars lotus should of been making
Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Tuesday 27th December 22:04
You don't know what you're talking about, so don't bother.
Dave Hedgehog said:
not rubbish at all my opinion of them, cant stand the elise, its a pretend sports car
you can get a faster, better handling caterfield thats also less ugly, and if you want a sports car to live with every day then go porker
Well there are many that think the Porsches are to much on the refined end of things, the 7 type cars too raw. The Elise is somewhere in between. Sure there's a market for that. Problem they have I think is the latent "top trumps" mentality of buyers, so ideally they'd need to get a bit more power and the price down a little.you can get a faster, better handling caterfield thats also less ugly, and if you want a sports car to live with every day then go porker
Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Tuesday 27th December 22:04
The S just doesn't look like value for money at the moment with 136 PS and almost 40k EUR.
The Elise is a fantastic sports car. Have you ever driven one? I would not call them under powered at all just a nice balance. A Elise puts a grin on your face and a out and out weekend toy. so to compare porkers and elise are like comparing a Bentley to a golf different tools for different jobs.
Dave Hedgehog, presuming you're not trolling - have you ever driven an Elise?
Outright speed isn't what they are about (although I was pleasantly surprised in that department by the one I drove recently).
I don't think you understand the concept of a sports car.
And yeah, none of us can move for Nobles....
ETA; I did a driver experience day a few months ago involving a 997 and an Elise. The Elise was the car I was looking forward to driving the most as I own a Boxster and have driven a few 911s before. It didn't disappoint! Bloody great fun!
Outright speed isn't what they are about (although I was pleasantly surprised in that department by the one I drove recently).
I don't think you understand the concept of a sports car.
And yeah, none of us can move for Nobles....
ETA; I did a driver experience day a few months ago involving a 997 and an Elise. The Elise was the car I was looking forward to driving the most as I own a Boxster and have driven a few 911s before. It didn't disappoint! Bloody great fun!
Edited by Baz Tench on Wednesday 28th December 08:44
Dave Hedgehog said:
Gargamel said:
What a load of rubbish, especially about the Elise. 22k for a 118bhp 650kg car, (with added lightness) that was avery good car and sold extremely well.
Sure Porsche make great car but so what? Plenty of room in the market for all sorts.
not rubbish at all my opinion of them, cant stand the elise, its a pretend sports carSure Porsche make great car but so what? Plenty of room in the market for all sorts.
you can get a faster, better handling caterfield thats also less ugly, and if you want a sports car to live with every day then go porker
what they needed to do was make a grown up exige about 10 years ago to raise the brand image, rather than just trying to see how different body shapes they can stick on the same bath tub, the vx220 was a mistake as well, probably too late now
noble are making the cars lotus should of been making
Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Tuesday 27th December 22:04
You've never driven an Elise have you ?
The bath tub that you refer to is also a design used by other sports car manufacturers.
Baz Tench said:
Dave Hedgehog, presuming you're not trolling - have you ever driven an Elise?
Outright speed isn't what they are about (although I was pleasantly surprised in that department by the one I drove recently).
I don't think you understand the concept of a sports car.
And yeah, none of us can move for Nobles....
ETA; I did a driver experience day a few months ago involving a 997 and an Elise. The Elise was the car I was looking forward to driving the most as I own a Boxster and have driven a few 911s before. It didn't disappoint! Bloody great fun!
I will concede its not my cup of tea, but that they could be for others, but I am not into "driving purity" for purity's sake. The elise is flawed logic for me and the main reason why lotus has struggled, its desperately slow as a road car by my standards, its not hardcore enough for a track toy and not refined enough for a road sports car, FOR ME. For the 30k cost of an elise I could get a much much faster and more focused driving experienced caterfield for track use, and 30k on a porker sports car would give a much easier to live with, but again FOR ME. But then I am not the only one that thinks like this, hence why lotus cars has and is struggling.Outright speed isn't what they are about (although I was pleasantly surprised in that department by the one I drove recently).
I don't think you understand the concept of a sports car.
And yeah, none of us can move for Nobles....
ETA; I did a driver experience day a few months ago involving a 997 and an Elise. The Elise was the car I was looking forward to driving the most as I own a Boxster and have driven a few 911s before. It didn't disappoint! Bloody great fun!
But I also find the BTCC very boring because the cars are so slow ..
I think the noble reference is correct, lotus needed a heavy hitting supercar, something that lived up to there superb history to carry the flag and raise the brands image, not to rely on the sale of the same tub re-skinned
To me this is everything a lotus should be
http://www.pistonheads.com/xforums/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Just need to make one big enough for my fat ass
Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Wednesday 28th December 09:28
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