RE: New Lotus design boss announced

RE: New Lotus design boss announced

Wednesday 22nd October 2014

New Lotus design boss announced

Back with the old guard as Bahar-hired Donato Coco leaves and Russell Carr takes his place



Lotus will reinstate its former styling boss Russell Carr as Head of Design from November 1. He replaces Donato Coco, who started at Lotus under Dany Bahar in 2010.

Carr has been with Lotus for 23 years
Carr has been with Lotus for 23 years
Coco's previous work was varied to say the least. Prior to Lotus he had worked on the Ferrari California, 458 Italia, 599 XX and the, er, Citroen C3 Pluriel. Plus the ZX Paris Dakar. Coco said of his departure, "My five years at Lotus have been one of the strongest experiences in my career so far and I will look back with great fondness and affection for this iconic company." Coco will perhaps be known most famously for the six Paris 2010 concepts. It seems like there aren't any hard feelings anyway, but the Italian's departure appears further proof of Lotus doing everything possible to remove evidence of the Bahar years.

Russell Carr has been with Lotus since 1990 and so has been involved with 'many of the designs produced by Lotus'. His most recent work was the Evora, still a pretty design five years after its launch. He's understandably very pleased at taking the top job again. "It is an honour to take on the role of Head of Design," he says. "Design is extremely important to Lotus as it conveys the pure, competitive and unconventional values of Lotus."

So what would be first objective for Carr back in his old role? Well given the Evora was his last big job and is probably due a facelift (plus a roadster too in fact), that would seem like the ideal place to start.

Author
Discussion

crofty1984

Original Poster:

15,830 posts

203 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
Best of luck to Lotus for the future, but I thought the Donato Coco designs were pretty well-received?

smilo996

2,754 posts

169 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
Well that would appear to send a very strong signal. no new cars and one looking like the Evora if they do.
Why another step back. It will end in tears again.

kambites

67,461 posts

220 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
smilo996 said:
Well that would appear to send a very strong signal. no new cars and one looking like the Evora if they do.
They've already explicitly stated that's their plan.

Not sure whether it's a good or a bad thing really. The Evora looks decidedly dumpy in pictures but I rather like it when seen amongst other traffic - it looks quite exotic and surprisingly well proportioned. The Exige V6 also looks pretty good, especially compared to the rather fussy S2 Elise and Exige.


Edited by kambites on Wednesday 22 October 14:54

Paul O

2,705 posts

182 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
Fab, a new design boss to make no new cars and change the lights and bumpers of the existing models every ten years.

I think they need investment first...

MrTappets

881 posts

190 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
Always thought the current Exige is one of the best looking Lotuses ever. Was that one of Coco's?

Turbobanana

6,160 posts

200 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
crofty1984 said:
Best of luck to Lotus for the future, but I thought the Donato Coco designs were pretty well-received?
Back to the Future?

C43

666 posts

197 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
he did a great job on the Evora. On the road they look amazing, just dont see enough.

C43

Imafreeman

117 posts

223 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
His most recent work was the Evora, still a pretty design five years after its launch.

Are you blind? Awkward and unresolved design from many angles.

Lets hope new designs will be simple, elegant and beautiful / aggressive.
Not same old tweaked with a different colour.

jamieduff1981

8,022 posts

139 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
I haven't liked much if any of this Coco bloke's work according to that brief resume on the article, and also think the Evora looks pretty uninspiring.

Hopefully this Carr chap has some talent to exploit now he's in charge.

cookie1600

2,094 posts

160 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
jamieduff1981 said:
Hopefully this Carr chap has some talent to exploit now he's in charge.
Even if there isn't much of a budget to get his stuff off a computer and into real life...

j90gta

563 posts

133 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
Lotus haven't got the money to build the current cars let alone design anything new. Best of luck to all Lotus employees.

toppstuff

13,698 posts

246 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
I think a refreshed Evora ( to also include a convertible ) would we well received, especially in overseas markets.

Get it done, fella, get it done.

kambites

67,461 posts

220 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
j90gta said:
Lotus haven't got the money to build the current cars let alone design anything new. Best of luck to all Lotus employees.
Are you aware of people's orders being cancelled because Lotus can't build them then? I hadn't heard that.

British Beef

2,191 posts

164 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
First job should be to give the Evora front a face lift similar to the Mansory edition and then tweak the engine a little.


Something Lotus seem poor at doing is each year eeking out performance improvements (even 5-10hp) over a product life, since the Evora S came out (what 3 or 4 years ago) the power output has remained unchanged.

Personally if I was to buy a MY14 Evora, I would like it to have something more than the MY13 or MY12. I appreciate these are not mass produced so changes take longer to re-coup.

kambites

67,461 posts

220 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
I'd rather see them strip some weight out of the Evora than increase its power. I don't really understand how they managed to make an aluminium and plastic car quite so damned heavy compared to its steel-bodied competition.

dvs_dave

8,581 posts

224 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
I wish Lotus would build something hairy chested, properly fast, actually desirable, and a decent size.

Their current range just seems so effete, limp wristed and aimed at stick thin short arses who think wearing driving shoes doesn't make you look like a knob. If they had any sense they should in the short term make something that fills the gap left by TVR.

kambites

67,461 posts

220 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
dvs_dave said:
If they had any sense they should in the short term make something that fills the gap left by TVR.
Because that worked out so well for TVR? hehe

suffolk009

5,344 posts

164 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but Carr's first work at Lotus was the S2 facelift of the Elise. He then went on to design the 340R (don't try and change the battery). And most recently he's done the Evora, which is the first Lotus since the Eclat that I've never wanted to see on my driveway.

I recall writing a snotty letter (predating internet forums) to EVO mag at the time he became "Head of Styling and Design". I suggested that anyone who placed styling before design had no place at Lotus. I don't recall if it was published.

Caviar

209 posts

205 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
Donato Coco cars looked good, might even think the all new Lamborghini Huracan's front might be inspired by this

j90gta

563 posts

133 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
kambites said:
Are you aware of people's orders being cancelled because Lotus can't build them then? I hadn't heard that.
Know someone at Lotus Lightweight Structures who advises they have orders for over 600 cars (mainly from overseas) but cannot afford to pay suppliers for parts to build them. Morale is on the floor and they have lost several key staff even before the 325 redundancies were announced. Very sad state of affairs.