RE: Lotus Emeya finishes testing, looks great doing it

[plfrench]

Forester1965 said:

ajap1979 said:

Genuine question, in recent times how many manufacturers have used drivetrains as a USP?

I should have phrased it better. The halo models produced by brands such as Audi, BMW, Porsche, Mercedes etc used to stand out because products of that power and specialist ICE weren't usually available from the second and third string manufacturers. Now any old brand seems to rock up with a 500-1000hp electric drivetrain. It seems easier to mass produce a 600hp electric car than a 600hp ICE one.

That being the case, how do the so called premium brands intend to justify their extra cost?

For example, a BYD Seal Excellence has 523hp and 0-60 in 3.8 seconds for £48k. The i4 M50 has only 20hp more, slower to 60mph and costs £72k (50% more!). All you seem to get for that is brand value and perhaps faster charging.

The BMW seems to keep pulling very well into higher speeds though. It’s nearly 3 seconds quicker 100-200kmh than the Model 3 Performance despite having similar power and 0-60mph times. Perhaps that would be the same here too?

[blasos]

EBRANDON1 said:

Miserablegit said:

Let’s not pretend this is a Lotus. It’s a Chinese car from a Chinese factory for the Chinese market with a lotus badge stuck on.

Absolutely. take off the badges, if this drove past me I'd just assume it was another kia, toyota or something mass produced in Asia and to be replaced in a years time.

Not like those good old Brit/European/(Aryan?) cars that last forever, right? Like Range Rover... oh wait, by your logic they're Indian, which they are

[Silvanus]

blasos said:

EBRANDON1 said:

Miserablegit said:

Let’s not pretend this is a Lotus. It’s a Chinese car from a Chinese factory for the Chinese market with a lotus badge stuck on.

Absolutely. take off the badges, if this drove past me I'd just assume it was another kia, toyota or something mass produced in Asia and to be replaced in a years time.

Not like those good old Brit/European/(Aryan?) cars that last forever, right? Like Range Rover... oh wait, by your logic they're Indian, which they are

I guess the difference is they are designed and built in the UK, quite different to these. I guess that matters to some.

[blueg33]

The Byd Mayfair showroom is a stones throw from the lotus one. The Byd seal does not look as premium as the lotus Emeya. I urge all those saying they are basically the same to pop down and visit both.

[Zero Fuchs]

Silvanus said:

blasos said:

EBRANDON1 said:

Miserablegit said:

Let’s not pretend this is a Lotus. It’s a Chinese car from a Chinese factory for the Chinese market with a lotus badge stuck on.

Absolutely. take off the badges, if this drove past me I'd just assume it was another kia, toyota or something mass produced in Asia and to be replaced in a years time.

Not like those good old Brit/European/(Aryan?) cars that last forever, right? Like Range Rover... oh wait, by your logic they're Indian, which they are

I guess the difference is they are designed and built in the UK, quite different to these. I guess that matters to some.

Is that supposed to be a good thing? Kudos for the Brits for making superficially nice cars that depreciate more and have seriously poor reliability ratings. I'd rather buy Chinese if the engineering quality turns out to be superior.

[Silvanus]

Zero Fuchs said:

Silvanus said:

blasos said:

EBRANDON1 said:

Miserablegit said:

Let’s not pretend this is a Lotus. It’s a Chinese car from a Chinese factory for the Chinese market with a lotus badge stuck on.

Absolutely. take off the badges, if this drove past me I'd just assume it was another kia, toyota or something mass produced in Asia and to be replaced in a years time.

Not like those good old Brit/European/(Aryan?) cars that last forever, right? Like Range Rover... oh wait, by your logic they're Indian, which they are

I guess the difference is they are designed and built in the UK, quite different to these. I guess that matters to some.

Is that supposed to be a good thing? Kudos for the Brits for making superficially nice cars that depreciate more and have seriously poor reliability ratings. I'd rather buy Chinese if the engineering quality turns out to be superior.

Again, I suppose to some people, they see it as a good thing. Everyone is different.

[DMZ]

Forester1965 said:

In this age of electric drivetrains, what product USPs are there for manufactures to cling on to? Pretty much everybody from the Chinese to the Americans to the Europeans can now churn out a 600+hp saloon/SUV at decent quality and price.

I wonder how/if Lotus are going to gain market share when their name hasn't meant much for many buyers for such a long time? Surely their target market must be China/US but it remains to be seen how much traction they can get.

Also don’t forget that in ICE power means more than just being shoved into the seat. It comes with mechanical engagement, violence, vibrations, power delivery, something screaming towards the red line, fear, etc. Then you slam into the next gear and repeat. There are so many dimensions to play with and optimise. EV manufacturers try to equate this with power but it’s not same thing. EV acceleration is like releasing a rubber band and it seems everyone can make those rubber bands.

Anyways, I think tricky times for EV Lotus. The hype has gone out of high end sporty EVs. Geely can churn out a lot of copy paste cars so why bother with this?

[Zero Fuchs]

Silvanus said:

Zero Fuchs said:

Silvanus said:

blasos said:

EBRANDON1 said:

Miserablegit said:

Let’s not pretend this is a Lotus. It’s a Chinese car from a Chinese factory for the Chinese market with a lotus badge stuck on.

Absolutely. take off the badges, if this drove past me I'd just assume it was another kia, toyota or something mass produced in Asia and to be replaced in a years time.

Not like those good old Brit/European/(Aryan?) cars that last forever, right? Like Range Rover... oh wait, by your logic they're Indian, which they are

I guess the difference is they are designed and built in the UK, quite different to these. I guess that matters to some.

Is that supposed to be a good thing? Kudos for the Brits for making superficially nice cars that depreciate more and have seriously poor reliability ratings. I'd rather buy Chinese if the engineering quality turns out to be superior.

Again, I suppose to some people, they see it as a good thing. Everyone is different.

I wish it were a good thing, genuinely, but us Brits have a terrible track record. We have so much knowledge but seem to find it impossible to translate that into success.

[pheonix478]

Looks utterly shyte.
It's 100% Chinese.
Zero interest.

[Emilio Largo]

Silvanus said:

Emilio Largo said:

I don´t follow the marque (and frankly have no idea who would need this model), so forgive me, but looking at the number plates I wonder: Why Landkreis Groß-Gerau? Is there any connection between this new electric "Lotus" and Opel?

Edited by Emilio Largo on Friday 9th February 13:28

Lotus Tech have an innovation centre in Raunheim

Thank you!

[Julian Scott]

To those saying the Eletre is huge, I've just seen one parked up.

Not huge. Not even that big. I'd say similar size to my F-Pace.

[otolith]

Julian Scott said:

Not huge. Not even that big. I'd say similar size to my F-Pace.

I make it 7% longer, 3% wider, 2% lower.

[Silvanus]

Julian Scott said:

To those saying the Eletre is huge, I've just seen one parked up.

Not huge. Not even that big. I'd say similar size to my F-Pace.

They are longer than an Range Rover and an X5, closer in size to an X7, at over 5.1m long I'd say they are rather big.

[blueg33]

MightyBadger said:

I don’t see any Lotus in it, looks like every other suv.

Headlights follow the styling on the Emira and Evija and in many ways are an evolution of the Evora.

A modern lotus is not going to look like a 1970’s Europa, an 80’s Espirit or a 90’s Elise.

If you look at lotus much of the styling has changed with each generation

[Baldchap]

Does it have hydraulic steering?

[Milemuncher]

Hairymonster said:

Looks like a Kia Stinger.

This. 100%

[blueg33]

Milemuncher said:

Hairymonster said:

Looks like a Kia Stinger.

This. 100%

It just doesn’t. I put side by side pics earlier in the thread

[Aedo]

Milemuncher said:

Hairymonster said:

Looks like a Kia Stinger.

This. 100%

You say that as if its a bad thing. The Stinger is one of the better looking South Korean cars... and that is a real compliment because they have created some great looking cars (no, I don't own any but have driven a lot of Kia and Hyundai hire cars).

As for the comments on Geely... we bought a Volvo XC40 twin electric six months ago. The worst thing I have to say about that car is that it is my wifes... and she rarely lets me drive it (unlike her previous car, Prado, where she was more than happy to sit in the passenger seat).

An EV tuned by Gavan and built by Geely sounds great to me! A perfect compliment to an Emira (which is still on the ""must buy soon list).

[ntiz]

Aedo said:

An EV tuned by Gavan and built by Geely sounds great to me! A perfect compliment to an Emira (which is still on the ""must buy soon list).

And there lies the problem for me of what Lotus are doing. Gavin Kershaw and his team at Hethal have had absolutely nothing to do with or the Eletre. They aren’t tested, tuned or developed in anyway at Hethal. Entirely in Wuhan and the place in Germany.

Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini get away with it for me because although shared platform and parts. It’s still their engineers smashing it around a track making it drive how they want.

For some reason that makes a difference to me.

[blueg33]

ntiz said:

Aedo said:

An EV tuned by Gavan and built by Geely sounds great to me! A perfect compliment to an Emira (which is still on the ""must buy soon list).

And there lies the problem for me of what Lotus are doing. Gavin Kershaw and his team at Hethal have had absolutely nothing to do with or the Eletre. They aren’t tested, tuned or developed in anyway at Hethal. Entirely in Wuhan and the place in Germany.

Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini get away with it for me because although shared platform and parts. It’s still their engineers smashing it around a track making it drive how they want.

For some reason that makes a difference to me.

Didn’t you read the article? Gavan says he has been working’ on it for a couple of years.

Are you suggesting he is a liar ?