RE: The New Era Of Lotus - Revealed

[peter450]

I like it, the real challenge though it going to be to first make and then sell them

Edited by peter450 on Thursday 30th September 19:01

[anonymous-user]

Yawn at the haters.

The range looks superb and will sell very strongly assuming price and build are reasonable.

[thegobetween]

markcoznottz said:

MagicalTrevor said:

I like the look of them all and would happily have any of them, none of these models would have surprised me if they'd come from any other manufacturer... just didn't expect it from Lotus. I personally think they've lost sight of what's been their main bread and butter car, based on the Elise. Lightweight, low-ish powered engines with sharp handling and quick performance. They were simply superb at that key product.

But now they're directly competing against Porsche, Aston, et al with higher power car with extra weight (optimistic weights IMO). Also I can't see the new Elise starting at ~£25k can you? So that surely alienates all the enthusiasts that have bought all the Elise variants.

Great cars from what I can see... just can't see where they're heading.

Getting hard to design a car that stands out now, just put the same numbers into a computer and hey presto,a generic supercar. Not helped by the fact you can have any headlight shape nowdays, so there are no clearly defined parameters for a given maufacturer, only weight, and thats largey covered by eu safety dictats.

Do you believe that? no really, do you actually believe that a computer has any influence over the design of a product? Are you 12?

[otolith]

EK993 said:

One aspect is the light weight which you are referring to here. However thats not the only story. Other very important aspects are steering feel / precision, suspension setup, chassis balance. Which are not exclusive to sub 1000kg cars.

I'm sure Lotus will set it up to be as good as it can be - I'm just sceptical that what Lotus can achieve with an 1100kg starting point is going to feel like what it can achieve with 900kg.

If weight is as unimportant as you think, though, why not have a lovely six cylinder Cayman instead?

[andyroo]

otolith said:

If weight is as unimportant as you think, though, why not have a lovely six cylinder Cayman instead?

Because it looks like the downs syndrome child of the 911?

[PascalBuyens]

Right, maybe it's just me, but I don't like the looks...

Maybe it'll grow on me seeing them in the flesh, but now? Think I'll have to stick with TVR or buy an AM after all.

[detomaso]

andyroo said:

otolith said:

If weight is as unimportant as you think, though, why not have a lovely six cylinder Cayman instead?

Because it looks like the downs syndrome child of the 911?

[EK993]

otolith said:

I'm sure Lotus will set it up to be as good as it can be - I'm just sceptical that what Lotus can achieve with an 1100kg starting point is going to feel like what it can achieve with 900kg.

If weight is as unimportant as you think, though, why not have a lovely six cylinder Cayman instead?

The overall package of the Elise was more appealing to me for the use I had - weekend only / pleasure driving.

Not disagreeing with you that weight isn't important - of course it is. I just disagree that it will mean the difference between a fantastic car, and a dud as your posts seem to indicate considering 1095kg is actually still very light and especially compared to 99% of cars out there excluding the one trick pony Caterhams and Westfields.

[andyroo]

detomaso said:

andyroo said:

otolith said:

If weight is as unimportant as you think, though, why not have a lovely six cylinder Cayman instead?

Because it looks like the downs syndrome child of the 911?

[zakelwe]

40k plus for a 300bhp Elise does not sound bad compared to a current 1.6 134bhp car that costs 27.5k !

Edited by zakelwe on Thursday 30th September 19:15

[lotus99t]

mega more cars to buy cant wait

[skwdenyer]

PascalBuyens said:

Right, maybe it's just me, but I don't like the looks...

Maybe it'll grow on me seeing them in the flesh, but now? Think I'll have to stick with TVR or buy an AM after all.

Since these are 2013/14 models, you're not "supposed" to like them now; the bet is that design trends will "come to" Lotus. Since it is such a large step up from the current position, they have little choice but to reveal them now, simply so that they can use them as recruiting tools for the global network of suitable (and suitably-connected) dealers they are going to need in order to sell them.

It is a bold move. If I were Bahar and offered $1bn and Lotus to play with, I'd probably have done the same. If it fails he can blame it on Proton's strategic influence; if it pays off then he will be a car company management god

[otolith]

EK993 said:

I just disagree that it will mean the difference between a fantastic car, and a dud as your posts seem to indicate considering 1095kg is actually still very light and especially compared to 99% of cars out there excluding the one trick pony Caterhams and Westfields.

Not saying that it will be a dud at all - I'm sure that it will be an excellent car. Rather, that it will be a different sort of car to the current Elise variants, and that for someone who wants something like a current Elise, there will be nothing on the market. Hopefully someone will step in and the market will supply.

Also, for me, a car which is priced against the Boxster/Cayman and doesn't have the excuse of being very lightweight needs a more charismatic engine than a four pot. It is likely that Porsche will have to launch some forced induction four cylinder engines in their range, however, and against those I would be swayed towards the Lotus.

[whit3star]

Cool, you can change the colour of the Elan on the website. Green for me

http://www.lotuscars.com/en/lotus-elan

[bencollins]

otolith said:

danp said:

Thought they were gonna do a hatch? well according to AE.. it may be true!

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpressnews/...

I find that after I have added the requisite number of pinches of salt to AutoExpress, I can't be arsed to get a spade from the shed to dig it out and read it.

[CB154]

where do I sign

[Gabber]

everyone is forgotten about the sixt car in Paris ! www.paultan.org/photo/index.php?album=paris-2010-l...

[DrAtomMagnum]

They all look the same and only vary by how much design has been stretched. The interior of the Elise looks fantastic but the exterior reminds me of a Pergeot.

All of the cars are undesirable when compared to competing cars in their class and I'm going to be interested to see how well they sell.

Are they going to continue making the Exirge as the lone desirable Lotus or will they be ceasing production?

[Squabbler]

[r11co]

rob1234 said:

Yup.

Sadly, that isn't even funny.

Gabber said:

everyone is forgotten about the sixt car in Paris !

Hmmm. The wheels tell me that is a re-clothed Kia Soul?

Edited by r11co on Thursday 30th September 19:51

Edited by r11co on Thursday 30th September 19:51