RE: The New Era Of Lotus - Revealed

[rob1234]

Hmm, would be more impressed if they weren't from Lotus: "to add speed add lightness weight & bhp"

Also,

[MagicalTrevor]

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.

[Twincam16]

Sir_Dave said:

They've lost the plot.

The new Elise will weigh 1095kg!! And will make up for being a fatty by having 316bhp.

I can't help but think that they'll inevitably offer a completely stripped-out version along the lines of the 2-Eleven or 340R for the track day market.

Pure track-day cars built in the mainstream might not be the moneyspinners they are in the kit-car market, but they're certainly big business as easily-configurable variants of production-line models - just think Porsche's Boxster Spyder and 997 GT3, Ferrari's Challenge Stradales, Lamborghini's Superleggeras etc.

[Boggy]

Honestly,

I've never been so impressed as I was with that launch, I really would have any of those car's on look's alone

Hope I can afford to buy more than one to be honest

Boggy

[Twincam16]

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.

This is why I reckon they could possibly get away with farming off the old Elise tooling to Proton to build an MX5-priced 'Lotus-Proton' sports car (or maybe with the F1 team's badge instead of the roundel), possibly even built in large numbers in Malaysia with a CamPro engine with the option of a bolt-on turbo or supercharger.

Failing that I bet Caterham would be as interested in the design as they were in the Seven back in 1973.

[otolith]

EK993 said:

Regards the Elise being over 1000kg - isn't that already the case? I am pretty sure my SC was heavier than that with full touring pack - and that only had 220bhp. So why the moaning?

870kg without options, according to Lotus. That's 10kg more than the R. Looks as if a typical R is actually about 880kg with a full tank, so perhaps 890 for an SC.

EK993 said:

If Lotus disappear we will have no choice other than Caymans / Boxters / 911's....

If they end up making Caymans / Boxsters / 911s, does it matter if they disappear?

[dunc_sx]

Yeah blatant lambo copy but could be a good car

Dunc.

[anonymous-user]

Well that's the easy bit done!

Now all they've got to do is make every sale a "conquest" sale over Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati and Aston. To my eye that new Esprit, whilst pleasing in design, has a huge amount of Lamborari in its looks. Previous Esprits have looked like .... Esprits.

[otolith]

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.

[ewenm]

I like the look of these cars, hopefully Lotus have the investment cash to produce and sell them.

[kambites]

Hmm, so no return to the (relatively) mainstream lightweight sports car that was the K-series Else, but I guess smaller companies will continue to fill that niche, as they always have.

It'll be interesting to see where the new Elise starts, price wise. If it's more than around 30k (in today's money), I think Lotus have made a mistake. c300bhp/tonne is really not necessary for the Elise, so I hope they introduce lower powered (and hence cheaper) models down the line.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 30th September 18:14

[Fire99]

Have they employed the Porsche 911 designer for the front of these?
Strewth, talk about family resemblance with each other.
A little clinical looking for me but the specs sound good other than the Elise that appears to have forgotten what it is.

[Gizmo!]

mverboom said:

So where is that light weight, easy to maintain car, with a light and small, maybe eco friendly engine?
1095kg for an Elise??

Not what I expected from Lotus..

Mark

With 315bhp?

It'll be bucking fonkers.

[Irish]

If I wanted a lambo, I would buy a lambo. Close to design infringement.

Does it come with MR-2 underpinnings?

[Fuelbrother DC]

rob1234 said:

Hmm, would be more impressed if they weren't from Lotus: "to add speed add lightness weight & bhp"

Also,

+1

@ Lotus Design Department: EPIC FAIL

No uniqueness. USPs gone. No funky engine-tech (See Jag!)

Disappointed Esprit Owner.

[RenesisEvo]

Going to have a hard time working out what one it is when one comes down the road. It's an Elan... or an Esprit... or maybe just an Elise? I have to say I do like the design of the Eterne, even if it appears to borrow from the Estoque concept - it seems Lotus have spent a bit too long studying Lamborghinis. I am very worried that the Elise replacement seems to ignore the entire raison d'etre of the original. It even has 'rear view cameras' instead of wing mirrors (like all the other cars) - hardly a simple, elegant solution (perhaps lighter, but probably not - and no evidence of where the image will be displayed in the interior).

[fatbutt]

rob1234 said:

Hmm, would be more impressed if they weren't from Lotus: "to add speed add lightness weight & bhp"

Also,

Exactly. And I see a gallardo a week and they're a bit 'meh' when compared to a countach/ diablo.

The biggest critisism being leveled at the new Maclaren is the lack of visual flourish - you would have thought someone in Lotus would have been taking notes!

[GTRene]

I think the Elan will do for me.

[otolith]

kambites said:

It'll be interesting to see where the new Elise starts, price wise. If it's more than around 30k (in today's money), I think Lotus have made a mistake.

I will be amazed if it's less than 35k and surprised if it's less than 40.

I only think they have made a mistake if they hope to retain too much of their current customer base. I think they are going after Porsche and betting the farm on being able to take a slice of the Cayman / Boxster market. I've heard it said that Lotus estimate that 20%-30% of buyers are "peacocks" who buy the car for posing in. The new car looks fantastic, so they should be able to retain a chunk of that market. They'll obviously lose the buyers who really wanted a Porsche but couldn't afford one, but hopefully will gain a chunk of those who thought they wanted a Lotus but bought a Porsche instead when they realised that they couldn't live with one.

Of the kind of people who buy an Elise for how it drives, I guess it depends on whether anyone steps up to fill the vacuum. Maybe the new Elise will be the best they're going to get.

[Complex]

Assuming all of these are a guarenteed 'go' for production, then these releases are an excellent thing for car fans in general. I've never really been a fan of Lotus, but I think these look great. At the very least, more competition in the sports coupé (911/Vantage) all the way through to hyper GTs (599/DBS) is nothing but a good thing.