RE: PH Interview: Lotus CEO Dany Bahar

[cathalm]

I wonder exactly where this evora myth comes from. Even at maximum projected volumes the car would be as rare as hens teeth on British roads. It is being made in tiny volumes the majority of which go abroad. I also wonder at the nonsense about it being an okay car or not good enough bla bla. Reality check chaps, it is probably the met acclaimed car of the last few years along with the gtr and r8.

Regarding the tvr reference, with the greatest love for tvr, there is no comparison with them and smolensy. For perspective, Lotus have 4-5 times as many engineers as Aston and twice as many as Ferrari, not quite comarable to Peter Wheeler and his Blackpool crew.

Edited by cathalm on Tuesday 8th March 19:58

[Hedgerley]

Thats an interesting point. At full tilt Lotus only plan to be building 2000 Evora a year across all types (Evora, S and IPS and possibly a cabrio). They built less than 1000 in the first year and we are only into year 2. And besides, they are all Scotland.....

Behar seems to have mellowed since his early interviews. Like any good marketeer he is listening to the market. He was pretty dismissive of Lotus' past when he took over but now there are lots of references to light weight, supporting existing customers, tradition, heritage, a flexible attitude to the later models etc etc. I have to say I am warming to the guy. I just hope the money comes through he can do the deals.

[PhilJames]

I belive there is a waiting list for the Evora, it's on a new production line so I doubt it is up to full speed yet. If you know lotus cars since the 80's it's not a shock to imagine the lineup actually working for Lotus and being achievable. It's only the Elise Era that they made cars with manual window winders and no sound proofing.

My Esrit is very light but the Kerb wieghts now include full tank of fuel and a fat bloke which is probably 1200 KG on top of the old Kerb weight figures.
The weight according to Lotus Esprit World:

Last V8 Esprit 2002 unladen weight: 1380 kg

Original 1976 Esprit S1 (4 Cylinder NA): 898 kg

http://www.lotusespritworld.com/EModels/V8US.html

Add about 1200 Kg and you have the new EU kerb weight

[T.K]

BURN THE WITCH.

[j123]

I know some here are kind of thick upstairs, but surly a few PH'ers realize the irony here. Lotus are talking about special future cars- like the Esprit, which will one day (in several years) be lighter and made with the advanced technology yadda badda bing yadda...And down the road Mclaren have cars for sale using technology much more advanced than their 2013-4 in 2011. This has got to make the smarter minds over at Lotus just a mite doubtful of their chances, and moreover a mite angry with their inability to use materials in keeping with their design abilities. j

[jbforce10]

infradig said:

Slightly off topic but does anyone know how many Evora's have found homes? I spend half my life on the road in and around London and the M25/M1 so am more likely than most to see interesting cars around,and I've seen....ONE,ever!

Come to Norfolk, you'll see several (I must have seen 10+ over the past couple of years - positively commonplace compared to my Integrale). There's one that parks in the parking bay opposite mine and next to a new Aston v8 Volante and the Evora positively outshines the Aston in the looks department.

If I had a £45k budget and had to blow it on anything other than a Lancia I think it'd be an Evora.

[GKP]

j123 said:

I know some here are kind of thick upstairs, but surly a few PH'ers realize the irony here. Lotus are talking about special future cars- like the Esprit, which will one day (in several years) be lighter and made with the advanced technology yadda badda bing yadda...And down the road Mclaren have cars for sale using technology much more advanced than their 2013-4 in 2011. This has got to make the smarter minds over at Lotus just a mite doubtful of their chances, and moreover a mite angry with their inability to use materials in keeping with their design abilities. j

Some of the more thick ones may not have realised that the Esprit will be priced at around £110-£120k, whereas the McLaren is £170k. Different market altogether.

[j123]

GKP said:

Some of the more thick ones may not have realized that the Esprit will be priced at around £110-£120k, whereas the McLaren is £170k. Different market altogether.

Or they thought that most in the market for a 120k car would easily move to 170k. Especially as so many with 120 to spare- just for fun, have a whole lot these days. You know with the whole economy thing and the majority of wealth thing goin round, j

[RTH]

rob.e said:

Ok, the lardiest of the Esprit v8's were approaching 1400kg but these were the exceptions in my view. A GT3 esprit was around 200kg lighter and from memory the Eclat was only around 1000kg.

Its good that Mr Bahar wants to be lighter than the competition, and I really REALLY want him to succeed but I don't think he's right about his assessment of the earlier cars weights.

Maybe in today's safety obsessed environment its not possible to be as light as cars were in the past, in which case fair play - do the best you can and beat the competition but please don't say the early cars were heavy - i just don't think this is right.

Correct

[Oddball RS]

PhilJames said:

I belive there is a waiting list for the Evora, it's on a new production line so I doubt it is up to full speed yet. If you know lotus cars since the 80's it's not a shock to imagine the lineup actually working for Lotus and being achievable. It's only the Elise Era that they made cars with manual window winders and no sound proofing.

My Esrit is very light but the Kerb wieghts now include full tank of fuel and a fat bloke which is probably 1200 KG on top of the old Kerb weight figures.
The weight according to Lotus Esprit World:

Last V8 Esprit 2002 unladen weight: 1380 kg

Original 1976 Esprit S1 (4 Cylinder NA): 898 kg

http://www.lotusespritworld.com/EModels/V8US.html

Add about 1200 Kg and you have the new EU kerb weight

Why wait for an Evora? there are loads at the dealers, just check the classifieds, you can even pick ur colour............

[Oddball RS]

50 at the moment up for sale, not one private seller, seems to me they are stuck at dealers, just a hunch.

[Dodgey_Rog]

rob.e said:

infradig said:

Slightly off topic but does anyone know how many Evora's have found homes? I spend half my life on the road in and around London and the M25/M1 so am more likely than most to see interesting cars around,and I've seen....ONE,ever! I've seen more 599GTO's this week. In the last couple of years spotted hundreds of Elises,plenty of Exiges even some Europas but one solitary white Evora about a year ago,is anyone buying them,or are they all oop north?

Well I do 30k miles a year and I've only ever seen ONE on the road.

I don't do as many miles as you and i've seen a few going past me on the A12, M25, the M11 and other A roads. And I'm not in the UK half the time... Pretty car.

[Ex Boy Racer]

Oh dear. A Lotus topic and the responses are already running short at page 2. Are we losing interest in this flight of fancy? I'm sure that's not what Mr Bahar wants.

[tridave]

PhilJames said:

I belive there is a waiting list for the Evora, it's on a new production line so I doubt it is up to full speed yet.

Production line was 99% complete at the end of 2008 ! so its hardly new.

[NJS25]

Nobody asked him about Lotus' first F1 WC being 1967 then

N.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Countdown said:

Was I the only one hoping that was a misspelling and Lotus had appointed Dani Behr ?

Ms Behr could probably come up with a more realistic strategy for Lotus over her morning muesli.

[chickensoup]

Mr Bahar seems to have mellowed a bit. I wonder whether in an almost Ecclestone like way he occasionally throws a brickbat just to read the response.

Do hope he can ringfence the Proton funding, as I think they may wobble in the medium term.

Let us hope we see the pre-production Esprit next year

[ravon]

cathalm said:

I wonder exactly where this evora myth comes from. Even at maximum projected volumes the car would be as rare as hens teeth on British roads. It is being made in tiny volumes the majority of which go abroad. I also wonder at the nonsense about it being an okay car or not good enough bla bla. Reality check chaps, it is probably the met acclaimed car of the last few years along with the gtr and r8.

Regarding the tvr reference, with the greatest love for tvr, there is no comparison with them and smolensy. For perspective, Lotus have 4-5 times as many engineers as Aston and twice as many as Ferrari, not quite comarable to Peter Wheeler and his Blackpool crew.

Edited by cathalm on Tuesday 8th March 19:58

I heard from a very good contact that Lotus had effectively "dumped" a whole load of very heavily discounted, road registered 2010 Evora's into the trade recently, and much to my personal amusement not only to Lotus Dealers, but to unofficial Lotus Specialists. Can imagine how upset my local "long established" dealers must have been to find these cars in their new unofficial competitors just up the road !!!! Love it, Dany, your the man !

This may of course be untrue, but it gave me a thrill.

[Monkey boy 1]

tridave said:

Production line was 99% complete at the end of 2008 ! so its hardly new.

so you thought, but that was 2008. This is now 2011
South Norfolk DC planning

[tridave]

Monkey boy 1 said:

tridave said:

Production line was 99% complete at the end of 2008 ! so its hardly new.

so you thought, but that was 2008. This is now 2011
South Norfolk DC planning

Yes and the production line remains in the same place