Lotus Elise Eating into Kit Car Marketplace?

[Joe T]

I have noticed how Series 1 Lotus Elises have come down to £7k, surely this will start to have an effect on the Kit industry. Heres an Example for reference
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1997-LOTUS-ELISE-NORFOLK-MUS...

I know there will still be people out there who want to build a car but who would buy a secondhand kit GTM, Aeon etc with these on offer. Don't get me wrong I am not saying the Lotus is better, do you think this will affect pricing. They will only get cheaper and when they reach £5K I think it could be interesting.

As a car builder I have an interest in this sort of stuff.

[Joe T]

Yep pretty much as I thought, its a very different prospect to compete with that as time rolls by will set a benchmark for pricing.

I am in a different sector really, I don't have to turn a profit as its a project for me, I don't really aim to build more than ten cars, the record for a Costin model of any sort is 8. Most seemed to be destined for track use.

Must be a concern though for kit manufacturers especially at the design stage or even fund raising stage, a 5k Elise will be hard to beat for cheap driving fun.

Just imagine starting a car building business, the Banks question when raising funds would be what has your car/project got that a secondhand Elise hasn't?

Maybe is time to look at reclothing the Elise? Italo?

Edited by Joe T on Monday 21st July 23:48