Tuesday 20th December 2022

Lotus teases 75th anniversary plans

Celebrations get underway with fancy new branding, as a year of 'exciting global events' is lined up for 2023

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We’re not the only ones celebrating a major milestone next year. PH will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its creation in 2023 (watch this space), but Lotus will be marking an even bigger milestone as it enters its 75^th year of making lightweight sports cars and, er, massive electric SUVs.

The festivities have already kicked off with commemorative 75th-anniversary branding that you’ll see across “multiple environments” over the next 12 months. That's all the manufacturer is giving away right now, but fret not - Lotus insists it has “a number of exciting global events and initiatives” up its sleeve. We'd bet all the money in our pockets that it will involve a special edition something in the fullness of time, although we're told the plans will involve looking back at its many automotive innovations over the years. Twin-chassis Emira, anyone?

Of course, we all know Lotus is among the pioneers of lightweight performance whether on road or track, a reputation undimmed by its transformation under the ownership of Chinese motoring juggernaut Geely, which has already resulted in the ridiculously fast Evija electric hypercar and the somewhat controversial Eletre SUV. That’s because, as Lotus puts it, the company will be shifting itself from a sports car manufacturer to “a global performance car business and brand” as it enters its final quarter of a century before the big 100.

“Lotus of 2023 is a world away from a garage in north London, thanks to the billions being invested in our company on product development, an electrified future and more”, said Lotus Cars MD Matt Windle. Encouragingly, he added:  “the pioneering spirit and commitment of Colin and Hazel Chapman is alive and kicking in Lotus today, and we will be celebrating our 75^th anniversary in style – paying tribute to the past and looking ahead to the future as we approach our first century.” Here’s hoping that remains the case for the next 75 years and beyond.

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• 2022 Lotus Emira | PH Review
• 2022 Lotus Evija prototype | PH Review

[Gecko1978]

If only the esprit still existed

[David87]

Time for a special edition Elise! Oh.

[British Beef]

Lotus Emira GT2 would be nice!

[Andrewph75]

Time for some positivity - future is bright and we don't often get to say that about British sports car makers, well done Lotus. The automotive equivalent of your football team being bought by a rich owner and getting to show what it can do, good luck to them

[DonkeyApple]

They should dig Colin up to confirm whether he is spinning at all the new car sales, bright future and cash rolling in or rubbing his hand in avaricious joy.

[Terminator X]

Welcome to the heavy world of EV, I mean the future looks great.

TX.

[TdM-GTV]

Best we can hope for: stripped out light weight special edition i4 Emira
Likely outcome: A series of Lotus livery Emiras

[GingerMunky]

British Beef said:

Lotus Emira GT2 would be nice!

That would be delicious.

[epom]

Something with a black and gold colour scheme and say £8k added to the price would be my cynical guess.

[Frimley111R]

DonkeyApple said:

They should dig Colin up to confirm whether he is spinning at all the new car sales, bright future and cash rolling in or rubbing his hand in avaricious joy.

He'd be looking at the money and thinking 'That will get us into racing again!!'. After all, the road cars were just produced to make money for racing.

[Frimley111R]

Andrewph75 said:

Time for some positivity - future is bright and we don't often get to say that about British sports car makers, well done Lotus. The automotive equivalent of your football team being bought by a rich owner and getting to show what it can do, good luck to them

Bright?! It's absolutely blinding! It's the new Man City

[craigjm]

Frimley111R said:

Andrewph75 said:

Time for some positivity - future is bright and we don't often get to say that about British sports car makers, well done Lotus. The automotive equivalent of your football team being bought by a rich owner and getting to show what it can do, good luck to them

Bright?! It's absolutely blinding! It's the new Man City

And that’s a great thing. Shame the same can’t be said for other famous British car companies

[NMNeil]

DonkeyApple said:

They should dig Colin up to confirm whether he is spinning at all the new car sales, bright future and cash rolling in or rubbing his hand in avaricious joy.

He may be more pissed that Lotus is now Chinese owned

[craigjm]

NMNeil said:

DonkeyApple said:

They should dig Colin up to confirm whether he is spinning at all the new car sales, bright future and cash rolling in or rubbing his hand in avaricious joy.

He may be more pissed that Lotus is now Chinese owned

Who knows? I find it really odd with manufacturers like lotus and Jaguar that people try and put words into the mouths of long dead people.

[Wadeski]

Its going to be “exclusive” Lotus NFTs, isn't it?

[DonkeyApple]

NMNeil said:

DonkeyApple said:

They should dig Colin up to confirm whether he is spinning at all the new car sales, bright future and cash rolling in or rubbing his hand in avaricious joy.

He may be more pissed that Lotus is now Chinese owned

1bn wallets to be tapped? He'd have been in like Flynn and with an SUV 20 years ago. Colin liked the folding, he had no concerns over the colour of it.

[Frimley111R]

craigjm said:

NMNeil said:

DonkeyApple said:

They should dig Colin up to confirm whether he is spinning at all the new car sales, bright future and cash rolling in or rubbing his hand in avaricious joy.

He may be more pissed that Lotus is now Chinese owned

Who knows? I find it really odd with manufacturers like lotus and Jaguar that people try and put words into the mouths of long dead people.

Every time a Lotus was built that weighed over an ounce he would have apparently been 'spinning in his grave'.

[DonkeyApple]

Frimley111R said:

craigjm said:

NMNeil said:

DonkeyApple said:

They should dig Colin up to confirm whether he is spinning at all the new car sales, bright future and cash rolling in or rubbing his hand in avaricious joy.

He may be more pissed that Lotus is now Chinese owned

Who knows? I find it really odd with manufacturers like lotus and Jaguar that people try and put words into the mouths of long dead people.

Every time a Lotus was built that weighed over an ounce he would have apparently been 'spinning in his grave'.

If the corpse of Colin was going to be upset about anything it would have been just how badly the company has been run up until someone from China made the suggestion that Lotus could have a go at making desirable and properly priced cars again. As things stand now, they've got a genuinely desirable and affordable ICE sports car on sale that will be on sale until no one is allowed to buy ICE anymore and an EV version may appear before then if the tech reaches usability and affordability for that product. And they've got an EV SUV coming out that looks really good and will hopefully sell in good numbers with good profits.

No better way to celebrate their 75th by frankly doing anything other than pointing out what an excellent position they're in for the first time in decades.

Who knew that selling cars that people wanted and at a price those people were willing to pay was good business?

[Frimley111R]

It's an incredible time for Lotus but it did require massive sums to make it into a 'proper' car company. I always felt it should have been the main competitor to Porsche but it just never had anything like the money to do. A bit like Ferrari and Lamborghini.

The transformation in the quality of their cars is stunning.

[pycraft]

NMNeil said:

He may be more pissed that Lotus is now Chinese owned

I think that Colin Chapman would have been as bothered by Lotus being owned by the Chinese as Peter Wheeler was about TVR being owned by the Russians.