Friday 25th March 2022

Lotus relaunches Hethel factory tours

Halted for almost five years, Lotus fans can now visit a newly rejuvenated facility

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If lacking the pre-war romance of some car factories, there's no denying the long heritage of Lotus's Hethel site. It's been home to the much-loved British sports car brand since 1966, and while there might have been the odd lull in the production line, there's always been something good going on at the plant in the 56 years since then. Which you can now learn about all over again with the return of factory tours for the public.

These have been unavailable since November 2017, as that's when the £100m redevelopment of Hethel - to establish the Emira production line, among other things - began. What with one or two other delays in recent years, not to mention the pandemic's restrictions, it has only become viable to open the tours back up all this time later. The first will take place on April 4th.

The two-hour tour takes in the Hethel test track, the old part of the factory where the Elise, Exige and Evora were built, the snazzy new Emira bit and an experience of "how all Lotus showrooms will look in the future." Groups of eight will be led around by an expert guide, and the really keen ought to look for a day (the tours operate Monday to Thursday) that runs a Heritage Tour.

This upgrade includes a visit to Classic Team Lotus, a separate business located over the road from the main facility, and run by Clive Chapman - the son of founder, Colin - which includes an unrivalled collection of historic Lotus race cars.

The relaunched tours have been devised by the newly inaugurated Lotus Advanced Performance department. Director of Lotus AP Simon Lane commented: "Tours of the Hethel site were part of the Lotus story for many years and hugely popular. We get emails and calls every week with people asking about them but, with all the development work on site, it was not appropriate to have the public here. With the Emira now in production, I'm delighted to announce that the time is right to relaunch the factory tours."

The tours are bookable now via the Lotus website; a standard tour costs £95 and the Heritage is £140. Those planning a family day out should be aware that it's a maximum of two children for each adult, in case you were going to be responsible for the whole brood. Gotta start them young on the Lotus education, right?

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[YellowCar]

The last time I was inside the factory was in 1979 - think it's time for a re-visit.

[blearyeyedboy]

Ooh, game on.

I'd been disappointed to find no tour existed before, so I'd love to go.

[Baldchap]

Article Said said:

These have been unavailable since November 2017

Strange, I went on both the historical racing tour and the factory tour around 15/08/2019.


This is the outside. Wasn't allowed photos inside...

Edited by Baldchap on Friday 25th March 14:33

[anonymous-user]

Will they be offering a factory tour + a scare yourself sensible drive around the track?

Did this back in 2014 / 2015 ish and it was an amazing day out.

[m62tu]

Does the Emira not have front floating discs? First pic seems to support this.

[British Beef]

Baldchap said:

Article Said said:

These have been unavailable since November 2017

Strange, I went on both the historical racing tour and the factory tour around 15/08/2019.


This is the outside. Wasn't allowed photos inside...

Edited by Baldchap on Friday 25th March 14:33

I was there for a tour in 2019 as well, they were still building the huge "shed" which is now the Emira factory.

[MesoForm]

British Beef said:

Baldchap said:

Article Said said:

These have been unavailable since November 2017

Strange, I went on both the historical racing tour and the factory tour around 15/08/2019.


This is the outside. Wasn't allowed photos inside...

Edited by Baldchap on Friday 25th March 14:33

I was there for a tour in 2019 as well, they were still building the huge "shed" which is now the Emira factory.

Same - went in May(ish) 2018 for the Scare Yourself Sensible tour/track time.

[stevie777777]

Went on the heritage tour last summer - well worth it ! Given I am now the proud owner of an Evora I’d better get over there again - living only 25 miles from the factory helps too 😀

[Spindoctor]

I was all set to visit while my 20th Anniversary Exige was being built but they cancelled factory visits. Can’t resist booking a tour now, need to take it home for a day.

[Pistaaah]

They’re offering this as one of three options for taking delivery of your Emira. Collect at dealer/delivered to your door or (for £195) factory tour and lunch and drive away. Not clear whether this covers 2 people or not, but seems like a great way of taking ownership.

So far, Lotus seem really customer focused and seem to really want to engage with their customers. Long may it continue!

[Evolved]

m62tu said:

Does the Emira not have front floating discs? First pic seems to support this.

Does a £60k Boxster? I know what you’re getting at obviously but I don’t think a Porsche of similar money does either - could be wrong.

[matrignano]

The display prototype had alu disc bells for sure

[Evolved]

matrignano said:

The display prototype had alu disc bells for sure

Ah, it would give the car a more sporty/performance look and feel. Looking at that pic, they actually look like dummy mock-up brakes.

[Redline88]

Pistaaah said:

They’re offering this as one of three options for taking delivery of your Emira. Collect at dealer/delivered to your door or (for £195) factory tour and lunch and drive away. Not clear whether this covers 2 people or not, but seems like a great way of taking ownership.

So far, Lotus seem really customer focused and seem to really want to engage with their customers. Long may it continue!

For the limited number of people that are actually willing to travel to the factory, saving on transport costs and further strengthening the brand, I’m surprised that they aren’t including this for free. Tbh I would think that including some driving experience (similar to Porsche) would be a good starting point - especially considering their facilities (which are excellent). All this said as a current Emira deposit holder.

[Pistaaah]

Redline88 said:

For the limited number of people that are actually willing to travel to the factory, saving on transport costs and further strengthening the brand, I’m surprised that they aren’t including this for free. Tbh I would think that including some driving experience (similar to Porsche) would be a good starting point - especially considering their facilities (which are excellent). All this said as a current Emira deposit holder.

I agree, but I’m only going to be able to collect my new Emira once, so will likely cough up

[soundman_cripps]

Last time I was there was 1993 when Lotus had been acquired by Bugatti. At the end of our factory tour there was a distant rumble which quickly grew louder and a minute later an EB110SS pulled in. The factory stopped and the car had to be covered but that was an amazing memory. What a day. A trip around Lotus seeing such a rare Bugatti and also the object of my car desires at the time - a Lotus Carlton all in the same day is a hard one to beat. I don’t know how it happened but there was also a tour around Team Lotus that day as well. I must go back…

[Panamax]

Redline88 said:

Tbh I would think that including some driving experience (similar to Porsche) would be a good starting point - especially considering their facilities (which are excellent).

With Hethel being in the middle of absolutely nowhere and Lotus a tiny brand I doubt there's sufficient demand. The factory is nowhere near a railway station with even Wymondham (a one horse town) several miles away and Norwich in the distance. The Porsche facility was purpose-built at Silverstone for its central location, not because Porsche have a historical presence. It's similarly notable that Mercedes World is conveniently located for London, Heathrow, M25 and the trains.

[honda_exige]

Panamax said:

With Hethel being in the middle of absolutely nowhere and Lotus a tiny brand I doubt there's sufficient demand. The factory is nowhere near a railway station with even Wymondham (a one horse town) several miles away and Norwich in the distance. The Porsche facility was purpose-built at Silverstone for its central location, not because Porsche have a historical presence. It's similarly notable that Mercedes World is conveniently located for London, Heathrow, M25 and the trains.

They do already run driving experiences on their own track at the factory, they've done so for many years but have relaunched it using a fleet of Emira's.

https://www.lotuscars.com/en-GB/lotus-driving-acad...

[TrotCanterGallopCharge]

Panamax said:

Redline88 said:

Tbh I would think that including some driving experience (similar to Porsche) would be a good starting point - especially considering their facilities (which are excellent).

With Hethel being in the middle of absolutely nowhere and Lotus a tiny brand I doubt there's sufficient demand. The factory is nowhere near a railway station with even Wymondham (a one horse town) several miles away and Norwich in the distance. The Porsche facility was purpose-built at Silverstone for its central location, not because Porsche have a historical presence. It's similarly notable that Mercedes World is conveniently located for London, Heathrow, M25 and the trains.

There are 2 train stations at Wymondham, a taxi co a couple or so hundred metres away, & Hethel is a couple of miles away according to google maps? That said, it's current location doesn't help it.

Planning ahead, building up their Silverstone location would help. Having Porsche, a major competitor, having a larger/better presence at this internationally recognised circuit doesn't look good for Lotus at all, especially if it's aiming for Emira world sales.

[Cold]

Article said:

Lotus

So obviously:

Evolved said:

Porsche

Redline88 said:

Porsche

Panamax said:

Porsche
Porsche

TrotCanterGallopCharge said:

Porsche

Every frikkin' time.