RE: No Lotus at Paris motor show
Discussion
Matt UK said:
AllNines said:
If it gives the folk at Hethel a chance to breathe and concentrate on creating great new cars, then missing Paris is to be applauded.
Tomorrow is the end of contract day, ISTR. Anyone know what's happened ?
AllNines said:
If it gives the folk at Hethel a chance to breathe and concentrate on creating great new cars, then missing Paris is to be applauded.
If it takes them the time & money a motorshow would have expended to create a great new car then I'm completely surprised that they're in as much s
t as they're in.Dave Hedgehog said:
i wouldnt invest 50k+ in a car from a company that is so far up the creek it has to bail from motor shows
ExactlyThats economic a very difficult time at the moment.
Good products with potential are not enough when money is missing.
We have seen few victims of it-the last was Artega
with his sportscar.
And theses car was great in quality,performance and price.
And is bankrupt.
And now maybe Lotus-cool cars big history+ wonderful promotion @ Goodwood
but not enough interested customers to go
to the winning zone+ mismanagement by Lotus/Proton himself.
Bahar is guilty to the situation with his highflying plans
to make a small company without money to expand to create
a global player like porsche,but he isnt alone-proton is more guilty to
gives a man like him a job in a company like Lotus to create costintensive
phantasm without future for the company without control.
No Lotus fan had to believe in his plans and the most must laugh about the man
from Ferrari with Fiat in the background with his 5 new models goal.
We have seen Mclaren how cost and time intensive it is to develop 1 very good Sportscar
but the success gives Mclaren right with these Modelpolitic.
For Lotus is the next logical step the Esprit,not Elise not Exige or Evora.
For the most people is the Evora too expensive and not emotional enough and Elise or Exige more a toy
for the weekend or trackdays not for a long distance Travel.
One Model called Esprit is the Future...
Im a big fan of Lotus but thats the reality of the market.
Good products with potential are not enough when money is missing.
We have seen few victims of it-the last was Artega
with his sportscar.
And theses car was great in quality,performance and price.
And is bankrupt.
And now maybe Lotus-cool cars big history+ wonderful promotion @ Goodwood
but not enough interested customers to go
to the winning zone+ mismanagement by Lotus/Proton himself.
Bahar is guilty to the situation with his highflying plans
to make a small company without money to expand to create
a global player like porsche,but he isnt alone-proton is more guilty to
gives a man like him a job in a company like Lotus to create costintensive
phantasm without future for the company without control.
No Lotus fan had to believe in his plans and the most must laugh about the man
from Ferrari with Fiat in the background with his 5 new models goal.
We have seen Mclaren how cost and time intensive it is to develop 1 very good Sportscar
but the success gives Mclaren right with these Modelpolitic.
For Lotus is the next logical step the Esprit,not Elise not Exige or Evora.
For the most people is the Evora too expensive and not emotional enough and Elise or Exige more a toy
for the weekend or trackdays not for a long distance Travel.
One Model called Esprit is the Future...
Im a big fan of Lotus but thats the reality of the market.
thewheelman said:
Pity, I was very impressed with the Esprit & Élan models they had on display last year. I'm guessing they'll never happen now 
The Elan was basically a rebodied Evora anyway - their proposed mechanical basis was practically identical. The new GTE is stylistically edging towards it.
The Esprit is their next big project and it's quite well progressed. I'm guessing given the positive response to the Exige V6 and Elise S that there's no real need to monkey with the Elise recipe just yet, plus to my eyes the latest Exige styling evolution looks way better than the proposed new Elise anyway. I can't see any reason why the Elise/Exige can't become Lotus's '911' - constant, minor tweaks in a highly recognisable shape.
I have a feeling the Elite and Eterne have been binned, but to my mind they weren't very 'Lotus' anyway. A folding-hardtop coupe is totally against their engineering values and I can't help but think that a Lotus-tuned supersaloon version of someone else's mainstream car would be more readily accepted by the market than a ground-up Lotus four-door.
The best thing for Lotus would be to get sold to Toyota. They already have the engine deal, and in return we could have Lotus versions of Lexus to go up against BMW's M-division and AMG.
I'm pleased to see that so much of the reaction to Lotus pulling out of Paris (erm..) is "That's quite a logical thing for them to do and doesn't mean the end of Lotus". Doom mongers on the internet usually see anythink like that in a very bad light. If Nokia were to cancel from the big mobile show in Barcelona the line would be "Well they will be dead in six months".
Simon.
Simon.
Twincam16 said:
The best thing for Lotus would be to get sold to Toyota. They already have the engine deal, and in return we could have Lotus versions of Lexus to go up against BMW's M-division and AMG.
I fear you're right, but hope you're wrong. Lotus should either produce its own cars or go before it becomes just another styling badge (think Ghia).Here's hoping that the decision not to show is part of a bigger retrenchment and plan to do something Lotusy instead of Lamborghini/Ferrari-ish this time.
Frimley111R said:
Lotus. They've been making as new factory and had developments held up by the take over. The first Exige V6 are only coming out in the next two weeks for example. Despite what is going on over here the rest of the world likes the cars and wants them.
...taken straight from the Bahar 'playbook of bullsh*t'"Yes, we have [insert fictitious large number here] of overseas orders for the new Lotus [insert model name here]"
Lotus engineering is far bigger than the car production side of the business, and is actually profitable, just recent years of poor car production and development costs have created the losses...oh yes and Bahaaass wreckless spending spree...the more I hear about his antics, the more corrupt he appears to be.
I will buy an Exige when the roadster becomes available (if my personal circumstances do not change fo rthe negative that is)....it`s a great car and always will be, whether or not Lotus are around anymore (Sagaris prices have not exactly struggled despite no TVR anymore?)....but they will be..there are several serious individuals who will pick it up if it goes into administration....there is no point buying it now, because you`ll have to take on the debts!
I will buy an Exige when the roadster becomes available (if my personal circumstances do not change fo rthe negative that is)....it`s a great car and always will be, whether or not Lotus are around anymore (Sagaris prices have not exactly struggled despite no TVR anymore?)....but they will be..there are several serious individuals who will pick it up if it goes into administration....there is no point buying it now, because you`ll have to take on the debts!
Everyone I know considers Lotus as being synonymous with low cost, lightweight, sports biased cars.
New Lotus is none of these things.
A base level no spec Elise costs £30,000ish and the sportiest Lotus (Exige) weighs in at a staggering 1420 kg before extras. If you were in the market for a lightweight sportscar how could you get excited about it having a wheezy Toyota engine unless economy, attaining MPG and reliability are your thing?
The new Lotus is blatantly copying what all the other manufacturers are doing.
This is undermining everything the typical Lotus buyer is trying to avoid. They want a lightweight fun car and dont want to be lumbered with a heavyweight, dynamic pudding.
Even worse is how Lotus have price linked themselves to Porsche, BMW, Audi, VW, Mercedes,,, yet the end product is not finished to the same standard.
Lotus are simply not offering anything different, they have become another sporty looking do it all with moderate performance.
Why would we want it?
New Lotus is none of these things.
A base level no spec Elise costs £30,000ish and the sportiest Lotus (Exige) weighs in at a staggering 1420 kg before extras. If you were in the market for a lightweight sportscar how could you get excited about it having a wheezy Toyota engine unless economy, attaining MPG and reliability are your thing?
The new Lotus is blatantly copying what all the other manufacturers are doing.
This is undermining everything the typical Lotus buyer is trying to avoid. They want a lightweight fun car and dont want to be lumbered with a heavyweight, dynamic pudding.
Even worse is how Lotus have price linked themselves to Porsche, BMW, Audi, VW, Mercedes,,, yet the end product is not finished to the same standard.
Lotus are simply not offering anything different, they have become another sporty looking do it all with moderate performance.
Why would we want it?
I can see why they've chosen to not bother with the Paris show and it makes sense to a certain point. From a marketing point of view if they want to publicise the new Exige S or whatever else they'd be better off sticking Ken Block in one and telling him to go and cock about in front of a few cameras. That would get way more exposure than any motor show could give and for a lot less cash. Win-win.
Sales and marketing people and trolley dollies do not make, engineer or get involved in car shows. It does however allow a company to gauge public opinion.
I just wish someone with at least an ounce of vision would get hold of Lotus and do what bloor has done to Triumph, what Tatatata have done to Jag, what has happened to Aston and is happening (slowly) to Norton.
Three car line up excige, evora and Esprit (with a twin turbo v8). Focus on quality, and technical brilliance. Job done.
However JSB Hicomission or whatever they are called and the new MD (the press release sounded like an apology) I fear will not get it sorted. The only reason they could want to own Lotus is because of access to engineering specialists. Like asset stripping or knowledge stripping if you like.
There are several car companies that would be better able to sort Lotus. Toyota is one, the owners of Bristol. It is a great shame that there was no one willing to pick up TVR. Can you imagine TVR and Lotus in the same engineering group. If Jag, Aston, Triumph and Norton can be sorted then there is no reason why Lotus cannot get a thrilling future as well.
Anyway just hope someone gets Lotus sorted, they are to uimportant to let go. At leat Bahar has a clear vision and determiniation, 3/4 of the battle (money the last 1/4) and the cars he was looking to produce had received good feedback.
I just wish someone with at least an ounce of vision would get hold of Lotus and do what bloor has done to Triumph, what Tatatata have done to Jag, what has happened to Aston and is happening (slowly) to Norton.
Three car line up excige, evora and Esprit (with a twin turbo v8). Focus on quality, and technical brilliance. Job done.
However JSB Hicomission or whatever they are called and the new MD (the press release sounded like an apology) I fear will not get it sorted. The only reason they could want to own Lotus is because of access to engineering specialists. Like asset stripping or knowledge stripping if you like.
There are several car companies that would be better able to sort Lotus. Toyota is one, the owners of Bristol. It is a great shame that there was no one willing to pick up TVR. Can you imagine TVR and Lotus in the same engineering group. If Jag, Aston, Triumph and Norton can be sorted then there is no reason why Lotus cannot get a thrilling future as well.
Anyway just hope someone gets Lotus sorted, they are to uimportant to let go. At leat Bahar has a clear vision and determiniation, 3/4 of the battle (money the last 1/4) and the cars he was looking to produce had received good feedback.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff