RE: New Vehicle Dev Chief Engineer at Lotus

[The Wookie]

The Pits said:

Sure these sports cars start at £40k but always seem to end up nearer £65k! They also depreciate heavily too so those 'must have' acronyms are costing you real money.

They do initially as they're overpriced, but I bought my old S at 6 months old, put 40k on it over 2 years and traded it in for 6k less than I paid for it.

The Evora would sell fine if it was 20 grand cheaper, and it would sell fine if it had 450+bhp but Lotus aimed too squarely at Porsche and frankly you need an excuse not to buy a Boxster or Cayman if you're in the market for that sort of car. In my case it was because I don't care about boot space and the Lotus rides and handles better, sadly not everyone is a Vehicle Dynamics Engineer.

[Europa1]

Ozzie Osmond said:

Yes, everyone wants to see a new Esprit but there's not the slightest sign of a car. Nor will there be if they've got any sense - there are three stunning mid-engined sportscars already sitting around £150k. Tackling the "under £100k" market would be suicidal when you see what's on offer from the F-type and others.

Back in the days of their M250 concept I put a deposit down but eventually just got bored waiting with endless promises and got the money back. Then another new car was promised which turned out to be Evora,; then another which turned out to be the cheaper front of old Exige attached to the Toyota bits of Evora. Meanwhile the "other" dealership is selling some of the world's best sportscars at prices which start under £40k.

Hopefully the "restructuring" of which this new Lotus appointment forms part will eventually see the company able to deliver on some of its ambitious promises and targets. Get the product right and IMO the customers will come.

I sort of agree - Lotus does need new products, but I am not sure the rarified market the new Esprit was supposed to occupy is viable for Lotus without the massive, across-all-fronts investment that Dany Bahar initially instigated. My fear would be that without that sort of investment to build up the brand alongside the investment needed for such a premium product, any new Esprit would be launched into a bit of a vacuum and would sell in Noble-type numbers.

And I say this as a dyed in the wool fan.

Edited by Europa1 on Thursday 11th December 17:58

[Europa1]

Impasse said:

The Crack Fox said:

JamStar said:

I was going to ask what car he's sitting in in the picture but worked out it's a Lotus Elan...

...if anyone's interested. No just me. Ok.

Nice...

Edited by JamStar on Tuesday 9th December 14:56

I absolutely love that. It's mental.

It's a mid-age-ish S1 Esprit, although the carpets aren't quite right.
Here's one the right way round, it's number 190 and has just been made beautiful again by a chap called Jonathan and this is his photo:

It is fantastic - love the lounger style chairs. I have seen pics of similar interiors but with an abundance of ruched leather instead of fabric; always wondered if they came with shag pile carpets for the full on 70s aura!