RE: Lotus unveils 2000hp, £2m Evija

[Exige77]

Lotus SUV on its way.

Sure loads of people will buy it.

If I recall correctly, the Lamborghini SUV is their best selling vehicle currently.

Everybody loves an SUV

[Tuna]

rockin said:

Tuna said:

it was GM (as Vauxhall) that nearly bankrupted the company....

...although Lotus did design the new and highly regarded Corvette ZR-1 engine for GM. Regrettably actual production of that engine couldn't be handled by Lotus so it was built by Mercury Marine in Oklahoma, USA.

And this week GM have launched a brand new mid-engine V8 Corvette at a price point which punts any ideas of a new V8 Esprit right out of the ball-park. Lotus left that gap in the market wide open.

Seriously? I think the Corvette looks to be a fun car, but the current Evora is already in the same performance bracket - plenty of room for a V8 Esprit.

rockin said:

Tuna said:

Geely letting the company do what it feels best.

Presumably that's why the first thing Geely did was fire the management, so the company could get on with what it felt was best. What about all the talk of a new Lotus SUV - it seems to have gone remarkably quiet.

From what I've heard Gales did not have the confidence of the rest of the company. Do you think he was doing well?

[Oilchange]

I think Gales was a fantasist, if deliberate or not. His plans looked good on paper, in print etc but weren't a viable to make a profit for the company. He rode a wave of money and quite possibly had no intention of seeing Lotus succeed as a car maker and make a profit unless by accident.

[Oilchange]

Also, I think the Evija looks bloody amazing and I hope a bunch of Chinese billionaires buy the lot!

[otolith]

Oilchange said:

I think Gales was a fantasist, if deliberate or not. His plans looked good on paper, in print etc but weren't a viable to make a profit for the company. He rode a wave of money and quite possibly had no intention of seeing Lotus succeed as a car maker and make a profit unless by accident.

I think that applies to Bahar - Gales appears to have just turned up and started running the thing properly.

[DonkeyApple]

otolith said:

Oilchange said:

I think Gales was a fantasist, if deliberate or not. His plans looked good on paper, in print etc but weren't a viable to make a profit for the company. He rode a wave of money and quite possibly had no intention of seeing Lotus succeed as a car maker and make a profit unless by accident.

I think that applies to Bahar - Gales appears to have just turned up and started running the thing properly.

Two interesting people in reality. Bahar saw exactly what the core problem was and that the Lotus brand needed to be shifted to be in line with modern consumer demands. He then went about executing a plan in the most farcical way. While he saw exactly what the problem was he brought a vulgar, council house, Euro trash plan to the wrong party. Gales on the flip side brought an accountancy mindset to the brand.

I wouldn’t denigrate Gales as his mindset has kept Lotus alive and dealt with many issues but it never once addressed the biggest issue of brand perception.

We all have to hope that this latest plan to tackle brand perception and to allow them sell a future sports car at the price level it needs to be sold at will work. It’s early days but I think this latest marketing and brand repositioning exercise is a step in the right direction but the proof will be if they deliver a normal car that simply looks much more expensive than it actually costs. If they don’t break into a new and higher price ceiling for their normal vehicles then nothing is going to change. Simply put, they need normal road cars that make the owners look wealthier and more successful than they actually are.

[otolith]

Bahar needed to be under a CEO like Gales, I think, not running the show.

[Oilchange]

otolith said:

Oilchange said:

I think Gales was a fantasist, if deliberate or not. His plans looked good on paper, in print etc but weren't a viable to make a profit for the company. He rode a wave of money and quite possibly had no intention of seeing Lotus succeed as a car maker and make a profit unless by accident.

I think that applies to Bahar - Gales appears to have just turned up and started running the thing properly.

Quite right, I meant Bahar, not Gales. Sorry mate! (Gales)

[Tuna]

DonkeyApple said:

I wouldn’t denigrate Gales as his mindset has kept Lotus alive and dealt with many issues but it never once addressed the biggest issue of brand perception.

I'm not sure what the real story was with Gales. From the outside, he appeared to have the right idea (move the products up market, make them properly competitive and sort out their shortcomings). The current line up is pretty damn good and gets the right noises from the press. At the same time, I get the impression he ran out of ideas and money after that, so couldn't take the company anywhere. He got it to the point of being a good buyout target, but didn't actually have a 'grand vision' to justify the ***t he'd forced everyone to put up with. Without knowing exactly what's been going on in Hethel over the last few years, who knows? Most of the people working there seem too professional, and too loyal to the company to gossip about it

There were germs of a good idea from Bahar too for that matter - a succession of new models based around the promise of quick design turnaround on the VVA architecture - he could possibly have achieved that, but announcing it all in one go and then acting as though the company had already built the full line up was.... um.... bold.

Let's see what the new guy gets up to...

[DonkeyApple]

otolith said:

Bahar needed to be under a CEO like Gales, I think, not running the show.

Very good point. I do wonder though if either of them will ever appreciate just how phenomenally uncool Brian May is and how his association is the death of any brand. A lovely bloke and a genius but he is a chap with negatibe brand endorsement power. I suspect more people want to kill badgers since he got involved.

[Tickle]

So it now moves.

https://youtu.be/qsxCX0KYYJw

Note: Lotus, please sort your Video production out, let carfection at least do it!

[Rawwr]

Even in camo, the shape is still wonderful.

[Dave Hedgehog]

Tickle said:

So it now moves.

https://youtu.be/qsxCX0KYYJw

Note: Lotus, please sort your Video production out, let carfection at least do it!

christ that video was awful

[Tuna]

Rawwr said:

Even in camo, the shape is still wonderful.

Agreed - first time I've seen a car in camo look good.

[blueg33]

Why is it in camo after they have launched it? Weird