Nathan Pitman

Spotted and waved at two blue Elise’s in convoy through Bracknell up the A329M and onto the M4. Passed and waved just as you pulled into the M4, was in my yellow Elise Cup. I’ll admit I did a bit of detour to catch you up and wave. Not often you stumble across two Lotus together!

I imagine this is pretty much going to be a reimagining of the Evora with better fit and finish and more competitive interior tech/refinement, perhaps a new name to evoke more media interest. That's all ok with me and I suspect it would also herald in a series of more stripped back raw variants further down the line. Will this be their first production car to run a hybrid power unit?

Hey, spotted you in your lovely red Elise (64 plate I think) on the M25 and sat behind you for a bit. You waved as I pulled off onto the M3 in my yellow Elise Cup 220.

No worries. Well if you ever want a quick burst somewhere local for a coffee just shout. I’m only down the road.

Yup have been thinking about you too. I’m meeting up with a few owners tmrw lunch time just south of Frimley. Late notice I know but if you fancied a drive I’d be happy to meet up with you and drive down together in convoy.

There are a few owners meeting up for lunch and car chat at the Deers Hut Pub in Liphook, Hampshire this Saturday (16th) at about 1pm. I’ll be driving from Bracknell and meeting another Elise owner just outside Frimley. Would be great to see some other owners there and get to put some faces to names and cars. The Deers Hut Longmoor Rd, Liphook GU30 7PD 01428 724406 https://goo.gl/maps/AtipRAwdvzM2

Spotted in princess square car park in Bracknell today. SN58CTO.

You both nailed it there.

Lotus in Formula E sometime in the future?

Silver Elise S2 turning into Pinewood centre in Wokingham at about 5pm today. I would have flashed you but I was in my boring 2nd car. I frequent Pinewood as my daughter does Gymnastics there.

Product placement and notable reviews are useless unless backed by long term brand awareness strategy. Something Lotus simply haven’t had the cash to establish. I am convinced that if they threw even a marginal amount of cash now at advertising they would see a fairly immediate return in sales of the existing cars (Evora included). Considering the profit margins on these cars it would seem a no brainer and a way to start building more awareness of the name but I can also understand how that might just be seen as pointless if they are planning a complete brand relaunch.

Don't forget that the low sales volumes are not necessarily because there is no valid market for raw driver focused cars, it's just as likely that these are the result of zero investment in marketing over the years. It would have been wonderful to see how a car like the Evora would have sold with Porsche level marketing spend. As every other manufacturer jumps on the 'electric means luxury' bandwagon I think Lotus would do well not to forget that there IS a demographic which is uninterested in tech for the sake of it... yes give us hybrid and electric sports cars... but that doesn't mean we also need a plush interior.

Hi Martin, welcome to the forums!

@PAR I guess I was imagining more a of a situation where they simply drop a demonstrator in every well positioned Volvo dealership and refer anyone interested beyond a demo to the nearest Lotus dealership and then pay the demonstrating dealership a referral fee. But yea... not simple when you have a traditional dealership (non direct sales) model.

Seems a no brainer but why are we not seeing that already? I’m no logistics expert but even putting a single Lotus in every Volvo dealership would spark interest and build brand recognition. Edit: I guess the issue is they can’t build them fast enough with the existing production process?