Next Esprit production in Malaysia ?

[wolf]

At http://www.lotuscarclub.org/ I read an article that Lotus is going to move the production of the next Esprit to Malaysia (Proton).

As an owner of a recently restored Esprit S1 I am (was) proud to own a BRITISH car.

In consideration of the fact Lotus in future will become MALAYSIAN, I am going to sell my car and by an original, red ITALIAN sportscar

Perhaps when other Esprit enthusiasts will do similar the managers at Lotus will be replaced and the car will become BRITISH again.

It would be interesting to hear the forums opinion.

Best regards - Wolf

[Bibs]

Err, don't know if I'm getting the wrong end of the stick here but...

The Esprit replacement is unlikely to be a progression of the Esprit as we know it, or we'd have it now as another facelift. Lotus are happy making smaller cars with smaller engines that still go fast as the market for them is a lot more bouyant ie cars around the price/size/capacity of the Elise/Exige at present.

Should Lotus's supercar of the future be designed and/or built in Malaysia, your S1 will still be a triumph of British engineering and Chapman's dream, and I think selling it would be ridiculous. Just don't buy a new one!

[slade]

At http://www.lotuscarclub.org/  I read an article that Lotus is going to move the production of the next Esprit to Malaysia (Proton).

As an owner of a recently restored Esprit S1  I am (was) proud to own a BRITISH car.

In consideration of the fact Lotus in future will become MALAYSIAN, I am going to sell my car and by an original, red ITALIAN sportscar 

Perhaps when other Esprit enthusiasts will do similar the managers at Lotus will be replaced and the car will become BRITISH again.

It would be interesting to hear the forums opinion.

Best regards - Wolf

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think it's sad that there are no real British cars left... but from the same perspective, there are no real American cars yet, or Japanese cars... see? Globalization, for better or worse, more or less inevitable at this point.

From what I've heard about new Protons (all hearsay seeing as I couldn't find one if I wanted to in the US) they handle fine with the Lotus suspension, the Lotus designed engine is fine too, but in terms of build quality it's full of squeaks rattles and cheap bits...

...which kind of puts us in the ballpark of the Esprit's build quality when it was built in England doesn't it?

I'm not going to say I wouldn't RATHER have the car be built in England, but I'm willing to give Malaysian production a chance before I dismiss the cars as rubbish. After all... maybe Lotus can sort out a good production operation there, and the car will probably be cheaper than it otherwise could have been, and perhaps be a more advanced car as a result.

I fell in love with Lotus the company AFTER I fell in love with the Esprit as a car. It could have been built in Russia for all I cared. As long as it's a quality product I suppose we should have nothing to complain about

That's all speaking from a factual basis. From an emotional basis-

Who the f*ck do they think they are to mess with the heritage of Lotus? Eventually globalization in general may wind up creating better products overall for the market, but they will always be lacking the charm of the days when Chapman ran the company, Lotuses were built in Hethel, designed and built by Englishmen, god was in his heaven, and all was right with the world. Nothing can replicate that.

It takes part of the necessary cache away from the car no doubt

All that said I'm not giving up mine hell, maybe the value will go up even after people get the impression that "the british ones were the good ones", and at least we can say our cars are actually british!

I have no choice but to boycott the new Esprit because no matter how cheap they make it I'll inevitably be unable to afford it. When I bought my Esprit I thought I got a bargain because I payed less than the "moron" who bought the Kia Rio, but who's laughing now? (both of us, but for different reasons). So if it's over 10K, a boycott it is B)

Seriously, if it was a good car I'd probably still buy one. My assumption is that Lotus doesn't plan on sticking production in Malaysia for all it's cars permanently... to do so would be stupid wouldn't it?

Slade

[wolf]

Hello Bibs,

thanks for your fast reply.

.... just a picture of my S1, the british engineering triumph an Chapman's dream

Best regards - Wolf

[slade]

Hello Bibs,

thanks for your fast reply.

.... just a picture of my S1, the british engineering triumph an Chapman's dream

Best regards - Wolf

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Cleanest esprit I seen in a while

slade

[Bibs]

Wow

Looks immaculate, very nice

[CNH]

Just about all the icons of national pride have been sold off in the UK.

Are there any British cars left?

Rolls, Jag, Mini are all owned by entities outside the UK is it not?

It certainly does not sound as exotic to say a car comes from Malaysia.

[EspritFactFile]

It certainly does not sound as exotic to say a car comes from Malaysia.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Seeing as the definition of "exotic" from dictionary.com is:

"being or from or characteristic of another place or part of the world; foreign; intriguingly unusual or different; excitingly strange"

I think the description will still fit

[CNH]

Seeing as the definition of "exotic" from dictionary.com is:

"being or from or characteristic of another place or part of the world; foreign; intriguingly unusual or different; excitingly strange"

I think the description will still fit

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

By that definition a Yugo is exotic

[EspritFactFile]

By that definition a Yugo is exotic 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You consider a Yugo "excitingly strange"? Maybe the latter, but never the former.

[CNH]

You consider a Yugo "excitingly strange"? Maybe the latter, but never the former.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Your right it's just strange.

I always suspected it was a car enthusiast pilot that dropped the bombs on Slobodan's Yugo factory during the war over there.

[USAndretti42]

If the car is engineered by the team at Hethel, that's good enough for me. So many car parts come from so many countries in bigger and bigger assemblies that the country of the final assembly is getting almost irrelevant.

Anything that keeps the company doing its stuff should be applauded.

[wolf]

Hello guys,

I always thought the English are patriots

but it seems, that the Chapman's dream won't go on in England.

As seen in your statements it looks like it doesn't make any difference

where Lotus in future will be build.

Isn't it the British flair, tradition and history, that makes your heart beat

faster when you drive a Lotus sportscar?

Just imagine Ferrari would be build outside Italy, could that be a Ferrari at all ?

It's a pity that one of the last British sportscars will be build outside England,

a highend supercar like the Esprit must not be a cheap article, but it must

give the driver all the marvellous feelings only British cars can give.

I can't believe, that a non-British Lotus can produce this feelings for me.

So dream the dream of Chapman today and in future, a Lotus has to be English ....

[USAndretti42]

But is the BMW Z4, built in the USA, an American or a German car? Same for the Mercedes M-Class built in Austria and America or the Honda CRV, built in England and exported to Japan. It's who designs and develops the car that gives it its character, not who bolts it together. After all, most of the cars on this site were mainly assemblwd in the current owner's garage.

[Feffman]

I hope the CEO of Group Lotus will give us facts about Lotus production, namely the new "Lotus Supercar" unveiled at LOG 24, when Kim Ogaard-Nielsen joins us for LOG 25 in August!

Mark

[CNH]

After all, most of the cars on this site were mainly assemblwd in the current owner's garage.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Some more than others.

http://users.usinternet.com/kyoung/lotus/

http://www.theriens.com/lotus/

[WayneB]

Hello guys,

I always thought the English are patriots

Edited June 27, 2005 by WayneB

[oneshot]

Wasnt there a Supertramp album called selling England by the pound?

That be a Genesis album - right era wrong group

Edited June 27, 2005 by oneshot

[WayneB]

Whoops I have that album as well !

[wolf]

Hello WayneB,

thank you for your opinion, for a while I thought I am in the wrong forum

Best regards - Gernot

[WayneB]

Hello WayneB,

thank you for your opinion, for a while I thought I am in the wrong forum   

Best regards - Gernot

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey Wolf great minds think alike! Its weard that the 2 staunchest supporters of Lotus staying in the U.K. are Canadian and Austrian

[WayneB]

Colin was proud enough of England to have put a union jack on many of the F1 cars (wasnt paid to do it)