Future of Lotus

[exeterjeep]

1 minute ago, jep said:

Boy, am I glad they made Evora but I'm also delighted they are making Emira.

I might be a bit more delighted when we see the 134.

[DarrylV8]

On 30/03/2022 at 16:57, Andyww said:

But they did recently pay top whack to buy Chapmans Turbo Esprit back. They have been doing a lot of heritage photoshoots and featuring Esprit especially in promo material.

None of this happened until quite recently. In past times they unloaded the Bond promo cars and the active suspension car, everything was cleared out.

Scott Walkers Esprit at the Eletre reveal

[Bibs]

That was @JNW3's beautiful white S1 Esprit at the launch.  

[DarrylV8]

My bad Esprit driven by Scott

[mdavies]

On 04/04/2022 at 11:59, jonwat said:

Interview with Lotus boss Matt Windle 

Saw that article elsewhere and now see here, posted some days ago – a chunk of "likes" but few comments so far. I’ll chip in.

Accepting the argument of SUV’s for the sake of the Lotus Business, why the defensive tone? I read it crudely as: “we didn’t want to but we had to - for the same business reasons as many other car manufacturers”.

For those business reasons, doubtless strongly expressed by the powers that now be and presumably supported by MW – although even as far as playing (who precisely?) on stage in the Eletra’s launch? - surely a positive tone in the article would have been appropriate?  “We at Hethel are delighted to welcome the Eletra into the Lotus family, confident it will prove that being for the drivers can emerge from any shape and size”.  For example!  Do Geely subscribe to Top Gear Mag?  

As background to his tone, perhaps MW has been receiving stick along the lines that: “The Lotus brand has been besmirched”; “Colin Chapman’s principles and legacy betrayed”;  “A pretence – in the launch and the PR – that the Eletra has anything to do with Lotus’s history, or with its sports cars”.  Sports cars being, as MW noted, “the heart of the brand”, although personally I question whether the “heart of that heart” is sustained without IC power.

To my point: regrettably, I find that not only the theme of the article, but the ethos and image of Lotus Cars, is failed by the initial implementation of its first product, the Emira.  Presented as “a sportcar”, “the heart of the brand”, no less.

With electrically adjustable seats? With driver assistance? With a 10-channel audio system. With more weight and less power than its predecessor?  Is the ability for Lotus Cars to make such a “sports car” sufficient to justify a SUV?  Not for me.

I’m hoping for better things to come.

[jonwat]

Interesting Top Gear read 😃

[Barrykearley]

What on Earth is this ?. 😍

 

https://www.yankodesign.com/2022/04/05/stunning-lotus-concept-ev-turns-the-chassis-into-its-primary-outer-design-element/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SocialWarfare&fbclid=IwAR164-wa7BXc-pTmx_U0L-bV-FEOFkQ-wkqlIsVLN3AMIf8AoTMIen0uKJA

[Rambo]

19 hours ago, jonwat said:

Interesting Top Gear read 😃

Very interesting read from TG, for a change. Factual and not blokeish or trying to be funny 👍

34 minutes ago, Barrykearley said:

What on Earth is this ?. 😍

 

https://www.yankodesign.com/2022/04/05/stunning-lotus-concept-ev-turns-the-chassis-into-its-primary-outer-design-element/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SocialWarfare&fbclid=IwAR164-wa7BXc-pTmx_U0L-bV-FEOFkQ-wkqlIsVLN3AMIf8AoTMIen0uKJA

WTF? It reminds me of a string vest 🤣

[Bravo73]

1 hour ago, Barrykearley said:

What on Earth is this ?. 😍

That really is taking porosity to the next level. 

[exeterjeep]

As a concept car I quite like the look of it, certainly a Evija back end. Not to practical for our weather, but would be great going to a (dry) car show

[ramjet]

Cup holders? Or do you just use a hole in the body?

[exeterjeep]

34 minutes ago, ramjet said:

Cup holders?

Who needs them........

[Redwing]

Was this released last Friday?

[Bibs]

A quick Google indicates It's a student designer in India having some fun! 

 

[DarrylV8]

the next 340R/2Eleven/3Eleven?

hopefully Russell and team are speaking to Maitreya Dhanak 

[Arregueti]

Or add a windscreen and we got the template for the new Elise. Looks great but I guess it is difficult to convert into a car rolling from a production plant.

[NedaSay]

Lotus finds a buyer for anodizing business

https://www.pesmedia.com/bcw-takes-over-anodising-process-for-lotus-cars

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Thanks for that. I drove past it a couple of weeks ago and the Lotus badge had gone, so I wondered what was going on. Coincidentally it’s only about 400 metres away from the Ray Mallock facility, which is preparing the Emira GT4.

Here’s a photo when the factory was Lotus owned.

[electro_boy]

Don't suppose you took a cheeky look at the Emira Gt4?  

[Bibs]

TLF will be at the official launch of the GT4 soon and will be bringing you as much content as we can

 

[electro_boy]

Did I miss some news? Do we have an unveil / release date for the GT4?  

Or are you under embargo and only allowed to state its coming soon?

[NedaSay]

4 hours ago, Bibs said:

TLF will be at the official launch of the GT4 soon and will be bringing you as much content as we can

 

When you say soon... We would need to know how soon, a few weeks or s few days?

[jonwat]

In today's Times:

Renault is considering moving future production of its Alpine sports cars from France to the UK’s Lotus.

Luca de Meo, the French carmaker’s chief executive, confirmed the possibility at a news conference but said no decision had been made.

Lotus, owned by China’s Geely, and the French carmaker have an engineering and design partnership looking at a future electric Alpine model.

France’s La Tribune reported before De Meo’s news briefing that Renault wanted to free up production space at its factory in Dieppe to manufacture a new electric SUV.

Renault revived the historic Alpine marque in 2017 with the aim of turning it into the company’s premium high-performance sports car arm. De Meo has rebranded Renault’s Formula One team as Alpine F1.

I blame Brexit 

Edited April 13, 2022 by jonwat

[Bibs]

https://www.thelotusforums.com/latest-news/lotus-cars-news/lotus-showrooms-in-uk-usa-and-europe-transformed-with-new-visual-identity/

[NedaSay]

7 hours ago, jonwat said:

In today's Times:

Renault is considering moving future production of its Alpine sports cars from France to the UK’s Lotus.

Luca de Meo, the French carmaker’s chief executive, confirmed the possibility at a news conference but said no decision had been made.

Lotus, owned by China’s Geely, and the French carmaker have an engineering and design partnership looking at a future electric Alpine model.

France’s La Tribune reported before De Meo’s news briefing that Renault wanted to free up production space at its factory in Dieppe to manufacture a new electric SUV.

 

Not really surprising... Lotus has generously geared Hethel for future production and more capacity is still to come with the continuous refurbishment of the historical buildings. The tech they will use for the future sport car is specific enough. Dieppe is also an old factory that will need refurbishment in order to produce the future cars of the brand. if the sport car is Lotus engineered the SUV will be Renault Group engineered (as of now)  on a completely different platform and with different assembly process. It is not illogical that both sport car and SUV won't be able to share production line. Beside Dieppe is supposed to become Renault Group AMG's... the place where hot Renaults will be fettled with so they need a shop to finish putting the new Alpine 5 together and hot version of Renault Megane. In the meantime Hethel will be able to assemble the electric Alpine sportcar and future Lotus sport cars on one single production line.

The more business for Lotus the merrier, they probably want a few more high profile  customers willing to have a public relationship.

Edited April 13, 2022 by NedaSay