Future of Lotus

[Sport220 48]

The bashing Lotus gets whenever an article on recent news is posted is infuriating to say the least.

Please, Geely, pull this off. 

Edited January 29, 2019 by Sport220

[scotty435 502]

Well said the positive thing I have heard on this forum in years.

[auRouge 432 1 Vehicles]

1 hour ago, Sport220 said:

The bashing Lotus gets whenever an article on recent news is posted is infuriating to say the least.

Please, Geely, pull this off. 

There’s a multimillion investment from abroad... people with resources that don’t accept anything but success. 

Theyll pull it off and put Lotus where they deserve to be... As for the critics, it’ll be one of those moments where we can be really British and not say anything about it 

Edited January 29, 2019 by auRouge
Typo

[au-yt 248 1 Vehicles]

Williams and Lotus, have a look at this Jag engine and drive train by Williams.. yes please very tasty

 

Edited January 30, 2019 by au-yt

[NedaSay 746]

20 hours ago, auRouge said:

There’s a multimillion investment from abroad... people with resources that don’t accept anything but success. 

Theyll pull it off and put Lotus where they deserve to be... As for the critics, it’ll be one of those moments where we can be really British and not say anything about it 

I'm also very confident they will I just had a look at the interior on their new FY11 and if that parts bin is available to Lotus I don't really know how they could mess it up. Here's the interior of the Geely SUV coupé 

Not going to lie, I was enthusiastic when the rumour of Geely was floating, the confirmation of the deal made me happy. But seeing Geely products now, I'm downright excited to see how Lotus will incorporate their stuff.  Geely is obviously hunting the BMW crowd... I find this interior down right classy and stylish

Edited January 30, 2019 by NedaSay

[auRouge 432 1 Vehicles]

It’s a perfect match. My X5’s days are numbered! 

[Jeanvm 95 1 Vehicles]

I wonder if I would swap a BMW for a Lotus in the future. Not if it's an SUV but maybe if it's a 4 door coupé. (don't understand the hype for SUV's)

[100th_Idiot 280 2 Vehicles]

2 hours ago, Jeanvm said:

I wonder if I would swap a BMW for a Lotus in the future. Not if it's an SUV but maybe if it's a 4 door coupé. (don't understand the hype for SUV's)

You can do that today. 

[LotusLeftLotusRight 742 1 Vehicles]

Struggling to think of a 4 door Lotus coupé. Carlton had 4 doors, but not a coupé and not really an X5 alternative. Am I missing something?

[Breeze 110]

This is interesting, all the various opinions. Without Bahar basically disowning the Evora, it might have done better. It was a car he really didn’t like or support. I also think that the Lotus range got ‘confused’. When the Evora came out, it was presented as a comfortable, sporting GT. It had a comfortable, stylish interior and good sound proofing. Since, it has morphed into Exige territory, and become a light weight track focused car…just like the Exige. The adding lightness thing has simply made the interior of the car look cheap and stripped out, fine in a track car not so good in a daily driver. In a daily driver, or even a weekend car, it. makes more sense not to have the boy racer exhaust noise, no sound proofing or air con and rock hard suspension. It’s might be fine for the enthusiastic Lotus owner, but has little appeal in the wider market. People buy Porsche’s because they are a comfortable, well equipped, practical and usable car, the GT2/£/$’s represent a very small percent of their sales. Lotus crap on about the fantastic downforce numbers the 410 and 430 produce at 190mph…but what is the point if it’s a road car? Lotus really need to define their range much better. An affordable sports car like of the Elise type. Something hardcore for the enthusiastic driver/ track day guy and a GT, something comfortable, sporting and usable. ..Then of corse they need to actually market themselves..which Barha was very good at.  As Tim Marra says above, I live in Italy, my Evora gets loads of positive attention whenever I go anywhere. People always think it to be a much, much more expensive car than it actually is.  

[KAS-118 107]

I agree with Breeze in that Lotus do need to have  plan - on what models are to fill which sector.

I worry about the SUV in that although they're obviously extremely popular at the moment - it hasn't done much good for Maserati - but them again you see an awful lot of Porsche ones about.

To me they should aim for models that fit in along the lines of:

1) Basic/comparatively cheap/enthusiasts - Elan/Elsie

2) Track focused - Exige

3) Sporty but comfy with a tad of practicality for the teenage kids that you have to run around - Elite/Eclat/Excel

4) Gorgeous to Look at, Sporty as hell  and want an excuse not to be Dad's Taxi - Esprit

5) You own a dog = SUV

6) You have loads of money and want cutting edge design and technology - Hypercar 

 

[Nathan Pitman 166]

You both nailed it there.

[NedaSay 746]

3 hours ago, KAS-118 said:

I agree with Breeze in that Lotus do need to have  plan - on what models are to fill which sector.

I worry about the SUV in that although they're obviously extremely popular at the moment - it hasn't done much good for Maserati - but them again you see an awful lot of Porsche ones about.

To me they should aim for models that fit in along the lines of:

1) Basic/comparatively cheap/enthusiasts - Elan/Elsie

2) Track focused - Exige

3) Sporty but comfy with a tad of practicality for the teenage kids that you have to run around - Elite/Eclat/Excel

4) Gorgeous to Look at, Sporty as hell  and want an excuse not to be Dad's Taxi - Esprit

5) You own a dog = SUV

6) You have loads of money and want cutting edge design and technology - Hypercar 

 

I'm  pretty sure they have a plan and even better a roadmap. But this time they decided to keep as secret as possible for as long as possible. JMG  had a 10 year rational business plan I'm pretty sure they have tweaked quite a bit and are gearing up to simply execute it. But we the fans, the believers, the owners are not likely to be made aware of what's going to strike before it happens unless Bibs bribes the right people with the right amount of V.S.O,P. Cognac ...

[100th_Idiot 280 2 Vehicles]

11 hours ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

Struggling to think of a 4 door Lotus coupé. Carlton had 4 doors, but not a coupé and not really an X5 alternative. Am I missing something?

Forget 4 doors and 4 seats. Just swap.

[Sport220 48]

What can we expect for this year in terms of announcements / presence in motor shows? 

[NedaSay 746]

7 hours ago, Sport220 said:

What can we expect for this year in terms of announcements / presence in motor shows? 

Maybe Goodwood and Shanghai

[C8RKH 4,344 2 Vehicles]

On 28/01/2019 at 17:05, NedaSay said:

Clearly a possibility and somewhat a better call than to return to F1 at this point and in the foreseeable future... Lotus stablemate Polestar has been rumoured to join FE at some point, now it would not be surprising for Lotus to join FE.

How about a joint Geely entry of Lotus Polestar?  I could see that being a cost effective way of building both brands and provide a wider showcase for the Geely Group's capabilities.  I'd like to think that Geely brings "smart thinking" as well as money and combining the two brands allows them to split the budget and hopefully generate much more publicity. Even after 30 years the Talbot Lotus Sunbeam, the Vauxhall Lotus Carlton, etc still have a strong awareness across the motoring journo's and enthusiasts so would be a logical move.

[NedaSay 746]

so 

Hum i would say yes to that if Lotus was building the chassis and polestar the motor... But FE is a spec chassis series... I don't know if this branding would work these days as it worked decades ago. At the end of the day Geely would still be footing most of the bill but true it would be one bill and not two... Still I think that Lotus and Polestar will each get their own motorsport program and probably separate.... Polestar in FE and Lotus at Le Mans would be my favoured option (read dream)

[C8RKH 4,344 2 Vehicles]

21 minutes ago, NedaSay said:

Polestar in FE and Lotus at Le Mans would be my favoured option (read dream)

I think that would constitute a wet dream for me - but that would just make the racing more exciting too! :)

[NedaSay 746]

I would think that with FE budget stated around 25M for the time being and Le Mans GTE pro budget around the same amount, that both are doable.  Volvo probably has the budget for Polestar already with the record years they've had, they may have created a line of expenditure for a Polestar racing program. As for Lotus a return to motorsport is inevitable in my opinion and that is a good thing.

I would think that Lotus should not go for top flight right away and focus on doing a bit of grass root by creating bridges at the GT level... Which would allow a Motorsport rearm, the sale of Cup car has been an important source of income by the past and it would be good if they could bank on that again. Now should Lotus be involved in the new Hypercar category which I consider a bit risky it would still make a lot of sense. But even if Lotus was just to announce a Evora GT4.30R semi-work program to compete in Am or Pro-Am classes of GT4 of SRO or ACO/IMSA it would make me happy.

[LotusLeftLotusRight 742 1 Vehicles]

Nedasay. I see that you have been on TLF for 10 years now. I am always interested in your posts, in particular on this thread. How come you know so much about Lotus and their owners, from an industry point-of-view? I notice that you're always finding snippets of information and links from seemingly obscure sources. Your knowledge of the Asian car manufacturing industry is something to behold. Is this your profession, or are you just a very committed enthusiast, who enjoys digging around for this stuff? Do you have a similar passion for other marques?

Finally I know you don't drive a Lotus at the moment, but a) did you used to have one, and b) will you be getting one soon(ish)?

 

 

[webfoot 22]

New recruit for the Geely Design Centre at Coventry.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/jaguar-designer-joins-geely-head-uk-design-centre

[NedaSay 746]

9 minutes ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

Nedasay. I see that you have been on TLF for 10 years now. I am always interested in your posts, in particular on this thread. How come you know so much about Lotus and their owners, from an industry point-of-view? I notice that you're always finding snippets of information and links from seemingly obscure sources. Your knowledge of the Asian car manufacturing industry is something to behold. Is this your profession, or are you just a very committed enthusiast, who enjoys digging around for this stuff? Do you have a similar passion for other marques?

Finally I know you don't drive a Lotus at the moment, but a) did you used to have one, and b) will you be getting one soon(ish)?

 

 

I do research for a living, I'm Ph.D candidate in a domain completely unrelated. I spend way too much time on my computers and searching for info related to Lotus  is a hobby that gets my mind of my own project which is very much needed from time to time. Maybe this helps a bit as for my "knowledge". Besides in this day and age Looking for info is so easy.   As for knowing you  "Lotus guys", I've been hanging around for 10 years, which does hurt me a bit, I just turned 40... Not quite ok with it yet!  But I have spent the last 10 years reading your comments, that's a whole lot of data that I enjoy crunching. So yes a Lotus committed enthusiast defines me pretty well. I'm working on my Lotus purchase but won't rush it... I hope to seal a deal in 3/4 years time, I have a Ph.D to finish first. An Elise slipped through my hands already and still not happy about that!  Living in Montreal, winter makes a Lotus purchase a bit of an irrational decision as you get to drive it at best 5 months a year... So I'm biding my time, and reading your posts and commenting does keep me engaged with the brand.

And no, no other brand gets the same attention I love cars and the concept of mobility - (I'm so P.C these days) in general, motorsport in particular. I'm also very fast at entering query on my computer,  and going to page 19 during a Google search does not phase me one bit. I enjoy a challenge.

[NedaSay 746]

30 minutes ago, webfoot said:

New recruit for the Geely Design Centre at Coventry.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/jaguar-designer-joins-geely-head-uk-design-centre

So Mr Burgess becomes I guess the shadow head designer for Lotus as this new studio was setup to cater mainly for Geely Group UK units so LEVC and Lotus. I wonder  which project the'll get to work on first assuming the SUV design is now frozen, and the sport cars design must be frozen two if they are to unveil them by 2020.

[Bibs 9,067 4 Vehicles]

Seems that Goldstar aren't very happy with Proton having new friends in China! 

https://www.wardsauto.com/industry/plan-build-lotus-cars-china-lands-court