Future of Lotus

[Bibs 11,176]

From Uday Senepati on LinkedIn.

Quote

 

Executive Director - Strategy and Product Management at Group Lotus

Reflecting on the year as 2019 draws to a close.

Group Lotus...

- Established a management team and recruited the best talent in the industry

- Put a 10 year ambitious plan in place

- Invested tens of millions on our site in Hethel, UK

- Engaged with Geely global Design and R&D centres for product development

- Revived sales of current product lines

- Put the brand back on the track through PR and marketing activities

- Established several partnerships, the fruits of which will be seen in the near future

- Launched first of many amazing products to come - The Lotus Evija!

Many thanks to the 1400 of US-LOT at Hethel and more globally working towards the success of brand “Lotus”. Looking forward to another year of milestones in the Lotus journey in 2020 and beyond.

 

 

[USAndretti42 308]

On 02/01/2020 at 10:19, Kimbers said:

5. Current reserves of the required minerals show at current use about 120 years of supply. However, should you fast forward and ban all Oil based transport and replace them with electric, the reserves would last approx 24 years at most Thats less than Oil reserves. And don't forget, it's not recyclable.

The ONLY way for me is Hydrogen fuel cells. Pure and simple.

Current reserves of a resource only covers what has been confirmed.  Once a decent amount has been discovered, there's no point in looking for more for a bit.  We had this with oil in the past when there was only a couple of decade's worth of oil reserves but, as these got used, the oil companies went out and found more.

Agree about hydrogen being the way forwards, though.

[NedaSay 836]

On 27/12/2019 at 08:58, Bee said:

I agree, and furthermore it would appear to make sense for Lotus to cut their teeth on the many and varied new skills, technologies, engineering, manufacturing aspects etc. from producing the Evija and this mid-range transitional model before their entirely new range arrives. Being honest, the MP4-12C is largely forgotten, now, but it gave the McLaren teams the knowledge, experience and underpinnings they needed to go on to create their current well-regarded range (disregarding the current reliability issues, which Lotus cannot afford to emulate given their widespread - however undeserved - reputation).

 

Obviously, it's important for this new model to get it right: it's still got to be a 'Lotus' but also be as competent a daily runner as any Cayman or Boxster; the interior, especially, will be prodded, pushed, pulled and highlighted in pretty much every single review. Lotus will not want to see the words: 'But it's still no Porsche' in regards to this aspect of the car.

 

However, bigger picture and all that  - as noted before, the MP4-12C was largely forgotten given what followed; being honest, I think it will be the same for this interim model for Lotus.H It basically just needs to play it safe - look good, be dynamically interesting, be a daily driver without serious compromise, and not have any notable flaws. The Alpine A110 has very recently showed us all that a highly-competent, reasonably priced Cayman competitor is entirely achievable. If the new car is Lotus's more exciting version of the Alpine, then they will likely have enough of a success story on their hands, with that and the Evija, to see them through to the genuinely new models. If Lotus are planning a convertible model, too, the aforementioned two models will keep them in the headlights of the motoring press just about long enough to plug the gap until the completely new stuff arrives - just what an interim model 'should' be doing...

I'm actually wondering if it is a bad thing. This car according to some here - who are really well connected - may very well be the last of the analog kind from... if it is only a transitional  with a short to medium lifesplan then it will be a collector pretty much like "Every" Lotus purchased in the past 20 years is a bit of a collectible. Just give it 20 years. I live in Canada and over here  10 y/o Elises, for some reasons, are selling above their MSRP as they are so rare.

[internets 472]

Geely in talks to pump cash into Aston Martin
 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.ft.com/content/d2959822-33a4-11ea-9703-eea0cae3f0de

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/geely-talks-invest-aston-martin-report
 

[LotusLeftLotusRight 1,252]

Buy one get four free share offer?

[tim_marra 473]

1 hour ago, internets said:

Geely in talks to pump cash into Aston Martin
 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.ft.com/content/d2959822-33a4-11ea-9703-eea0cae3f0de

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/geely-talks-invest-aston-martin-report
 

If it happens I hope Geely are using their own money and not the banks...

[NedaSay 836]

I find it surprising that Mercedes is not stepping in on that one... but Aston strategy has been somewhat baffling of late, developing their own engine while at the same time developing their own EV tech alongside a partner that dropped out and then alongside Williams. Insisting on developing the Rapid-E which is sitting on a twelve year old platform instead of using the new architecture then dropping  the project... 

Their sales are below expectations... But it is mostly R&D that is kiiling them, they have been investing so massively  in recent years and they should have anticipated being caught at the jugular much earlier

Geely is still cashflow positive and their collaterals are more than solid. Still I'd rather have them pass on this opportunity and dedicate themselves 100% to raising Lotus' profile. But they are duplicating VW expansion strategy so it would not be a surprise if they decide to step in, in some capacity. The play made by Stroll make sense he needs the brand for F1.

[NedaSay 836]

https://autowise.com/2021-lotus/  

"The boost in revenue was attributed to a stronger presence in the markets, and more sales in emerging markets. At the end of 219, Japan was named as the brand’s biggest market, followed by the brand’s home market of the United Kingdom, and the USA, Germany, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, and China also making large sales contributions."

Sales revenue are up 12% for 2019.

[C8RKH 6,262]

I wonder about two things top do with the below:

https://www.pistonheads.com/news/blog/the-porsche-718-gts-bombshell--ph-footnote/41676

1. Have Lotus and Geely woken up to this?
 

2. Could this be a future purchase for me in Convertible Boxster form?  (no matter how much shocked you think you are, I guarantee you will never be as shocked as me for writing that!)

[blindside 472]

36 minutes ago, C8RKH said:

Could this be a future purchase for me in Convertible Boxster form?  (no matter how much shocked you think you are, I guarantee you will never be as shocked as me for writing that!)

No, please no.........

 

[The Pits 4,408]

You have to hope that Lotus are paying attention to the car maker they aspire to emulate. If so it should help the improve the chances of future 6 cylinder, manual sports cars no end.

Can't see who would go for a new 6 cyl GTS when the choice is between saving a lot on a used 981 or spending a bit more for a GT4 but 4 cyl Cayman sales really must have been dire for Porsche to reverse their plans. Pretty dumb if you ask me to take away your car's USP in the first place but there you go.

[100th_Idiot 342]

21 hours ago, C8RKH said:

I wonder about two things top do with the below:

https://www.pistonheads.com/news/blog/the-porsche-718-gts-bombshell--ph-footnote/41676

1. Have Lotus and Geely woken up to this?
 

2. Could this be a future purchase for me in Convertible Boxster form?  (no matter how much shocked you think you are, I guarantee you will never be as shocked as me for writing that!)

Isn't this Porsche waking up to the market and Lotus by acknowledging that their 4 cyl sojourn was a mistake?

[NedaSay 836]

I think it is fair to say that Porsche is also producing new EV vehicleS that do allow them to offset  a fair chunk of their CAFE obligations... And with their people carriers doing their job - the Cayenne hybrid is selling like hot cakes and the Macan upcoming EV version will assuredly do the same as the Taycan - they are now free to go back to 6cyl. I think they also noticed that in terms of emissions and fuel consumption a tuned to kingdom come turbo 4cyl is much more stressed than a NA 6cyl, the gains are not massive if they ever are gains when you try to get high HPs. Hence the decision to leave it at 4 liter cap, this mill a detuned GT3 mill, less stress, less emission and slightly nicer on gas than the GT4 so CAFE acceptable now that they have EV.   

Hopefully the upcoming  Lotus ICE sportcar has been package protected to receive both a V6 and a 4cyl. I can see how a 4cyl can serve a purpose as an entry level model while the V6 would still have the top end role to play. There is a rational to  bring  a new V6 sport car to market as there is a rational to bring a 4 cyl and and EV.  Hopefully the powers that be  are fully aware of this.

[The Pits 4,408]

V6 car was an attempt to get something to market sooner. Wouldn’t be at all surprised if they canned it only to see what Porsche announced last week!

SUVs are considered to be the largest contributor to the increase in transport emissions since 2010. The tide could well turn against them (fossil fuel ones anyway), just as Lotus bring theirs out. Seems to me Lotus should be paying more attention to what’s going on in the world then what’s going on in Stuttgart.

[C8RKH 6,262]

1 hour ago, The Pits said:

V6 car was an attempt to get something to market sooner. Wouldn’t be at all surprised if they canned it only to see what Porsche announced last week!

SUVs are considered to be the largest contributor to the increase in transport emissions since 2010. The tide could well turn against them (fossil fuel ones anyway), just as Lotus bring theirs out. Seems to me Lotus should be paying more attention to what’s going on in the world then what’s going on in Stuttgart.

More environmental impact from having your heating on for too long and too warm in the UK than from cars, SUVs included.  Cars are but a tiny problem of the global issues facing us yet are seen by the "environmentalist eco warriors" as an easy target.

Just recently we had a group of "young activists" climbing up the oil platforms docked in Dundee in protest. Wee middle class twits protesting about the environmental impact. Then it seems they were all "dropped" off by the mummies and daddies in their 4x4 RangeRovers and then picked up again in the same.  It's about time these complete and utter wasters were called out for the oxygen thieves and hypocrites they really are.

Lotus should not look at Stuttgart, it should focus on building the cars it's customers want to buy. Even at future atmospheric sales of 10,000 cars per annum the environmental footprint of Lotus compared to any major manufacturer will be tiny. Insignificant even as their total annual output would be the equivalent of a day of the others (even Porsche makes about 7000 cars per day)

[swindon_alan 1,693]

 

[The Pits 4,408]

Transport accounts for around 30% of carbon emissions as I'm sure everyone here knows. Transport emissions have continued to increase over the last 10 years despite the introduction of 5m electric cars and many more hybrids. The rise of SUV sales is considered to be a significant contributor to the continued rise, not hard to believe when the average family car is now in excess of 2 tons.

Regardless of anyone's personal views, conspiracy theories or wishful thinking on climate science it is a huge and unavoidable issue for car makers. The government is now considering bringing forward the current plans to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2035. If they move it to 2030, you can all do the maths. In light of that, going full electric for Evija was a no brainer. It may struggle in Valkyrie's shadow as a 2020 hypercar (along with everything else) but it makes a lot sense as a concept to pave the way forwards for future Lotus cars. 

[swindon_alan 1,693]

@C8RKH conversation with brainwashed twenty something middle class daughter:

"The government don't want us to use cars"

"You will never get people to give them up, it is too convenient"

"Don't you want to save the planet?"

"Ok, tell you what, you make a start. Scrap your car and walk to work or get the bus"

"No way, they would take me about an hour, I can drive in fifteen"

It's always about other people having to make changes, which is N/A to those demanding them.

[C8RKH 6,262]

@swindon_alan - yup. Have had similar conversations.

I was presenting on a 2030 vision for energy & utilities last week and one guy proudly jumped up and said he had an EV. I asked him why he paid roughly twice the price of a comparable car in petrol or diesel. He said it was an easy decision as the car is very fast, eco friendly and he wanted to do his bit for his children.

I asked him if he had researched before buying. Yes, he proudly spouted all the literature bluff re how green it was.

I told him he had missed my point, the research was around how eco friendly the car was. He looked puzzled. So I asked him what he knew about cobalt, lithium and rare earth metals and the damage the mining does? I asked him what would happen when his battery died as currently we have no volume commercial processes for recycling them. Pointed out we were creating an environmental time bomb from a growing mountain of batteries. Etc etc.

He didn't seem too bothered.

[swindon_alan 1,693]

Nope, NHP again. Not his problem. Renewables are the same, solar panels with their horrid contents, wind turbines that slaughter birds (how eco friendly).

 

[swindon_alan 1,693]

A real world example of the above. We had a six turbine wind farm installed a few miles away from us a few years back to the massive celebrations of the local greenies.

Today it is very cold, tonight it will get down to below zero around these parts. The air pressure is around the highest I have ever seen, 1050mb, which means a high is overhead.

I've just driven past the wind turbines, of course there is no wind, no blade movement and no contribution to what must be a high energy requirement situation.

Rubbish.

[The Pits 4,408]

And the relevance of this to the future of Lotus is....?

[NedaSay 836]

Slightly more related : https://www.europeanceo.com/profiles/phil-popham-is-helping-lotus-get-into-gear/

The latest piece on Popham... Is it me or Popham gets more press than the company itself... And it is more of the same all the time ; still talking about Vision 80, getting the company into gear and still no info on product other than Evija and the fact Lotus will go where it hase never been before. Just so we're clear that means SUV and luxury sedans even if Popham said himself to EDP a few weeks ago... Hello smoke screens!

 

Do we know if Lotus is attending Geneva this year? It would make sense to showcase Evija to the public and not just the happyfew.

Edited January 20, 2020 by NedaSay

[Bibs 11,176]

I don't believe that Lotus will be in Geneva this year. 

[NedaSay 836]

8 minutes ago, Bibs said:

I don't believe that Lotus will be in Geneva this year. 

Shanghai?!