The Pits

An entirely reasonable if somewhat bleak way to look at it @jep. My concern is that Lotus is one of the few car makers left that offer something for those who aren't so keen on the current industry trends and direction sports cars are taking. My own personal view is that there's an opportunity for a company taking a different path - a much bigger opportunity than just another 'me-too' approach. Lotus has always been a challenger brand, they just never had the money to leverage that like say Apple, Dyson, Ben & Jerries or Virgin Atlantic did. All are massive mainstream brands now but they were all outsiders, upstarts, innovators and game changers. All attractive qualities when competing with monolithic corporations. Heck even VW started out as the oddball, left field choice in the 1950s. Lotus make better sports cars for those who actually want to feel the process of driving. The fact that so many people don't know that or get that is a communication issue not a product issue. This is the crucial mistake I believe the current management are making because they don't really 'get' the current range. The difference between a Lotus and the increasingly numb, heavy alternatives is getting greater all the time. If the place is being run by people who prefer the heavy, numb, tech-laden 'your grandmother could drive it' cars then there is your problem. There is so much to lose by adopting a 'lets do what they're doing approach'. I don't think the current management can see the wood for the USPs! The one thing we've missed to date is Lotus genius with a big development budget. The copy Porsche approach will restrict creativity, ingenuity and passion for intelligent, lightweight engineering if it hasn't already. I don't believe anyone wants a Porsche clone built in Norfolk. The more like a Porsche it is, the fewer reasons to buy one. Besides, Lotus have been here before and it didn't work last time. If it was as simple as changing the product then the Evora would have sold more. It's clear that a combination of things was holding buyers back. Everyone has their own theories but no-one has the definitive answer as to why. Praise in the motoring press was absolutely glowing, including Evo Car Of The Year, so it wasn't that. The Evora was launched as a more refined, more accomodating, more usable type of Lotus, exactly what they are aiming at now. It was directly inspired by the 911, the best selling premium sports car after market research revealed that more Elise owners progressed to 911s than any other car as their circumstances changed. Made perfect sense to offer them a 6 cyl, 2+2 Lotus alternative given that they were not averse to the Lotus brand as many Porsche owners are. Ambitious kerbweight targets were set aside which is more reasonable enough when all your other cars are around 1000kg or less. It was a direct answer to the same problem - to move Lotus away from austere track cars. It didn't work. Huge success as a car but not transformative to the business as Lotus had hoped. Lots of intangible and emotional reasons involved. For a start many of those ex Elise buyers always wanted a 911 from the start, the Lotus was just a stepping stone until they could afford a 911. The Evora didn't change or challenge that. Copying Porsche again isn't just dumb and unimaginative it's what worked for Porsche 20 years ago. They should be more concerned with what companies like Porsche are doing to be selling cars in 20 years time. Whole different world now. Time for some bold, lateral thinking.

US is a tricky one, federalising cars is a deliberately expensive and time consuming process. They are very late to the party with the GT and the road legal Exige is an obvious casualty of the legislation which is an effective form of protectionism. It's also harder to compete with US sports cars once you have jumped through all the hoops with the new Corvette available for peanuts and a brand new Mustang with all kinds of bhp costing loose change. It goes without saying that Lotus would liked to have done more in the US. No idea how the GT is really going but doing everything they could to lower the price as standard was necessary and appears to have worked. Deal is the same, you have to go out of your way to know the GT exists, to find out what it is, what it's good at and have to look past many cheaper, more powerful alternatives to end up buying one. Without GT sales from the US to prop up the production figures Lotus would surely be posting their worst year ever?

I think the reality is the next car was running behind schedule and over budget anyway. The corona virus not only changes the landscape they will be selling into it's also the ideal opportunity for them to reappraise the plan as they now have the perfect excuse for being so late. The longer they take the less interest there will be in a combustion engine car as such a thing will have a short shelf life and reduced return on the investment. Also the decision to neglect the existing range is looking like an increasingly bad call, that was based on a new car being rushed to market sooner plus general lack of interest among new management. Again though, corona virus will be used to explain some catastrophic sales numbers. A get out of jail card in many ways for the new management who were in for a severe hairdryer treatment if not given a final ultimatum depending on how Evija sales are really going of course. Geely have been very clear about their ambition to be world leaders in 'electrification and autonomous driving'. Whatever the deal was with Lotus the terms will be changed to suit whatever Geely's plans and priorities are now. We are already in a different world, one unrecognizable from 6 months ago. Don't forget they will be facing massive challenges of their own now post this virus. Lotus will have to like it or lump it.

Any other takers please? For what it's worth I will be getting more in the original font (which was taken from a rubbing of my '84 date stamped NCTs). The font used in the pictures above is a more modern version.

I don't believe it will be called Esprit but I do believe that the Evora chassis based 2-seater will take a lot of design cues from Evija. Whenever we finally see it. Plan was end of this year. Looking more like end of 2021 early 2022 now. It was running late anyway, now add corona virus disruptions. They may well can it and decide to go straight to full EV (some sense in that, true mini Evija, market moving rapidly that way, especially by 2022) but that would involve yet futher delays. Don't hold your breath and enjoy the Lotus you have or snap up one of the brilliant current cars while you can.

I've had a few requests for another group buy from Tredwear. I'll be getting a couple of sets for myself. If you're interested let me know below and I'll see what can be done. Let's hope they're still trading!

What is the best car they've ever driven? What is their favourite car currently on sale today? What is the best Lotus they've ever driven? How does it compare to the above? What can Lotus do better than any other car maker? What does Lotus do best? What does Lotus do worst? How many Evijas have been ordered? Why haven't they invested in the current range? What are they doing to address a reputation for poor build quality among the wider market they are aspiring to sell to? How can a new range of Lotus cars stay true to Colin Chapman's ethos and appeal to that wider market at the same time? Industry trends have seen cars get ever bigger, heavier and more complex. How does Lotus 'DNA' really fit in with that? Geely are investing in motorsport. Why not Lotus? Lotus cars are exciting, bold, distinctive, innovative and intelligent. Why do we not see Lotus marketing that you could say the same about?

Metallic purple Europa wins the ‘coolest Lotus road car’ competition hands down!

Welcome to the group, hope we get to have a get together before the year’s out. Really sorry to hear you have been in hospital Kevin, very unfortunate to get pneumonia with all that’s going on but very glad to hear you’re home now, you must have given Mrs Wheeler a fright to say the least! Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

The Elise was originally intended to be an updated version of the 7 as we know. However for any given amount of bhp the 7 will always be faster across the board. Simply is more lightweight therefore has more performance. Interesting to read that they don't appeal to everyone though. Hard to know without driving the cars the opinions are based on, the Palmer Sport cars for example are deliberately set up for extreme oversteer and handle appallingly. I don't know why Caterham allows Palmer to do this as many form their opinions on the 7 from his driving experience days. But I've owned a 7 since the late 90's and the Palmer cars are unrecognizable and near undriveable for me. Hilarious for a couple of laps and a real challenge but the handling is all wrong, at least when I was last at Palmer Sport. Also generally speaking people should find it easier to get on with a very forgiving front-mid layout than a more tricky transverse mid engine layout like the Elise has. Current Elises are very benign devices on the limit but most would claim the S1 was anything but and also unusual for a Lotus in that regard. Also why I put the (front-mid) Elan ahead of the Elise in the ultimate pecking order.

I’m all for customers getting special treatment and that an Evija configurator should be the best of the best for serious buyers if Lotus can afford it but I can’t see the benefit in excluding dreamers from the process. Looks like us plebs got this as yet unpromoted video.

So not available to joe public? Really short sighted if so. Lambo eventually got a return on their investment in the Countach from all those posters on bedroom walls. Can someone explain the downside to letting the general public dream about your new hypercar? It would help sales among the super rich if anything. Something as basic as the other configuators would be fine and enough to get people sharing online.

Where did you find the Evija configurator @C8RKH? Can't find it anywhere. I want to see what it looks like in Motorsport Green natch!

Big fan of the Sports Racer Evoras also but would take an S unless I was planning high mileage and daily use perhaps? I wasn't taken by the first Evora 400 I drove (a very early press car) but was comparing it back to back against my Exige V6 Cup on track. I did enjoy it on the road too that day, particularly the noise, but the more hardcore Exige was closer to what I wanted at the time. The last Evora 400 I drove, on roads I know well, was @DaveC72's gorgeous Chrome Orange car. It completely won me over, such a fine and fit example, I was definitely wowed. Very close to Lambo Gallardo levels of performance and aural excitement with much better steering, crisper responses, superior ride and handling dynamics across the board. Total performance car bargain. With a starting point like that, little wonder the GT430 is such a magnificent creation! Murray is such a purist his Elans aren't particularly powerful ones but given he could have any Elan he wanted perhaps they are at their very best less angry engines. The thing is, as has been pointed out, there are some truly great sports cars that are not necessarily the best examples of the Lotus ethos. I'd still point to the 211 as the best Lotus I've driven but wouldn't swap my GT430 for one, even if I would pay handsomely for another go. It doesn't really fit in with what I've got and the GT430 delivers everything I value about the best Lotus cars plus has its own unique blend of attributes. In some ways its most remarkable achievement is they way it still feels, responds and drives in a way that could only be a Lotus, at over 1300kg. Then you remember that it's 300kg lighter than a Golf R but it makes the point that many Lotus qualities can be preserved at higher kerbweights which is a sliver of hope for the future. The gains for me from swapping to a 211 are small but the losses are great, particularly given there are Caterhams in the garage. Still, the 211 is best Lotus because it's a car that can demonstrate and explain the Lotus approach to someone unfamiliar with it after only a very short time behind the wheel. I think it does this as well as an Elan while offering modern car advances in brakes, tyres, suspension and torsional rigidity. Much of this applies to the 340R of course but sadly haven't driven one of those either.

It’s a good start, great car, sure to become collectable if not already. Good luck with getting it back on the road and welcome to the forum. 👍

Nice pic here shows very clearly why the Chapman design might go rather better with a modest amount of horsepower. Doesn't take much to make a gnat buzz, stop or change direction. Think of the extra flab sitting in all the other cars, stereos, air con, power steering, electric seats plus all the stuff needed to try and get that mass to go, stop or change direction. If driving dynamics were all that mattered to the buying public, Chapman's ethos would be the dominant one. But comfort+performance is what sells and in the SUV era, lightweight is very low down the list of priorities if it's even on the list at all. Sadly Lotus too are having to abandon their dedication to lightweight for in the hope of greater popularity. Fortunately the 7 is still in production for those who appreciate it. The Exige S2 lives on in the Elise Cup 250 too but for how much longer?

My 7s are extreme track only cars now to be fair but a fast aero screen 7 is a blast/tonic/outrageous/hilarious on the the road in small doses. 211 in a similar catagory, helmets needed above 40mph. Novelty wares off on longer trips. Exige S2 is that crucial bit more useable but easy to argue the 211 offers an even more concentrated dose of pure Lotus. Still the most precise car I’ve ever driven, even more so than the lighter 7. I think they call that chassis rigidity.

Lotus Carlton is incredible and still hugely fast but a great example of performance through monstrous power, I don’t recall a single component that was any lighter than any other Carlton/Omega. Type 14 Elite remains in many ways the purest expression of performance through lightweight for the road but the original Elan was really where the idea really bore fruit and established Lotus’s reputation. Gordon Murray among many others still rate the Elan’s steering as the finest in any car. Everything people associate with the Lotus approach is there in the Elan, still very quick today, hard to imagine what it was like in the 60’s. I sadly have never driven one so I can’t propose it based on other people’s opinions. The most consistently astounding Lotus design for me, that I have driven, remains the 7. I am fortunate to own two of them and they are responsible for at least 80% of my greatest driving experiences. Mind blowing pace from relatively modest bhp, telepathic communication, balance, purity, adjustability, stamina on track, progressive at the limit - all Lotus hallmarks and more prevalent in the 7 than any other car at any price in my experience. However the cars I’m referring to both wear Caterham badges so just in case the rules are strictly enforced I’m going to nominate the S2 Exige in 260 form is one of the great driving experiences that I don’t believe any other car company could create. Utterly, uniquely Lotus. Utterly incredible at all the things that really matter to me about the business of driving. Maybe the single, central seater Elise Motorsport car that inspired the S1 Exige is even more spectacular but for me the S2 had just enough refinement to make it useable and enough poke with that near 9000rpm redline to always keep it interesting and exciting on road and track. Evora GT430 remains one of the most engaging, impressive and capable cars I’ve ever driven but the Exige, whether in-line 4 or V6 is a more uniquely Lotus driving experience.

Looks in great condition but I never heard anyone here say their dream Esprit was the Turbo HC Limited Edition. It’s not worth more than any other Turbo HC to me but a nice HC should be around £50k anyway. Be interesting to share what it makes. I’m utterly amazed that anything is making decent prices in auction given what’s going on in the world plus bleak economic outlook but great to see some interest in the Esprit all the same.

Stunning car, congratulations. Not even Lotus will make cars like that soon, enjoy!

Nice pics of models frozen in 2017 but can anyone find any info on the cars at all? Looks like bare minimum 0-60, top speed, power and weight. No explanation or introduction to the models at all. There’s a list of numbers under the specification section but no copy, nothing to inform, excite or persuade. Given how misunderstood and unappreciated the cars remain this is bizarre at best. There is some info on the Evija so hopefully there is more to come for the other models. We have to hope so!

Worth bearing in mind that Lotus say their test drivers are quicker with RACE on so highly unlikely that anyone here would be quicker with the system switched off. Obviously aware that trackdays are not about laptimes and that going slower in the name of having fun is a perfectly acceptable thing to pursue. But in the event that your mate passes you in his Fandango 3000 you might want to slip it back into RACE.

From March 2015.

Always enjoyed RACE mode, wet or dry. Incredible system, still the smoothest TC system I've used to date. If it's really lashing down, everything OFF is the most fun and probably the wisest too. You're in no doubt about the lack of grip.

Situation in Italy is horrendous, I really hope they get it under control soon as China appears to have done. Figures today are over 4200 new cases and 475 new deaths. Contrasting with China reporting just 13 new cases and 11 new deaths. Remarkable when China had over twice the number of cases if all the numbers are correct. Accepting that could be a sizeable 'if'. Death rate in Germany seems astonishingly low at 28 deaths from 12,327 cases, compared to the UK's 104 deaths from 2,626 cases, I'd be interested to know how they have achieved this. We really will see what the scientific communities are made of, the race for a vaccine and effective treatment is unprecedented. Given the importance, the financial backing and potential rewards I think we will see some incredible progress being made. One company has gone straight to human trials already. A breakthrough with treatment or available vaccine will change everything very rapidly, starting with calming people down. The world will bounce back quickly from there. Won't be the same as it was for a very long time and big changes to our lifestyles will be needed anyway from here on, but we may well advance medicine and microbiology rapidly in terms of dealing with viruses as a result of this. When all the world's brightest scientists are given all the world's money you are going to see some extraordinary results, just as we saw immense technological leaps taking place throughout WW2.