Lowtus

Unfortunately Bahar inherited a basket case from the previous management. Bahar's plans were not "plans" but dreams. Only a fool would imagine Lotus could meet and beat Porsche (and others) head on from virtually a standing start and in a huge economic recession. It's just taken the idiotic owners of the company a few years to grasp the facts, during which time the company's chances have undoubtedly diminished. Evora is hopeless (not as a vehicle but as a commercial prospect) and I don't believe for one second the new Exige V6 was always planned. It's so obviously a stop-gap car with the back of Evora srewed onto the front of Exige. This is indeed the "new Elise", namely a rapidly developed car which might actually save the company. And people will buy not because it's better than the new Boxster/Cayman but because it's different from them, an excellent car and not ridiculously overpriced. Whether that can deliver sufficient profit to move the company forward is another question. Maybe it just might if they abandon silly ideas of developing their own V8 (a plan which failed horribly last time) and can craft the Evora chassis into a long-awaited new Esprit...

You are very optimistic. I put down a deposit for a new Esprit in early 2000s. By 1996 I was sick of waiting and had the dealer refund my deposit. Now we're 10 years on and all we've seen is Kimberley's poor old Evora and Bahar's undeliverable dreams. Well, tomorrow I'm off to try the new Exige V6 with my fingers very tightly crossed!

Excellent! That's the one,

They do indeed get themselves into some fine muddles. It's hard to believe it's nearly a decade since I put down a deposit at the dealer for a long-awaited "new Esprit". I gave up and recovered my deposit a couple of years later. I did my best to get excited about Evora but no, just no. Now I have my fingers tightly crossed that Exige V6 convertible will see the light of day.....

IMO the more Toyota there is an a Lotus the better the car!

Catching up with Sky F1 HD this morning I saw a half hour show "Grand Prix Legends, Nigel Mansell". It included footage from about 1981 with Chapman and Mansell standing next to a black Esprit turbo in JPS livery with Nigel Mansell written on the side much like an F1 car. Anyone know if that car still exists?

I'm trying to understand the purpose of this car. It seems late in the day to be putting a V6 into Elise/Exige structure although it was always a car which should have been built IMO. In Evora the engine is a l-o-n-g way back in the car for anything which bears the title "mid-engined". Will it be mounted further forward in the Exige? I'm guessing there will have be a pretty comprehensive rework of the body too. Exige cabin access is hardly user-friendly. One way or another my cheque-book is still ready and willing to buy a new Lotus as soon as they come up with a car!

Spotted a very nice silver Esprit turbo heading through Weybridge at 9.30 this morning PTO 188X. Anyone we know on here? Looked and sounded the real business!

Perhaps they're going to stick a small Toyota V6 in it at last and sell at a price below base Boxster!! [said the optimist....]

To my eye Evora styling is a curious thing (and presumably I'm not alone as the car will surely die in 2013 when the new Elan appears) and I agree with you that in green it looks positivel frumpy. Very odd to use that car in any sort of promotional work. With the S being launched I'm nonetheless more inclined to have a drive and see how the cars look in more adventurous colours.

Remember - you can always say to people, "I'm waiting for the new Esprit to be launched"..... You'll be telling it to your grandchildren for sure!

So having announced his computer generated dreams all Mr Bahar has to do now is a) Build the cars b) At a competitive price c) At the right quality, and d) Persuade customers to swerve away from Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche and Aston Martin. Sadly, I think he's lost his mind. I'll be absolutely delighted if Lotus can make a genuine success of just one of these cars, never mind the daft reveal of a whole nonexistent range.

Roll up ! Roll up! I need Lotus churning out Evoras and customers flocking to the showrooms so that my new Esprit can come out of the dream cupboard and onto a Lotus build sheet..... 30 or 40 cars to date sounds like a desperately slow daily build rate.

That Evora pricing in USA looks no more ambitious than the very high prices charged for Elise/Exige. No American is going to buy a Lotus unless they REALLY want one and are willing to pay the premium price.

Esprit is a great car to drive "shoes off"! Stops your feet getting in a muddle on the fairly cramped pedals and ideally suits the sensitive contols and chassis balance!