Type 130 - Lotus Evija

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

9 minutes ago, electro_boy said:

Yep it is absolutely ridiculous they have generators powered by fossil fuels and also swapping cars as the batteries can't last a full race. I get its a bit of chicken and egg situation, where the tech needs to grow before its viable in a race series but then we need the race series to push development for the tech ... but I think it could have been handled better.

They’ve sorted that for this season. The battery lasts the full race, so no need for idiotic car changes. 

[PAR]

25 minutes ago, electro_boy said:

Yep it is absolutely ridiculous they have generators powered by fossil fuels and also swapping cars as the batteries can't last a full race.

At least they don’t swap cars this year anymore as they managed enough range. What I am struggling with is that they are in cities so there has to be ways to get proper power from the grid!

For Aston Martin, that was the official line when they did the IPO as they wanted to show that the Valkyrie type profit could be recurring rather than a one off but considering how badly they are doing right now, you would have thought they would have sold a bit more if they could without damaging the market.

I think is is about 150 pininfarina as well. Not that high a number but if people feel there is something better out there, it quickly becomes a big number.

 

Edited July 17, 2019 by PAR

[The Pits]

What will really help is having a physical, finished car to sell next year. AMG P1 is still over two years away. Valkyrie also has a long way to go. Who knows where Batista and the Rimac are but the one thing billionaires tend to lack is patience. If they can buy an Evija while waiting for their other hypercars then they just might.

The reality is in this world though that the key to success if finding out a way to make billionaires even more wealthy. Gordon Murray's new car sounds absolutely amazing but appears to be sold on the back of a sketch and lots of references to the McLaren F1 - the car most billionaires wish they'd bought in hindsight. I believe Lotus are concentrating all their efforts into making the car as good as it can be and have committed to making it ahead of the launch and deposits. Absolutely the right thing to do but not necessarily the most savvy. If Valkyrie and others really are sold out then that will help massively too of course.

[PAR]

Key issues of the car, hopefully the lotus factory can answer those urgent requests so we can start thinking of which color to order the car into.

- number plate: j assume there will be a hologram displaying it, can you confirm?

- ground clearance? I need to park my car over a slightly shallow curb. Can the car be raised with a button?

- cup holders obviously?

- golf clubs? Do they go in the front or the back?

- can you confirm 50-50 is available? In fact, can you make it 99-1?

- Batteries, does the alarm drain it in 2 weeks like on my Evora?

otherwise all good and clear I believe

ps. Did people notice they reverted to Pirellis? Does it mean something for other models?

[Techyd]

2 hours ago, red vtec said:

some on twitter (including an F1 owner ) are saying its going away from Lotus origins, being to heavy and to expensive

I think that's an ill-considered opinion from those people then.  In context to the Evijas competition, it is lightweight.  There are many synergies in the details they have unveiled that stay true to Lotus as well as in the looks - there are literally nods to Lotus everywhere and yet it takes the brand forward as is the main hallmark of what Lotus do.

Yes its expensive but its limited production run, assured rarity and exotic materials don't come cheap.

[red vtec]

4 minutes ago, Techyd said:

I think that's an ill-considered opinion from those people then.  In context to the Evijas competition, it is lightweight.  There are many synergies in the details they have unveiled that stay true to Lotus as well as in the looks - there are literally nods to Lotus everywhere and yet it takes the brand forward as is the main hallmark of what Lotus do.

Yes its expensive but its limited production run, assured rarity and exotic materials don't come cheap.

All I'm saying is that was from someone with a McLaren F1, therefore in the capacity to afford these kind of cars.

I think it looks great but will see what pans out (and if My euro millions comes up)

[Techyd]

2 minutes ago, red vtec said:

All I'm saying is that was from someone with a McLaren F1, therefore in the capacity to afford these kind of cars.

I think it looks great but will see what pans out (and if My euro millions comes up)

Yes quite - and I'm countering their opinion, not yours 🙂

 

[march]

It's going to be on Sky News in the next few minutes!

[tim_marra]

1 hour ago, electro_boy said:

Why limit your self to noises of current engines?  I'd have Star Wars pod racer sounds coming out of mine! 😄

I'll have mine sound like this, just to annoy folks 

 

[Giniw]

lol, now that's a great idea

[MPx]

Well that was fun !  The Evija is awesome in the flesh - almost conventional supercar from the front until you start looking at the detail, but the completely jaw dropping sculptural holes through the back really show its something well beyond.

The "parade" was great fun if predictably shambolic in London traffic with very few of us knowing the roads.  This not helped by a late change of route due to roadworks on the Brompton Road.  As an ex-biker commuter, I'd have managed OK with new route details....but turn left instead of right at Buckingham Palace and follow the yellow Lotus in front was way short of passing on where to go.  As the lights there allowed us out 2 or 3 cars at a time the party inevitably split and we all made our way back in small groups by various circuitous routes the final two arriving a full 40 mins after the first two!  What it did do was create incredible interest around the streets of that part of London - particularly when we were all together -  with hordes of tourists and regular workers stopping in their tracks and watching us go by - literally lining up along the pavements to get a better look - and there must be thousands of phones now filled with short video clips of yellow Lotus.   Others will have better pics that will appear idc no doubt but this was (most of) the fleet that assembled at the start in generation order : Baby Elan Sprint; Elan +2 130/5; Elite; Eclat; S2 Esprit; M100 Elan; V8 Esprit; S1 Elise; Exige RGB; Elise 220 Cup; Evora GT410 Sport; Exige Sport 410.

I followed Harry Metcalfe around in his Sprint and he was videoing the whole thing so that will presumably be released on his channel at some point, and Lotus had some photographers on a bike with us and static on the mall so hopefully they got some money shots too.

It was such a laugh to see the public's reaction we all did another quick run up to Parliament Square and back before the evening show started.  

There was what seemed like genuine interest from some of the "big names" (I didn't know any except MJK!), journos and other hangers on as they arrived for their presentation.   But of the ones that spoke to me, they shared surprisingly little knowledge of the Lotus back catalogue - given their professional involvement and presumed interest in automobilia.   It was a privilege to help enlighten them!

Just awesome to be given the chance to have a tiny involvement in such an event - the grin will stay with me for a very long time...

[rallyesax]

5 hours ago, PAR said:

 

ps. Did people notice they reverted to Pirellis? Does it mean something for other models?

I did 😝😁

Supplier market is always the same thing... What's the price you're offering and for what. Michelin has not been the best compromise for this project. Congrats Pirelli, I'm jealous 😋

But for the future projects, it will still be a 'competition' between the tire manufacturers. So, depending on strategies and offers, we will see what it brings. 

[Stirling_Villeneuve]

35 minutes ago, rallyesax said:

But for the future projects, it will still be a 'competition' between the tire manufacturers. So, depending on strategies and offers, we will see what it brings. 

Tyres being a big thing at that level of performance. McLaren reckon with the Speedtail, above 250mph the tyres required would make the ride far too harsh to fulfill it's GT, hyper car brief. 

[vd9]

8 hours ago, The Pits said:

Massively more downforce and weighs about the same as a Ford Focus RS. Neither Batista nor Rimac Concept Two are aiming for much downforce and weigh closer to a Bentley Continental. So with more power, a lot less weight, huge downforce and Lotus handling it should be in a different class altogether around corners. In that respect it’s unique for a road legal EV.

So an overall answer is "the same, but potentially better in many aspects".

Interesting to me thing is that 2018 car sales revenues as I understand must have been somewhere around up to £120mn (that's 1,700 cars at £70,000 apiece, which is already quite high) with certainly unexciting profitability. And now they are talking about £260mn revenues (130 cars at £2mn apiece) with as I understand 30-50% margins. Why would anyone bother about all of these Elise's, Exiges and Evoras if the above is true? Would it not be better to just pop out some limited edition hypercars in 50-500 batches each year and live happily? 

[The Pits]

"the same but potentially better in many aspects" covers the difference between 1960's 911 and the current GT3RS. Some argue that an electric car and ICE are much the same thing just propelled by a different energy source. In other words, each to his own definition.

The Battista uses the same EV architecture as the Rimac Concept 2 so they really are very similar under the skin, both use a T format for the battery pack however the Lotus Evija puts the battery pack behind the seats where an engine might go. The Battista/Rimac C2 offers longer range (300 miles) with longer charging times. The focus is on luxury, the styling was deliberately supercar conventional and there's no mention of weight or downforce. It will be very interesting to see which approach is the most successful, if anyone could get access to the real sales figures of course.

If Lotus quickly shift 130 Evijas I'm sure it will reconsider it's strategy. It will be the first of a number of hypercars for sure. However their first priority is to reach their break-even number, Geely will want the project to pay for itself. Anything over that will be a bonus but until they actually sell a sufficient number of Evijas they won't be canning plans to produce more accessible cars just yet. The Lotus range will look very different to what it is now by 2021 in any event.

[Likuid]

10 hours ago, red vtec said:

some on twitter (including an F1 owner ) are saying its going away from Lotus origins, being to heavy and to expensive. And it will never be built.  They are saying Lotus is lightweight and cheaper  and its point was it beat the more expensive rivals, by being that. Not sure if that's correct.

Well Lotus isn't beating expensive rivals where it matters: selling cars and making profit.

Reminds me of reviews of Lotus that drool over it being light weight, but then in the end say the Porsche is better because it has a 4-wheel steering, nicer interior,  nicer ICE, etc.

This is probably what it feels like to be Lotus sometimes: 

 

Edited July 17, 2019 by Likuid

[fmxa]

That certainly is a beautiful looking car and kudos to Russel and the guys in Hethel for pulling this off.  Anyone know if this is a "real" ie drivable car, or a model, and the car with the real engine and batteries is "coming soon"?

Need to see it on the track!

[The Pits]

One more number that I'm struggling to get my head around. The following are all claimed 0-300kph times:

Porsche 991 GT3RS - 40.8

McLaren 540C - 31.5

Ferrari F40 - 31.0

McLaren 570S - 27.7

McLaren 600LT - 26.6

McLaren 675LT - 23.5

991 GT2 - 22.9

McLaren 720S - 19.7

La Ferrari - 15.7

Bugatti Veyron Supersport - 14.6

McLaren Speedtail - 12.8 seconds.

Pininfarina Battista - under 12 seconds.

Lotus Evija < 9 seconds.

[vd9]

49 minutes ago, The Pits said:

covers the difference between 1960's 911 and the current GT3RS

Surely these are not considered as "groundbreaking hypercars"?

50 minutes ago, The Pits said:

no mention of weight or downforce

Didn't you say that Evija is lighter and with loads more downforce? How does it work if for one car it is known (or rather claimed) and for the other one it is not mentioned?

 

52 minutes ago, The Pits said:

If Lotus quickly shift 130 Evijas

Didn't they say that the number of requests made them increase the production plan? I understand it means these are all sold out?

 

53 minutes ago, The Pits said:

until they actually sell a sufficient number of Evijas they won't be canning plans to produce more accessible cars just yet

So if they sell let's say 50 of those (roughly, to match 2018 profits through a bit lower revenues with nicer margins), then they can get rid of these "poor man's cars"?

 

55 minutes ago, The Pits said:

Lotus range will look very different to what it is now by 2021 in any event

Doesn't look like it if you trust what their CEO says - one incrementally new model to be shown (not mass produced) by the end of 2019. Or you think there will be a flurry of brand new models in 2020, in an industry with shortening but still at least 3-5 years development cycles?

[Dan E]

2 minutes ago, The Pits said:

One more number that I'm struggling to get my head around. The following are all claimed 0-300kph times:

Porsche 991 GT3RS - 40.8

McLaren 540C - 31.5

Ferrari F40 - 31.0

McLaren 570S - 27.7

McLaren 600LT - 26.6

McLaren 675LT - 23.5

991 GT2 - 22.9

McLaren 720S - 19.7

La Ferrari - 15.7

Bugatti Veyron Supersport - 14.6

McLaren Speedtail - 12.8 seconds.

Pininfarina Battista - under 12 seconds.

Lotus Evija < 9 seconds.

Actually when you put it like that, it does make you think. Personally I love it, bit disappointed all lhd though 

also will @Sparky be able to fix it! 

[vd9]

4 minutes ago, The Pits said:

Lotus Evija < 9 seconds.

Claiming is not necessarily delivering. As it looks, they plan to be able to gain 100kmph of speed every 3s and all with huge downforce. Aha.

[The Pits]

It's got DRS and active aero so it only has huge downforce when it needs it.

[Giniw]

3 minutes ago, vd9 said:

Claiming is not necessarily delivering.

Usually I think Lotus has the reputation to be quite honest or conservative with their car top speed and acceleration, hasn't it?

5 minutes ago, vd9 said:

As it looks, they plan to be able to gain 100kmph of speed every 3s and all with huge downforce.

As for the first 100km/h I suspect the problem is more the traction than the power, so it might explain why the 0-100 is claimed to be "only"  under 3 seconds?

[pete]

20 minutes ago, Dan E said:

Actually when you put it like that, it does make you think. Personally I love it, bit disappointed all lhd though 

also will @Sparky be able to fix it! 

Doubt he will be able to get in it😀

[marky68]

Initial looks impressive until you really look closely, let's hope its not the same guys painting these who did my Exige which was shocking and had to rectified by a detailer straight away.

Looking at the pictures It looks like more parts bin items used, and again whoever is on quality control needs a trip to Specsavers, if these faults can be seen from low resolution videos what is it going to be like up close... and this is described as the show car...

Comments form the head of design,, 

"A form of luxury"

" Certainly a car like this everything has to exquisite in there"

"When you pay this sort of money you expect everything to be very very special"

 

2 million really  🤣

 

Edited July 17, 2019 by marky68