Type 130 - Lotus Evija

[The Pits]

I'd have preferred something more appropriately awe-inspiring and definitive. And easier to pronounce.

Like Lotus Eon. Or Lotus Era. Or maybe Lotus Eclipse (as in, it eclipses all others)?

Any car name that recieves a 'you what?' response is off to a shaky start.

You would also think that Lotus might have learned from giving Project Eagle a feminine and convoluted name. Much as I love the car, I don't think the name Evora helped sales particularly.  

Trouble is, very different people calling the shots now and the name is not as important as what it's associated with. Countach, Veneno, La Ferrari, Agera, Regera, Jesko! 

I have a hunch that everyone will soon be ceasing to care about the silly name when they see the car very shortly.

[Luc2000]

https://media.lotuscars.com/en/news-articles/e-name-announcement.html

 

Quote

Lotus stuns Goodwood with hypercar sneak peek… and reveals its name

• Lotus confirms Type 130 hypercar is named EVIJA
• Fans attending the Lotus stand at Goodwood Festival of Speed will be offered a sneak peek at the car
• Dramatic ‘light show’ experience reveals new design details ahead of the world premiere later this month
• Classic and current Lotus cars on static and dynamic display, celebrating this year’s Festival theme ‘Record Breakers’

 (Goodwood, West Sussex – 3 July 2019) – Lotus has chosen the Goodwood Festival of Speed to reveal the name of its new all-electric hypercar, and is calling on fans to visit its stand for an exclusive glimpse.

 Due to start production in 2020, the world’s first British EV hypercar will be called the Lotus EVIJA. It marks the start of an exciting new chapter in the history of the iconic British sports car brand. As the first major Lotus model launch under the stewardship of Geely – the world’s fastest growing automotive group – its significance cannot be overstated.

 Pronounced ‘ev-eye-a’ it means ‘the first in existence’ or ‘the living one’. It is highly appropriate; Lotus has an unquestionable reputation for its pioneering approach in both automotive and motorsport. The Evija – as the first all-electric hypercar from a British car maker – continues that story of innovation.

 Lotus Cars CEO Phil Popham said: “Evija is the perfect name for our new car because it’s the first hypercar from Lotus, our first electric offering and is the first new model under the stewardship of Geely. The Evija is a Lotus like no other, yet a true Lotus in every sense. It will re-establish our brand on the global automotive stage and pave the way for further visionary models.”

 Sports car fans attending this weekend’s Festival are invited to visit the Lotus stand – on the main grid – for an exclusive glimpse of the Evija. Hidden from general sight, visitors can join a dramatic ‘light show’ experience that reveals new details and provides the best hints yet of its exterior design.

 The Lotus Evija will be unveiled in full in London later this month. Since its existence was confirmed at the Shanghai International Auto Show in April, the car has been known only by its Lotus Type number – Type 130. In May Lotus confirmed a maximum of 130 examples will be built at its factory in Hethel, Norfolk, in tribute to its Type number.

 Also at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed are some of the most successful, pioneering and record-setting Lotus cars ever made. The stand is hosting the recently unveiled Lotus Evora GT4 Concept race car – which will be making its dynamic debut up the famous Goodwood hill climb course – as well as examples of the current Lotus range of Elise, Exige and Evora.

 One historic car is expected to be a real crowd-pleaser. It’s the almost mythical Type 25/R6 Formula One racer, which is the actual car in which legend Jim Clark set the best ever time of 1:20.4 for a lap of the Goodwood circuit. This 1965 record has never been and never will be bettered due to changes in the original configuration of the circuit.

Edited July 3, 2019 by Luc2000
Added quote and pic

[NedaSay]

5 hours ago, The Pits said:

I'd have preferred something more appropriately awe-inspiring and definitive. And easier to pronounce.

Like Lotus Eon. Or Lotus Era. Or maybe Lotus Eclipse (as in, it eclipses all others)?

Any car name that recieves a 'you what?' response is off to a shaky start.

You would also think that Lotus might have learned from giving Project Eagle a feminine and convoluted name. Much as I love the car, I don't think the name Evora helped sales particularly.  

Trouble is, very different people calling the shots now and the name is not as important as what it's associated with. Countach, Veneno, La Ferrari, Agera, Regera, Jesko! 

I have a hunch that everyone will soon be ceasing to care about the silly name when they see the car very shortly.

its  actually growing on me i think. It is good that it is a bit different... Eon would have been great but i think it is taken. I'm sure at least one guy from the staff proposed Exos before thinking it over and realized that it was a bad idea. The car will probably keep his code name with most people ; Lotus type 130 Evija, it has a nice ring to it. I think if the car is good it will be enough. I mean it is not worse than the Ferrari laFerrari in my book.

Edited July 4, 2019 by NedaSay

[Brian Braddock]

Lotus ERA for me.

Short, to the point with gravitas. Doesn’t need a whole page of a press release to explain it! Heralds a new Lotus era. End of. That said endless jokes about Lotus Error would get old pretty quick.

Whatevija, it is what it is!

 

Edited July 4, 2019 by Brian Braddock

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Press release:

”the world’s first British EV hypercar”

Doesn’t anyone read these through before publishing? I am sure they did the same with the last one.

[jonwat]

16 hours ago, NedaSay said:

^^^hum was that page removed? it is no longer available...

Maybe they pulled it in order to replace it with this one. 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Crikey it really is going to be something special. Also nice to be ahead of the game, rather than playing catch-up with the rest ***cough*** SUV...

[LotusDan]

Anyone planning on getting the 'sneak peak' at Goodwood?

[Cypriot]

unfortunately I am not there, but I assume someone will be taking photos and posting them online somewhere, so I am sure we will all get to see the "sneak peak".  I just watched the new Evora GT4 go up the hill on the livestream.... it sounds brutal!! and it was being properly driven! love it!

[Advantage]

Dunno, there's a queue already and it's only Thursday!

[The Pits]

Going tomorrow but I've already had a sneaky peek.

This for me is one of the most remarkable figure from the press release, I'm not sure many have grasped the significance of it yet - 4.4m long, near identical length to an Evora!

In other words, it's no XJ220 or McLaren Speedtail.

All I'll say for now is that Russell Carr is a huge talent and true Lotus man.

[NedaSay]

A little too late to get myself a cheap flight to Goodwood and pretty sure that anybody approaching the car with a Camera  will be tackled to the ground before the can say "ah...." so i guess I will have to wait until the 16th with the rest of us suckers😩😖

To all the ones going to Goodwood this year, I wish you all to have a blast.

[The Pits]

It's likely that someone will find a way to steal an image somehow but I don't know how much of the car they are planning to reveal. Presumably very little if it's still nearly 2 weeks before the launch.

Not long now folks. I really hope it's a huge success for the company. 130 sales would be a huge shot in the arm for Lotus and completely sure up the backing from Geely. It would bring in a revenue equivalent to well over 5000 Elises by my calculations. The sky's the limit if the T130 works out. I think what will really help is that the AMG Project One is still at least two years away, AM Valkyrie is probably no closer. Only real rival is the Pininfarina Batista and Rimac C2 but they are largely the same car. People like Nico Rosberg have a huge interest in EVs, and he's wants something to drive while he's waiting for his AMG Project One. The tie-up with Williams is a smart move, they have years of development work from Formula E to call upon. Nothing like racing for accelerating your development program.

 

[Likuid]

Not saying sales aren't important, I have to imagine the main point of the Evija is to attempt to bring the name back into prominence. If its an amazing car that makes people drool then that means when the new line-up of cars come out people will be more willing to buy them. A lot easier to sell new line-up of equivalent Elises, Evoras, & Esprits with the Evija around IMO. Next thing for Lotus to work on is dealership networks, which I assume with the Evija and new line-up of cars will help get more dealers involved. Hopefully Geely has some pull with Volvo dealers to at least start servicing Lotus cars and maybe even open some Lotus showrooms.

[LotusDan]

The new production car(s) will take design cues from the Type 130, so it has its relevance to the ordinary buyers if you like the T130..

Lotus have been busy opening new dealerships around the world so things are looking up.

I hope as many people as possible get to see the car as it really is something else

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

That Rimac on the Rosberg video looks rubbish. Really not in the hypercar class IMO. I am sure it goes like stink in a straight line, but I would take any other of it’s competitors on looks alone. Perhaps Rimac should just stick to the powertrains and leave the designs to others?

[The Pits]

2 hours ago, Likuid said:

Not saying sales aren't important, I have to imagine the main point of the Evija is to attempt to bring the name back into prominence. If its an amazing car that makes people drool then that means when the new line-up of cars come out people will be more willing to buy them. A lot easier to sell new line-up of equivalent Elises, Evoras, & Esprits with the Evija around IMO. Next thing for Lotus to work on is dealership networks, which I assume with the Evija and new line-up of cars will help get more dealers involved. Hopefully Geely has some pull with Volvo dealers to at least start servicing Lotus cars and maybe even open some Lotus showrooms.

The halo effect is a given and an important part of the plan but Geely most definitely require it to be a commercial success. The ambition has to be to achieve both. If the project doesn't at least break even it will have consequences for the long term plan. Geely aren't messing around with Lotus, they have very high expectations and the deal will change pretty quickly at Hethel if they aren't met. The next couple of years is the current management's shot to get it right. I don't think they'll get another. Any ideas of some blank chequebook being waved around up at Hethel are way off the mark. T130 needs to be a success so the pressure is on. If you know any billionaires, time to let them know about it! Russell Carr has delivered for Lotus. Time for the other departments to step up. Exciting times though.

If you have never wanted an electric car before, you will soon!

[Dan E]

I am looking forward to this a whole lot more than the stag week I am going to the day after. I genuinely hope this blows the journalists “Into Tomorrow”  to quote Paul Weller. But it does need to be light compared to the competition. 

I don’t know how many La Ferrari’s were sold or any of the other hyper cars, mainly because, to be honest, they just do not interest me. Is 130 cars ambitious, I don’t know? I hope not. I will however, say  a little prayer and be up stupidly early on the 16th to find out. 

Good luck Lotus and I genuinely mean that. 

[The Pits]

Yes, 130 cars is very ambitious in my opinion. But the car is quite something. Fingers crossed.

I'm convinced that the key to success in this rareified atmosphere is working out a way of making obscenely wealthy people even more money. That's really what's driven the hypercar proliferation. Ferrari, Porsche and (post 675LT) McLaren too have worked out how to do it but it's not so easy for a new name to gatecrash the party. Pagani managed it from nothing so it can be done, though Horatio was ex-Lambo. I think that Lotus have poured all their efforts into making the car amazing. The way it should be done in theory. In practice I think you need to put some thought in how to produce a 2-seater bank machine. Gordon Murray is using the McLaren F1 (the car all the wealthy car collectors wish they'd bought in hindsight) to sell his new hypercar. He designed the F1 of course but he didn't build it. Aston Martin is gambling on Adrian Newey's name and reputation to whip up a storm of interest and credibility.

The tricky part is getting the production limit right. If Lotus made less than 10 it raises questions about development budgets, it becomes almost too obscure, something no-one would have heard of. That's a turn-off for the show offs. 1 of 10 cars that nobody wants is worth less than 1 of 1000 cars that everybody wants. We see this already with our Lotus cars. Lots of one-off spec cars out there but that in itself is not considered anything unusual for Lotus and they are not worth as much as a very popular limited edition. If Lotus made more than 200 Evijas it probably wouldn't be considered exclusive enough would be my guess. Ferrari are good at making fewer cars than the demand but they have the benefit of being able to very accurately estimate the level of demand because they are bombarded with letters of intent and pre-orders years in advance. It also helps to know the names of collectors who already have all of the top limited Ferrari hypercars in their collection, it's a safe bet that they'll have the new one whatever it looks like. Getting an idea about the demand is much harder for Lotus. 130 cars sounds like a lot to me but if 131 people in the world who can afford one, want one, Lotus will be off to the races (quite literally probably!).

T125 single seater racer didn't do very well unfortunately. Good basic idea - a low maintenance F1 car - but I think it was too frightening for those that tried it and required too much commitment and skill for most of the have yachts. Evija will be much better for crawling through Knightsbridge traffic I'm sure!

 

[NedaSay]

The question really is how many have been presold to dealers and collectors who will buy anything just because they can(lucky bastards)?

I do think they did not pick this number lightly - if they did it because of the Type number, they are idiots - the original production number for the car was low, around 25 if I recall, so they must have had a good reason to up that number by a 5 fold. This in itself would indicate high level of interest and in some case people readying their cheque book before the clay on studio mock up model was dry. Beside, Lotus did not commit to make 130 cars, they committed to make up 130 cars, there's no pressure if they don't sell them all. So they may have pre-sold around 30 cars already with another 30 prospective clients close to forking their cash... That would make around 60 cars and if my logic is sound and the Pits is to be trusted in his math then at 50/60 cars sold they would already  be beyond breakeven and generate a small but not insignificant profit.

If the sales team they've hired, some of which are VIP specialists, whom are only hired based on their address book, cannot shift these cars, they will very likely be fired let go, there's no two way about it. 

On paper the car is "sound" ; the chassis is carbon fiber developed by Lotus possibly with a little help from one of their most famous supplier,  the propulsion system is williams AE evolution of what they've been supplying to Formula E for 4 years now.  Design is  Carr's and is something else from the comments of the people who had a peak and the chassis dynamics is Kershaw, need I say more... So when it comes to engineering, R&D and design it is bullet proof! that leaves industrialization, sales and marketing to fail.

The car will be built in the skeleton building which will be dedicated to it during the car's production run. Lotus has been excellent at keeping its campus away from prying eyes I'd say. I don't know if they are on schedule but at least two buildings should be near completion by now (the new customer experience centre and the skeleton) insiders feel free to set me straight! they are going to entrust the car build to a small number of their most highly trained employees and the process will have been time stamped and scripted to the second by the time the last validation prototype is built.

Sales and Marketing are the ones with everything to prove, they need to get the car out there and so far I'd say they are doing a good job at creating a certain level of hype. But they really need to get the dealer network up to much higher standards and hyped up about the future. They really have to deliver on that, if they don't they can walk the front door and not look behind. 

[The Pits]

Sadly my maths is never to be trusted! I bought a GT430 for a start. 🤪

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Is a 7 figure car something Lotus dealers would handle, or would Lotus sell/service the T130 direct? What sort of mark-up would a dealer earn? It would be quite a risk to specify one for stock, so maybe they would just help you through the order form and take your deposit?

[scotty435]

I think you have hit the nail on the head, don’t want to sound negative at this possible the most important time for the company, but let’s face it how many dealers would you trust to sell a 7 figure car, for me there are not enough to count on one hand, so it as to be a factory only purchase with all the new facilities being built as we speak, sure Hethel can hand over the car and give the owner a experience the price tag deserves.

[Edinburgh 111s]

I agree with this thought process. 

Imagine someone buying a 7 figure hyper car and rocking up at somewhere where like Silverstone lotus, a main dealer selling cars out of an industrial unit ! Not exactly the buying experience the target audience will be used to or indeed expect. 

The dealer network will need to improve if the brand is aiming for cars at the top of the market. 

Keep the Industrial estate dealers for the lower end of the new market and create a few very high end showrooms for the hyper cars. 

For the record.... I am at the lower end of the market 😂

interesting times ahead  

[PAR]

Dealers are not the car, they are sold direct by the factory (like most hypercar in that’s price range). Dealers will be paid a handling fee for referring clients and managing delivery should customers want it this way.

 

on the maintenance, it is an electrical car, so likely to be much easier than most other cars but I won’t be surprised if the factory offers a special service.