LEAKED : Paris 2010 : Lotus new Esprit, Elan, Elite & Elise

[Iconic Ride]

While he's certainly not the automotive world's antichrist, I could warm up to him a lot more if he'd settle the F1 issue in a fair and equitable manner. Whether or not his marketing machinations and "upscale" aspirations bear profitable fruit remains to be seen. I'm willing to withhold final judgement until that determination is made, but trying to tamp down initial reactions to current controversies is proving difficult for many of us.

[USAndretti42]

I think the weight of the new cars has had a bad rap. Don't forget the Evora is only 50 kg or so lighter than a Cayman so they are already lighter than the opposition but not necessarily light. The problem, I think, is the GFRP body work which, while not needing super-expensive tooling, is not particularly light when laid up thick enough to give a quality feel. Certainly the Esprit body is not particularly light.

Mind you, a 20% increase in the weight of the Elise is difficult to justify, even with it being so over-powered.

[alan]

Just in case any of you have yet to read your January 2011 copy of "Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Technology International" magazine its worth looking at the interview with Wolf Zimmerman on P61. He runs through the new cars, adding a few details I have not seen before and explains why he moved from AMG to Lotus.

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/b0b8b8bd#/b0b8b8bd/61

[simonb]

After all the doom & gloom (and that is just me) that is rather good

[Iconic Ride]

Finally, a man able to express Lotus' vision for the future in plain english (from a German, no less!). This article should be mandatory reading for anyone (myself undeniably included) concerned with the new direction that the company is taking. Mercedes' loss is assuredly Lotus' gain. While Zimmerman fully acknowledges Dany's desire to compete with (even emulate) the likes of Ferrari, he (Wolf) also clearly expresses the desire to retain the "Lotus DNA" underpinings of the marque. He "gets" the "lightness" thing. Especially intriguing are his comments on the potential development of lightweight future Lotus "bespoke" powerplants (engines being Zimmerman's apparent specialty at AMG) for use in the newly unveiled models, though leaving open the question of whether or not it is to be 100% "inhouse," or a collaborative outsourcing effort (but not "derivative" in nature). His enthusiasm for EV technology is heartening as well, predicting (IIRC) a 50/50 mix of IC vs EV powerplants by 2025. Polar bears worldwide are dancing a jig.

[Guest surferphil]

Now that's all sorted out and being really positive, can someone reshape the front of these cars and make them look as cool and pretty as the old ones (I can't believe they are now the old ones). Maybe they could hire the guy who designed the Jaguar CX-15/75 concept car. What's his name Julian something...

[alan]

Dont get me started about the Jag CX75 electric / jet powered thingy. This is a car that has a label on the back saying "stand clear of the blast zone". How cool is that!

[Bibs]

Interesting article from AOL.

[Guest surferphil]

Dont get me started about the Jag CX75 electric / jet powered thingy. This is a car that has a label on the back saying "stand clear of the blast zone". How cool is that!

I have the 3D design model of it on my server the company I contract for made the film, edited in the suite next to my office and I never got to see it in the flesh!

Interesting article from AOL.

Out of all the cars the Evora is the looker! When is yours arriving Bibs?

[Bibs]

My Evora S? January I've been told!

[rogerch]

I've never yet been able to fault,

Evolution, not Revolution

[jollyroger]

Dont get me started about the Jag CX75 electric / jet powered thingy. This is a car that has a label on the back saying "stand clear of the blast zone". How cool is that!

Now THAT is a real supercar! Even if it were steam powered, it's one of the best looking cars I have seen in a long while.

[Iconic Ride]

Reference the autoblog article......

"The last 15 years the brand has maneuvered itself into a corner where it served a niche, the enthusiasts," says CEO Dany Bahar. "That's why Lotus was always on the verge of financial collapse."

Interesting take on things, to say the least.

"Lotus Group's engineering arm has 700 engineers, three times as many as Ferrari according to Bahar. They make up more than a third of the company's 2,000 employees..."

And therein lies Lotus' best hope of success with the new models. They remain a powerhouse of performance engineering capabilities, additional kilograms or not.

"And by investing in everything now, in a market that remains depressed, the company expects to be loaded and ready when things rebound."

Works for me.

"Perhaps you noticed that motorsports wasn't mentioned as a cost to be taken out of the £770 million budget. That's because motorsports is now viewed as a profit center, not an account payable."

"Funds all went to racing before, with Colin Chapman," said Bahar, which is why customer cars could be left to want for development. "Now motorsports has to make a business case beforehand. You need to have teams lined up to buy the cars before you commit to racing – GT2, GT4, Le Mans, Exos, it's a profit center."

Note the absence of F1, but by gawd we intend to assimilate that as well, just you wait and see.

"To manage the task, Lotus is bringing all of its motorsport activities back in-house – hence the Lotus Racing snafu with Tony Fernandes' F1 team, which Lotus had no comment on."

Ya think?

I suppose the High Court may have something to say about the definition of "back in-house," and whether or not it ever was in the first place. Stay tuned!