Lotus Eletre

[tim_marra]

Don't all Lotus owners feel like big kids behind the wheel?

[NedaSay]

Ok I'm on board for a very expensive lease as soon as this thing comes to North America but I guess I won't get a green model... I do like how the front 3 quarter view shows lineage with the Elite and Excel 4 seaters from the 1980's but really hope there will be a no chrome trim version, because just my opinion Lotus should not bear chrome. Maybe replace chrome with titanium or just go satin black trim.  I really dig the rear 3 quarter view, I like how dynamic the car looks, but I'm not sure with the round light cluster, it looks I don't know, on this render, out of place, outdated, too small. I hope they will reconsider this detail even if I would not consider it a deal breaker though. 

[Frickin_idiot]

Is the suv even a possibility now? 

[NedaSay]

I do think it is happening, I don't think the SUV will be priced beyond the means of that many. I think it will be the first Lotus darling for leasing and financing companies just like the Maccan brought a much younger and not that wealthy clientele, it shall bring Lotus to the masses. 

I also think we will get more than one SUV and I do think that at some point down the road some kind of sedan (Lotus Eterne) will also see the light of day.  By the look of it the SUV is more a crossover than a true SUV, it is more V60 XC, than XC60 dare I say. It will therefore be quite "easy" to derivate a bigger version from it, if there's demand for it, and an "Eterne",  which actually share quite a few DNA traits with the render of the SUV.  And again Lotus evolved VVA and Volvo Geely SPA modules should combine quite nicely. We know Geely is building a factory for its luxury vehicles in Wuhan,  It will be shared between Lotus products and other Geely products , But Geely and Volvo already have factories able to produce their luxury models, So Lotus may in the end get the lion share of a factory geared for 150,000 vehicles yearly.

 

[electro_boy]

From what Popham has been saying sounds like the SUV is still a possibility; they are focusing on the sports cars at the moment, so if the SUV does happen it won't be for a while yet.  He also said the SUV would have to be true to Lotus values otherwise they would not build it.  He is not keen on just using chassis or platform already available from within the Geely group and wrapping it in a Lotus styled body.

[Advantage]

9 hours ago, NedaSay said:

So Lotus may in the end get the lion share of a factory geared for 150,000 vehicles yearly.

Or, given the tie-up with Williams, perhaps it will be the - umm - ion share?

 

Ayethangkew. Please tip your waitress, try the veal etc 

[theelanman]

22 hours ago, Advantage said:

Please tip the veal and try your waitress  etc 

 

[nerobi]

 

Quote

 

SUVs Are Now 46 Times More Popular Than Sports Cars

New industry analysis has revealed that the SUV market share now accounts for almost 37 per cent of the total European market, with sports cars accounting for just 0.8 per cent

 

https://www.carthrottle.com/post/suvs-are-now-46-times-more-popular-than-sports-cars/

Edited May 12, 2019 by nerobi

[ChrisJ]

Quote

In March, SUVs took a 36.8 per cent share of all sales across all 27 EU member states

Have we left then?

[theelanman]

ok......Im getting to the point where a new car is imminent.......

now I usually buy........I usually hate SUVs..........

but Ive had 2 kids since I last bought a car.............so need the space....and as I want the Lotus SUV, when it finally gets here, I think Im going to lease a new one.....

sorry, I cant wait any longer Lotus........I'll stick sort of brand loyal.......Im looking at a Volvo XC40 T5R........

big question is how long should I get a lease for?.......how long do we think realistically is the Lotus SUV going to arrive?

[ChrisJ]

I have the same question. The SUV always seems to be 3-5 years away.

[NedaSay]

I'm betting on 2022.

The factory will be ready sometime next year.  If the patent drawings have been approved and I don't see a reason why not since they were published quite a few months after the takeover, back when Feng Qinfeng was running the company, So if C.A.D is going on now, the stage 1 prototype should not be too far from seeing road testing. Because Lotus is part of a significant group with a f-load of SUV we won't even know it is the SUV development mule until they decide to leak it. By the time they start leaking pictures it will probably be in winter testing or hot weather testing phase which will be lengthy. I do expect the SUV to have the longest development time a Lotus product has ever had until now ; so unveil in 2021 and launch a full year later so 2022.  

[CharlieBrown]

IMO I hope Lotus does not build a SUV... That would be a sin and an insult to Colin Chapman's legacy. Lotus is not Porsche or Lamborghini.

[Bravo73]

Really? Chapman himself built 4 seater family cars. If there were SUVs around in the 60/70s, he would have probably built one as well. He sold road cars in order to pay for his race team(s). If he thought that he could have sold an SUV, he would've done so.

[NedaSay]

2 hours ago, CharlieBrown said:

IMO I hope Lotus does not build a SUV... That would be a sin and an insult to Colin Chapman's legacy. Lotus is not Porsche or Lamborghini.

Uh no, it wouldn't... And Lotus just like Lamborghini and Porsche needs to make money.  Besides, the first Lotus to ever be built the Mark 1 was a hillclimber 

If anything it would be a return to Lotus roots to build a proper off roader.

[CharlieBrown]

2 hours ago, KG said:

US Evora GT is definitely getting carbon seats.......and a few more carbon pieces.... 

and a few more carbon parts! 

Go Lotus! Build those SUVs!

 

SUV Never going to happen!

1 hour ago, NedaSay said:

Uh no, it wouldn't... And Lotus just like Lamborghini and Porsche needs to make money.  Besides, the first Lotus to ever be built the Mark 1 was a hillclimber 

If anything it would be a return to Lotus roots to build a proper off roader.

Well, most SUVs are not proper off roaders (except for the Range Rover)...However, something like the Range Rover Defender or like the Jeep Wrangler, I can support that.

Edited May 30, 2019 by CharlieBrown

[CharlieBrown]

3 hours ago, Bravo73 said:

Really? Chapman himself built 4 seater family cars. If there were SUVs around in the 60/70s, he would have probably built one as well. He sold road cars in order to pay for his race team(s). If he thought that he could have sold an SUV, he would've done so.

We will never know if he would or not.

[Loquacious Lew]

I'm fine with Lotus SUVs, welcome it.  I don't currently own an SUV and don't have plans for one. Lotus could build me a tasty, modern practicalish Cortina to go against the usual suspects.  That's something I am up for right now.  Or maybe it could be a hot hatch in Lotus style, a Golf R with steering, feel,  presence and no coking. Which I guess an electric wouldn't have.  I  buy cars like that. Well not an electric one yet. 

These  still qualify as niche products given what most Americans seem to want but they are big niches by Lotus standards.  I hope they do something like that and would perhaps be happy to sell a few thousand of them here (and one to me) instead of seeing people buy Golf Rs, Audis or M cars. Or Jaguars or whatever.  Unique and clever cars a reasonably ambitious person could hope to attain with all the fixings of modern service/serviceability.   I trust Lotus is thinking like that along with whatever else they are thinking.  But really, the Evora is a near perfect package for me as a  sports car I can use a lot of course. Flawed but, what ain't?   I think we all know why they don't sell like Porsches. but what's not to like if Lotus comes to build a broad range of best in class vehicles focused on quality and enthusiast appeal?  

The possible future that concerns me is the loss of the clever cars relatively focused cars we have right now.  Important to me is that the  4XX or 'whatever they call it' series  be supported with the things we need to maintain the  best of Hethel's pre world conquering builds. The 400 is a  weapon on backroads, really not requiring much more to be an apex predator. Of course I would love to have a proper 430 but instead I plan to do what suits  my car as time goes by while keep all the OEM parts.  You know.  So it can be somebody's perfect dream car someday when they don't make them like that anymore. That's until the next Lotus makes sense to me.

 I bought my car when Lotus was in the dumps here, which is still sort of the case but looking up.  I blame nobody for the inability to perfectly manage national car sales with so few resources but perhaps those days will draw to an end.  I paid a perfect price for my car and bought it with the expectation that it would not be orphaned and any problems, and there are always problems with all cars, be resolved to my satisfaction.  I like to believe the 400, in whatever iteration, is positioned for a bit of a breakout just now.  Interest and talk about Lotus is getting around because..... internet.  Slowly, but it is, and we owners and ambassadors  have been  a help in that because we like the cars and the place they come from.  Nothing better than word of mouth.  Wise guys  frequently predict in media that the 400 is going to be a future hottie. As will be the variations, I'm sure.  There will never really be too many even if a small glut of them (can that be a thing?) had to be digested.   I thought that a fine possible future (not immediate, silly!) awaited the car when I decided to buy one. And still do.

Lotus can build on that right now. They can perfect this series and keep it "relevant" and sell some in the next few years.  As they have to do anyway.  They need to execute perfectly of course.  Real improvements all the time in QC, performance, endurance and in materials.  Sensible attainable improvement provided in attainable packages.   Needed is full parts availability, the extra, even trying effort to recognize customer expectations....knowing that customers talk to each other. And finally, to sell no wine before its time. Easy to say, hard to achieve, but necessary.    That Lotus can now do this is exciting. 

 I hope Lotus makes marvelous, solid cars in the future and sells them profitably. I hope Geely will help Lotus be its best  as it has helped Volvo while  keeping the core values.  The winds in general are really blowing against Chinese-American (I mean American and everybody)  trade but one imagines that will eventually pass.   I think it will be quite a challenge given what is going on but Geely may have a better than average  recipe for dealing with acquisitions and  challenges.  I now think of Lotus as a British company with the support of a multi-national that happens to be Chinese.   Yett clearly Lotus is wanted to be a British company with its brand of engineering and esthetics and that is  what appeals to me.   I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but that's what appeals to this American so absent that, not as interesting.  I have every confidence it on't be that way.  

 I am Loquacious Lew.  So as I've said before,  I expect my car, the one I just bought,  to get the respect (best practice and treatment) from Lotus that I have for it as a future classic and future  Lotus legacy.  Or as my son in law would have it as "gonna be mine someday if I have anything to say about it."  (He doesn't).

 I really hope they don't forget these cars in the mix.  And that is my perspective on Lotus in America.  From the Deep South of the USA where it's awful hot and sticky and good working aircon is a must.  Which the 400 has and every road car that comes here needs so no fudging the weight numbers.  

 

Wanna see some pictures of the Dragon? 

 

.   

[Simon Bateman]

Personally I think an SUV is inevitable.  During my factory visit just 18 months ago I was told that a design team was already working on it.  I'd also not be surprised to see Ferrari or McLaren produce one in the next 3 or 5 years.

The problem for Lotus and an SUV is more of buyers perception.  Although the average SUV would never be taken beyond a slightly damp field, there is at least a perception that the buyer is getting something that is strong and robust and can take the additional knocks and heavier usage associated with that type of vehicle.

In order to be successful, Lotus would need to convince buyers that the vehicle wasn't going to be flaky or overly lightweight.  Something that as Sports car buyers, we sort of accept to a certain extent and even welcome in the case of lightness.

Personally I don't really get the whole SUV thing.  I have a friend in the Northlands with a Macan on 21'' wheels and when we last had some snow I asked what it was like and he said 'like a sled on wheels'. 

  

[Bravo73]

1 hour ago, Simon Bateman said:

I'd also not be surprised to see Ferrari or McLaren produce one in the next 3 or 5 years.

Ferrari confirmed their SUV last year:

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/ferrari/30374/ferrari-suv-confirmed-fastest-suv-crown-targeted

[Brian Braddock]

Not much joy on the other thread, anyone here understand why SUVs are so popular? So sad to see a company built on radical innovation so short of ideas it feels compelled to do what everyone else is doing. I personally have even more respect for McLaren for declaring that they won’t build an SUV. Sends out exactly the right message for those who don’t get this senseless trend.

Fast estates I totally get, fast SUVs totally not.

[CharlieBrown]

1 hour ago, Brian Braddock said:

Not much joy on the other thread, anyone here understand why SUVs are so popular? So sad to see a company built on radical innovation so short of ideas it feels compelled to do what everyone else is doing. I personally have even more respect for McLaren for declaring that they won’t build an SUV. Sends out exactly the right message for those who don’t get this senseless trend.

Fast estates I totally get, fast SUVs totally not.

100%

[Simon Bateman]

1 hour ago, CharlieBrown said:

100%

I know what you mean........😫

[C8RKH]

5 hours ago, Brian Braddock said:

Not much joy on the other thread, anyone here understand why SUVs are so popular? So sad to see a company built on radical innovation so short of ideas it feels compelled to do what everyone else is doing. I personally have even more respect for McLaren for declaring that they won’t build an SUV. Sends out exactly the right message for those who don’t get this senseless trend.

Fast estates I totally get, fast SUVs totally not.

Well if we get right up to the present moment the last interviews and news I saw was that the SUV was not guaranteed to be built, but sports cars were, Hethel was the place for them to be built and the Type 130 is the first of the new breed.  Not sure what this issue is right now to be honest. Lotus seems to be moving back to the future which is fine by me...

[Vanya]

Performance SUVs are said to be popular because in many markets the halcyon days of having a home with a garage where you could store your weekend you are a thing of the past never to return. The new generation is fed lies that one should be happy living in a studio flat in an anthill and thus you can at best afford one vehicle that does it all - enter the fancy branded SUV. You can brag about owning a Porsche but can still pick up your kids from soccer practise and pick up furniture at IKE@ at the same time. Sucks.