Future of Lotus

[Bee]

This makes a great deal of sense: Lotus needed to bring in real expertise for their upcoming hybrids, be it for the SUV(s), the 'hypercar' (which may even be purely electric, of course) or the new sportscars (whatever they might be!) A partnership with an established company is surely a good business decision; Williams have been the battery supplier to all Formula E cars for five years, not to mention to mention having a huge amount of know-how when it comes to hybrid systems. McLaren and Ferrari are able to bring their own F1 expertise to their road cars, in the this regard. Porsche are able to draw upon the VAG group R&D as well as their own large budgets.

 

Geely undoubtedly has hybrid systems research but I doubt that was ever done with serious sports cars in mind, so it would always be compromised/heavily adapted.

 

This could genuinely be a very important partnership for Lotus, playing a major role in defining the powerplants for many Lotus cars, for many years to come...

[T_Exige]

Take with a pinch of salt: ...  😉

Hypercar = 60-70 cars, with some of them racing in the new Le Mans class in 2021.

Edited January 28, 2019 by T_Exige

[Techyd]

On 25/01/2019 at 19:35, Steve V8 said:

As good as the Evora is, and as lovely as it looks, it's not quite got what it takes to woo those non Lotus perspective buyers.

This from my mates point of view, who recently looked at an Evora, was so disappointed with its lack of "toys" as he put it, that he didn't even bother to take a test drive, he described it to me as "a fantastic looking car, with the interior of a Ford Fiesta" 

I've not been lucky enough to drive one, but have sat in one, and to be honest I prefer my Esprit. 

Perhaps the Evora needed to forget the adding lightness thing, the Exige takes care of that, and focused more on power and luxury, a proper GT with plush leather seats, more switches and gauges than a 747 and other course a voice activated cup holder.

The lure and need for tech in cars can't be under estimated - even if you don't really need it, you want it.  Look at the new 3-series, it lists from ~£35k in the UK for the base engine, but all the reviews revolve around the amazing that the car gets (when you delve on to the options list).  I've seen 3 reviews now where it goes on about its ability to 'undo' your steering input to get you out of a tricky spot; so something you'll use maybe a couple of times a year?

VW will launch the the MK8 golf soon(ish) and the big focus on that is tech - of course it has to be because they are in serious woo-the-public-mode after the emissions scandal, but you can be sure most of the tech will be an option or pack; they still don't put climate control in until the GTD/GTI series of cars.

[Techyd]

13 hours ago, C8RKH said:

@CharlieBrown can you explain this a bit more please as I'm struggling to understan what the gimmicks are you mention. It can't be the redesigned aero that actually works, the adjustable suspension, the carbon fibre or the sublime TCS. So what is it?  Thanks.

I agree, these model releases were about delivering more sports car precision through fine tuning components, and, of course raising the price point.  I can see why they could be construed as gimmicks as visually the car doesn't change a great deal, but change they did - its all in the detail 🙂

 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Yes it hasn't escaped my attention that the guys who earn their corn in the Lotus dealerships are called "Technicians", rather than "Mechanics". It's not surprising when you consider what technology the typical new car comes with nowadays.

[Nathan Pitman]

3 hours ago, TLF News said:

Lotus join with Williams Advanced Engineering for strategic partnership

Lotus in Formula E sometime in the future?

[Sport220]

Great news. Hopefully the technology Will be applied in mass volume models too.

Lotus in FE would be brilliant, love the racing in that series. Sounds unlikely though

Anyway, a return to Motorsport is long due. Hope there's a GT4/GT3 car coming soon, even if it's an updated Evora 

Edited January 28, 2019 by Sport220
Spacing

[CharlieBrown]

14 hours ago, C8RKH said:

@CharlieBrown can you explain this a bit more please as I'm struggling to understan what the gimmicks are you mention. It can't be the redesigned aero that actually works, the adjustable suspension, the carbon fibre or the sublime TCS. So what is it?  Thanks.

Well, for me it is a gimmick to have the 410. It is not faster than the base Evora 400. Exactly the same power and speed. Proved at the dyno, race tracks and talked about it in many motor magazines. My Evora 400 was tested and the output was 408 bhp. That is coming from factory.

The extra carbon fiber, different color scheme inside, wheels for the 410 IMO is just a gimmick to make you want the more expensive Evora, a car that would not be superior to the base 400 when it comes to performance. Here in the States people love that, and they buy cars with all the options available just to brag about how much they paid. Americans certainly do it with MB, BMW, Audi, Porsche but won't do that with Lotus. US market is the worst for Lotus Cars. They are selling less Evora 400 than the first Gen Evora. And yes, many Americans know about Lotus because these cars are offered in plenty dealerships that sell Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, etc...but for example they rather pay the same amount for a 2019 AMG C63s Coupe (503 bhp) and I can't blame them.

Don't get me wrong I love Lotus and the 430 seems to be a very decent car, over priced though. 

 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

I thought Lotus stopped making the 400 quite a while back, so any new cars available now are dealer stock only, manufactured some months ago. When they've gone, they've gone.

If you want a new-build Evora, I assume it's now got to be GT410 or GT430 only.

[NedaSay]

2 hours ago, Nathan Pitman said:

Lotus in Formula E sometime in the future?

Clearly a possibility and somewhat a better call than to return to F1 at this point and in the foreseeable future... Lotus stablemate Polestar has been rumoured to join FE at some point, now it would not be surprising for Lotus to join FE. Except for the fact that Lotus would become the 12th manufacturer involved and there can only be one winner at the end of the season, these odds are not good... Still I hope Lotus doesn't pull an Aston Martin and becomes Williams Racing new title sponsor...

However that deal points toward two realities, one I consider good and the other more of saddening truth. This deal pretty much states that Lotus has complete freedom to pursue deals that work almost only for Lotus regardless of Geely Group strategy, as @Bee said not illogical all things considered. Lotus has access to everything Geely and then has the budget to contract the best of the best outside the group. If some were in any doubt at the level of investment they were getting, well working with WAE doesn't come cheap. They seriously don't want to mess project Omega up. Now the saddening truth, and I will blame squarely stupid DB on this one, is that due to his delusions and pour management of everything, JMG had to bleed out Lotus Engineering to keep the company running... 10 Years ago Lotus was able to present the Lotus Evora 414E, today they announced a partnership with WAE. Lotus Engineering was WAE!

Regardless this is good news, it looks like a broad partnership on powertrain. Now if we could get news as to how the cars that are currently on offer will evolve or when they will get replaced it would be swell.

 

[C8RKH]

2 hours ago, Sport220 said:

Lotus in FE would be brilliant, love the racing in that series. Sounds crap though

FTFY.....  Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[Suddabym]

What I find most interesting with this tie up is that they’ve gone public with it.  I wonder why?

[au-yt]

14 hours ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

I thought Lotus stopped making the 400 quite a while back, so any new cars available now are dealer stock only, manufactured some months ago. When they've gone, they've gone.

If you want a new-build Evora, I assume it's now got to be GT410 or GT430 only.

Still taking orders in this part of the world

A follow up to the TLF story

https://www.drive.com.au/news/british-brands-lotus-williams-unite-to-develop-next-gen-models-120625.html?ffref=smh&trackLink=SMH3

 

[NedaSay]

17 hours ago, Suddabym said:

What I find most interesting with this tie up is that they’ve gone public with it.  I wonder why?

They probably want the word out. The mission statement probably reads something like:" reestablish lotus into the circle of luxury sport car manufacturers.... Let the word be known that we mean business..." and having the WAE stamp is fashionable these days, Jaguar, Aston Martin are already clients. Besides WAE co owns a battery business already operational in the UK that can operate on small scale high value project, so they are probably the right people to "get in bed with"  right now.

[Bee]

You only have to read this to see that a 'propulsion system' for the hypercar could be expedited relatively quickly...

 

 www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/april/insight-williams-updated-battery/

 

Hopefully, many lessons learned from this 'technological showcase' will swiftly trickle down to the new sportscars, as happened with McLaren after their development of the P1.  Lotus might be bringing in a lot of new talent but they are also going to be stepping into new territory if their new models are going to be world beaters. It will be a steep learning curve; hopefully, a big objective of the hypercar development - aside from creating a halo product - will be to swiftly evolve and advance their expertise in the new technologies being incorporated.

 

There is no doubt that the cars McLaren developed after the P1 benefited very significantly from that car. Indeed, the 720s is faster around many tracks and only 0.2 seconds slower to 60mph, the P1 only stretching that advantage to 0.3 seconds by the time both cars get to 150mph - almost embarrassing given that it retails at just over £208,000 compared to the P1's £866,000. If Lotus can similarly benefit, it should bode very well for the sportscars coming out of Hethel for the next few years...

[electro_boy]

I think a lot of the general public don't know Lotus have a history of using advanced technology and ingenious engineering to gain performance advantages.  They think they're just a plucky little British car company.  I imagine the halo car and the collaboration with WAE to some extents is about informing people that actually Lotus is no stranger to using new tech and highly engineered cars.

[C8RKH]

On 30/01/2019 at 03:29, electro_boy said:

I think a lot of the general public don't know Lotus have a history of using advanced technology and ingenious engineering to gain performance advantages.

It's not just the general public but a lot of car enthusiasts too. Therein lies Lotus number one problem. They have had such limited presence and exposure people have forgotten they exist.

[Sport220]

The bashing Lotus gets whenever an article on recent news is posted is infuriating to say the least.

Please, Geely, pull this off. 

Edited January 29, 2019 by Sport220

[scotty435]

Well said the positive thing I have heard on this forum in years.

[auRouge]

1 hour ago, Sport220 said:

The bashing Lotus gets whenever an article on recent news is posted is infuriating to say the least.

Please, Geely, pull this off. 

There’s a multimillion investment from abroad... people with resources that don’t accept anything but success. 

Theyll pull it off and put Lotus where they deserve to be... As for the critics, it’ll be one of those moments where we can be really British and not say anything about it 😏

Edited January 29, 2019 by auRouge
Typo

[au-yt]

Williams and Lotus, have a look at this Jag engine and drive train by Williams.. yes please very tasty

 

Edited January 30, 2019 by au-yt

[NedaSay]

20 hours ago, auRouge said:

There’s a multimillion investment from abroad... people with resources that don’t accept anything but success. 

Theyll pull it off and put Lotus where they deserve to be... As for the critics, it’ll be one of those moments where we can be really British and not say anything about it 😏

I'm also very confident they will I just had a look at the interior on their new FY11 and if that parts bin is available to Lotus I don't really know how they could mess it up. Here's the interior of the Geely SUV coupé 

Not going to lie, I was enthusiastic when the rumour of Geely was floating, the confirmation of the deal made me happy. But seeing Geely products now, I'm downright excited to see how Lotus will incorporate their stuff.  Geely is obviously hunting the BMW crowd... I find this interior down right classy and stylish

Edited January 30, 2019 by NedaSay

[auRouge]

It’s a perfect match. My X5’s days are numbered! 

[Jeanvm]

I wonder if I would swap a BMW for a Lotus in the future. Not if it's an SUV but maybe if it's a 4 door coupé. (don't understand the hype for SUV's)

[100th_Idiot]

2 hours ago, Jeanvm said:

I wonder if I would swap a BMW for a Lotus in the future. Not if it's an SUV but maybe if it's a 4 door coupé. (don't understand the hype for SUV's)

You can do that today. 😉