Future of Lotus

[NedaSay]

He must be and well connected too  in the Chinese higher circles of power

[C8RKH]

On 24/09/2018 at 06:38, silverfrost said:

Did not know Geely owned Daimler, just had to look up what products they do after a 9 billion purchase lol.

They own just about 10% of Daimler I believe, not the whole company.  That 9bn was the cost of the 10% stake.

Agree re no return to F1, Formula E - well, I've only watched one race and was so underwhelmed not been back since.  WEC and the LeMans series absolutely - LMP, GT2/3/4 etc woo hoo. I'll be watching and supporting....

[electro_boy]

OHHH I would love to see Lotus back in motorsport!  I know they have their roots in F1 but these days I associate them with sports car racing so would prefer to see them in a GT* series not F1.

[KAS-118]

Latest Article from Autocar https://www.autocar.co.uk/opinion/tester’s-notes/matt-prior-what-does-future-hold-lotus

[Nathan Pitman]

So the Geely Borui has a 3.5 litre engine (276bhp) and they also offer it with a 7 speed DCT. Interesting.

Edited September 28, 2018 by Nathan Pitman

[DarrylV8]

A very good starting point, similar power to S1 Evora

[electro_boy]

I guess its not bad.  But isn't the 2GR-FE getting on for over 8 years old now?  How old is the Geely V6 engine?  There must have been some advances in engine tech (apart from better turbos) that means a new V6 engine can push out more (not that any one is silly enough to launch a new naturally aspirated engine  these days).  Or have we learnt everything there is to NA engines and the only advancement is with forced induction systems?

[KAS-118]

New Customer Experience Centre http://www.edp24.co.uk/business/norfolk-lotus-heritage-centre-and-museum-expansion-1-5714893

[harrry]

1 hour ago, KAS-118 said:

New Customer Experience Centre http://www.edp24.co.uk/business/norfolk-lotus-heritage-centre-and-museum-expansion-1-5714893

Great news, investment in Hethel. Looks brilliant. Well done to the new management!

[Nathan Pitman]

If you’ve ever been to Mercedes Benz world in Weybridge, a Lotus equivalent that is free would be a great day out and a neat way to build awareness of the brand with a younger audience. 

[NedaSay]

3 hours ago, KAS-118 said:

New Customer Experience Centre http://www.edp24.co.uk/business/norfolk-lotus-heritage-centre-and-museum-expansion-1-5714893

I like the plan a lot but it does remind me of another plan very similar from not that long ago - DB fanboys show yourselves - albeit this is sold in a much more cohesive manner and with more water... It looks like the historical  control tower is going to get a make over while the Lotus Motorsport building is going to be deconstructed to make room for the new customer experience centre? The place is going to feel greener and a lot more "corporate"...  Making factories more scenic has been a trend in the industrie  for a while, McLaren, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and Ferrari have turned their headquarters in "theatres", there was no reason for Lotus not to follow the same path, especially when it was to follow that same path during the DB short lived tenure.

Now, since the Motorsport building is set for demolition it seems and the new CEO wants Lotus to go back to motorsport and certainly got the go ahead from the highers up at Geely in order to do so... Where will they run that project from? 

Hey cool kids who are going to the 70th... If there are scale models of the campus on display tomorrow could you please be so kind to take pics and post them here for poor little (not old yet) me, it would be much appreciated.

[Chillidoggy]

Nice to read the phrase ‘improvements to access’ in the article. 

[NedaSay]

Architecture by Feilden+Mawson LLP

Sensible architecture I'd say, stylish and not too ostentatious and the new structure are probably going to be built mostly offsite to obtain a  a very quick delivery and minimal inconvenience to staff. 

[webfoot]

White new bits

[NedaSay]

Thank you Richard!

[drdoom]

Just read the piece announcing the development plans for Hethel. Excellent news!! Bravo to the new owner group for such vision, bravo to the faithful staff and alumni whose proven expertise and dedication to a brilliant heritage assures nothing less than resounding success. Thank you one and all.
Looking forward to my next visit to Hethel!
Steve

[Bibs]

https://www.lotuscars.com/jobs-and-careers-at-lotus

13 pages of jobs!

[ramjet]

So I wonder how many of the good people that Lotus said goodbye to over the last few years will throw their hats in the ring?

On 22/09/2018 at 04:27, hedgerley said:

You beat me to it. Any excuse, any thread, however tenuous the link, I post links to the Bahar Elite concept and, I believe, a market Lotus should address seriously i.e. me in a few years when my knees and hips have gone and I can't cope with the Esprit anymore...... 

 

I have to agree with you. I would buy one of these in a heartbeat.

[Arregueti]

Quote

Practical experience of vehicle dynamics steering (EPAS,EHPAS,HPAS) development

 

Hm. This is part of the "essential criteria" for some of the posts, though. I guess it is part of the future and a pill we will have to swallow. Hopefully it will not apply to all new products.

 

There is a full range of different profiles, too. Looks bright.

[NedaSay]

5 hours ago, Bibs said:

https://www.lotuscars.com/jobs-and-careers-at-lotus

13 pages of jobs!

Interesting, I guess the written commitment in cold hard cash has been made and the management now knows exactly where it's heading. I really hope some of the position to be filled will only affect the luxury vehicles and not the sportcars but I guess with tech components which are getting ever lighter  and loom integration it will eventually happen.

Also interesting that some job descriptions do not include specific location, I guess some positions will be located in Coventry, others possibly in Chengdu, We already have one position for commodity manager to be based in Gotenburg on the Geely (Volvo / CEVT/ Lynk & Co) campus I guess this could be the first of many. 

Still this is all good news to see close to 150 job position to be filled  soon if not already, they better get cracking on the renovation and new buildings.

[swindon_alan]

It's awesome news but I'm left wondering where this large number of highly skilled niche employees are going to come from? I know nothing about the automotive technology/design/production workpool, so is it a question of poaching them from other companies? Or recruiting from abroad?

[NedaSay]

1 minute ago, swindon_alan said:

It's awesome news but I'm left wondering where this large number of highly skilled niche employees are going to come from? I know nothing about the automotive technology/design/production workpool, so is it a question of poaching them from other companies? Or recruiting from abroad?

I see no problem in poaching, but isn't the engineering pool in the Uk super deep? I'm pretty sure that with the number of companies involved in the automotive sector there will be no problem sourcing the bulk of them from the UK and for the moment it is still sort of easy for Europeans to get hired... 

[swindon_alan]

Plus I guess that the majority will either have to be in reach of Hethel/stay during the week/move there/want to be in that part of the country...

[NedaSay]

I would not exclude some of former staff coming back, especially if the package is competitive... Geely doesn't seem phased by the Brexit talks, Lotus being very small and an aspirational luxury brand may be less impacted by the spectre of the no deal that is looming ...  With a quite a few jobs that could be relocated to Coventry eventually, Lotus could poach to their heart content in the BMW/MINI and the JLR pools of engineer.

[Bibs]

Engineers tend to want to work on the latest, best funded, most exciting projects. I'd imagine they'll be plenty knocking on Lotus HQ's door in the coming months.