Future of Lotus

[au-yt]

6 hours ago, Ccd said:

Am I the only one who is sick and tired of multi-million dollar hyper cars???  Who cares???  You will only likely see the car in a YouTube or magazine.  The few that are sold will sit in collector’s garages.  And the following month, the public will probably be teased by another unobtainable hypercar from yet another car maker.

FAR more interesting would be an attempt to bring hypercar tech to a more affordable price point.  We can argue about the success of Honda’s attempt, but at least Honda did try to bring some hypercar tech to the NSX at a far more reasonable price point.

Lotus does not need a hypercar, the brand needs to update and expand its current line-up.  A hypercar is just a distraction

I have always wanted a small exotic, and the V6 Exige comes close as the performance is there, but the styling could be more radical.

The big issue is for the car to be rest of world market car, its to small and to hard for the US market to get into and there by lies the conundrum. 

Edited March 27, 2019 by au-yt

[C8RKH]

1 hour ago, au-yt said:

I have always wanted a small exotic, and the V6 Exige comes close as the performance is there, but the styling could be more radical.

You could always buy a road legal Radical!  That's on my list too!

[au-yt]

Good idea but their New Evora money in Australia

By way of the Australian luxury car tax....

Edited March 27, 2019 by au-yt

[CharlieBrown]

On 26/03/2019 at 05:39, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

New Evora priced vehicle is due to be announced end 2020. Still quite a long wait then.

Really?...I think you mean end of 2019.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

No the reporter says it will be "unveiled at the end 2020" at 1minute 52 seconds in.

[CharlieBrown]

Yes, you are right... but it is supposed to be a new car not a new Evora?

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

As I stated: Evora priced vehicle.

[Bee]

I think that was for the US market. The same model should be out earlier in the UK...

[CharlieBrown]

Yes, probably the US bound vehicle will be at dealers by Fall 2021 the earliest. The Lotus way. LOL!

[au-yt]

This is indirectly linked to the title of the thread but interesting none the less and it explains why Geely have a vest interest in Daimler.

Micro electric LOTUS version of the roadster would be fun,

Smart and Geely, an Idea Whose Time Has Come

Daimler-Benz’s microcar brand Smart has had a weird week. First, reports surface that the parent company’s new CEO has no love for this money-losing venture and may cut it loose. Then we hear Geely, the Chinese automaker on a buying streak as of late, may be interested too.

Now today we learn that officially, Daimler and Geely will transform Smart into a Chinese-built electric car brand in a new joint venture. Via Automotive News:

The Smart microcar brand will be expanded into the subcompact segment and will build all future models in China for global markets in a joint venture owned by Daimler and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.

The 50-50 joint venture will build a new generation of Smart models in a purpose-built electric-car factory in China with global sales due to begin in 2022, Daimler said in a news release on Thursday.

Daimler will share its expertise in manufacturing, engineering and design with Geely. Mercedes designers will style future Smart vehicles and Geely will engineer them.

As part of the vehicle-development program, the Smart product portfolio will be extended into the “fast-growing” B- (subcompact) segment, Daimler said.

Daimler and Geely did not disclose financial terms of the deal. The details of the joint venture will be finalized by the end of this year, the companies said.

As that story notes, Smart has been “racking up losses” since it launched in the late 1990s and only sold 1,276 cars in the United States last year. It now only sells electric cars here.

So why China, and why EVs?

Daimler is betting young, city-dwelling consumers in China, the world’s largest auto market, to help rejuvenate the brand. Financial analysts Evercore ISI estimates Smart loses as much as 700 million euros ($787 million) annually.

The high cost of electric car batteries has made it hard for automakers to build affordable zero-emissions vehicles, leading several of them to strike alliances with Chinese partners. Daimler’s German rival BMW recently unveiled plans to build electric Minis in China, where production costs are low and demand for small electric cars is rising.

The Smart ForTwo and ForFour will continue production in France and Slovenia until 2022. After that, they’re off to Geely.

[C8RKH]

5 hours ago, au-yt said:

The Smart ForTwo and ForFour will continue production in France and Slovenia until 2022. After that, they’re off to Geely.

Now if that news right now was about Smart moving production from UK to China the reasons would all be down to Brexit. Funny that....

No positive big news has really been pushed out about Lotus investing in Hethel. What, 400, 500 plus new jobs? Yet JLR, Honda etc job losses and it's everywhere and all blamed on one thing.

[au-yt]

From ML's comments to me recently, they are setting up for more employees before they recruit,  initially with a larger canteen which is in the same building the Heritage center.

 

[NedaSay]

Never saw this render before. Is this going to be the final look of the skeleton building left by the DB administration?

this one is from the latest Top Gear piece, that has very little in terms of fresh info: https://www.topgear.com/car-news/electric/lotuss-future-new-sports-car-platform-and-electric-hypercar

Edited March 29, 2019 by NedaSay

[CharlieBrown]

"In 2018, Lotus sold 1,630 cars. Popham believes the current facility has the ability to produce 5,000, and told us he has spent the past five months “agreeing the strategy and investment to deliver that”

High expectations from Popham. The ability to produce 5000 units does not equal sales.

[Nelly]

10 hours ago, C8RKH said:

No positive big news has really been pushed out about Lotus investing in Hethel. What, 400, 500 plus new jobs? Yet JLR, Honda etc job losses and it's everywhere and all blamed on one thing.

JLR's woes are widely known to be down to the slump in China but no one wants to blame poor sales when you can jump on the bandwagon.  Reminds me when Wedgwood pottery closed a factory and blamed it on 9/11. 

[Spinney]

And Honda stated very clearly that the Swindon plant closure had nothing to do with Brexit either.

[NedaSay]

1 hour ago, CharlieBrown said:

"In 2018, Lotus sold 1,630 cars. Popham believes the current facility has the ability to produce 5,000, and told us he has spent the past five months “agreeing the strategy and investment to deliver that”

High expectations from Popham. The ability to produce 5000 units does not equal sales.

No but being able to shift the entire portfolio globally may equal sales,  A platform that is global with a three or four prongs line up should get Lotus there. 

[CharlieBrown]

Yes, but not until the new line up is out there....that is at least 5 yrs from now. Lotus will have a new Boss in 5 yrs.

[NedaSay]

Maybe so, but Lotus will have the same ownership in the foreseeable future, with adequate funding and realistically an even more aggressive second 5 year plan...  Hence the company has every reason to gear up now to get to that hypothetical 5000 cars per annum number sooner than later... The completion of the new staff restaurant and the building hall and as far as I know the new customer centre set to be completed next summer goes to prepare that. 

The product line up was never going to be revamped within two years of the purchase, Geely did not do it at Volvo and it was even slower at LEVC. Getting a new model actually within 3 years of the purchase even if it is actually an "Evora+" or actually "Evora-" ( Exige replacement to compete with the Boxster/Cayman) and planned under the previous management is actually unprecedented and bodes well...

Yes I know we all want customer and fans alike the new car here and now and we've all been here before but the difference is that this time there is very serious investment and Lotus is owned by the newest and best connected global player out there, and this player is in here not as a care taker like some have done before but has an investor playing the long game and bullish about establishing all their companies as powerhouses...

Geely took nearly 20 years to produce a 1M vehicles per annum, they want Proton to reach 1M cars in the ASEAN within 10 years. They are in the place and are putting in the time. I trust their business acumen because at this point they are proven builders. 

[C8RKH]

57 minutes ago, Spinney said:

And Honda stated very clearly that the Swindon plant closure had nothing to do with Brexit either.

Whilst its workers blamed Brexit, unless the Guardian just decided to blame Brexit anyway :)

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/feb/18/carmaker-honda-plans-to-close-swindon-factory-reports

[Spinney]

It's no great surprise that the workers blamed Brexit. It's a very convenient scapegoat at the moment for anything that happens and which people don't like. Honda, however, have categorically stated their decision has nothing to do with Brexit.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/honda-swindon-plant-closes-cuts-a8785876.html

[scotty435]

1 hour ago, CharlieBrown said:

Yes, but not until the new line up is out there....that is at least 5 yrs from now. Lotus will have a new Boss in 5 yrs.

Wow so much for supporting the new owners and there vested interest in keeping a iconic brand as going concern, please tell me what they have done wrong so far? 

[T_Exige]

Nvm April fools 🤪

Edited April 1, 2019 by T_Exige

[NedaSay]

https://www.autocar.co.uk/opinion/industry/opinion-life-returning-lotus-last

https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/lotus-ceo-popham-plans-product-expansion

Edited April 2, 2019 by NedaSay

[Jeanvm]

I love to read that: "It will be a car that is within the price band that we have today in our range of products. It's going to have all you'd expect of a Lotus in terms of its DNA, which is about performance. It's about on-road and on-track handling and dynamics."

And in 3 or 4 years I am intent to buy a normal car so I like to read that: "Popham says Lotus will deliver more mainstream vehicles — possibly an SUV or a sports sedan — on this condition: Any such new product must preserve Lotus' tradition of lightweight and exemplary handling."

Wait and see.