Future of Lotus

[NedaSay]

So what is is going to be? A car or just the unveil of the business plan to the journos and the upper management of Geely group, This would be only a formal thing as the upper management is already in the know. 

Lotus will be part of the Geely Group showcase alongside Volvo, Polestar, Lynk & Co... so a show car would be expected from them, but what is it going to be? That yellow smoke teaser would lead me to believe that it would be an internal combustion car and not an EV because EV don't smoke much except for the tires they destroy, it would be weird to introduce Project Omega in a yellow puff of smoke. 

Popham said a car would be shown in 2020, so that is not it, unless he lied, but that would not be a great first move, so that thing they are unveiling would be something else... They wouldn't dare bringing a simple refresh would they? Even a super high performance version of Evora or Exige would not cut it at this point. Unveiling the SUV prototype would be a rational move if the factory is to be ready in 2021.

There's also a thing about Lotus finally being able to ditch the Chinese only the "Lotus NYO" moniker to revert to just being Lotus and opening a slew of dealerships in the Middle Kingdom.

[Smapmap]

I reckon it will be the much anticipated Lotus 4x4.

[Bee]

It 'could' be a concept car - gauge reactions to new styling cues etc. 

 

I wouldn't be surprised to see the interim model. It all kind of depends on when exactly it is going to be out - 2020 or 2021. If it's the former then you could absolutely see it being shown one year before; if it's the latter, it would be unusual to be showing it two years before release.

 

I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the hypercar: it's very obviously a halo model, intended to say, 'Look at what we're now capable of delivering!' If a halo's job is to look shiny, incredible and draw the attention, then you would imagine that Geely would quite like to be giving such a car a debut on their home turf. It would be a confident statement of intent. At Geneva, the hypercars completely dominated the press. Looking at Aston Martin's stand, you'd be forgiven for assuming they were packing in GTs to go head-to-head with Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti and McLaren at the dynamic top end of the market. The Koenigsegg Jesko and Pininfarina Battista  were all over every Geneva article and YouTube vid. I'm sure Geely would like to be capturing international column inches, and video report minutes, about the Shanghai show in a similar manner. Likewise, every other manufacturer was exceptionally keen to show their forays into, and commitment towards, electric drivetrains...

 

It could be some exciting upgrades for the current range; they have some way to go before the all-new models on the new platform arrive. It's not as if Lotus's competitors will be standing still for the next 3 years! I doubt they'll want sales significantly dipping in that time so it can't 'all' be down to the interim model.

 

Regardless, if they release a date wreathed in swirling smoke, sparking excitement and anticipation, and then just give an overview of the 5-year plan, I think that would be more than a little disappointing...

[jonwat]

From today's Times:

5 Lotus Cars will use China’s premier motor show in Shanghai today to unveil plans for a £1 million-plus all-electric hypercar. The new car will be the basis of a seven-year plan that aims to put the heritage brand of British sports cars on a par with Aston Martin and McLaren.

Edited April 15, 2019 by jonwat

[silverfrost]

That sounds fantastic,  The words hyper car and lotus blend well,  its about time,  hope to god they call it the Esprit 

If they have brains they should of used the JPS livery for the show......

[mdavies]

20 minutes ago, jonwat said:

From today's Times:

5 Lotus Cars will use China’s premier motor show in Shanghai today to unveil plans for a £1 million-plus Disappointing all-electric hypercar.   The new car will be the basis of a seven-year Disappointing plan that aims to put the heritage brand of British sports cars on a par with Aston Martin and McLaren. Disappointing.

Added my comments into original thus. Hope within rules.

[Bibs]

Why would you say that when you have no idea about what any of it is until tomorrow?

[mdavies]

Bibs, £1m plus, 7 years, McLaren and Aston Martin.  That is said to be the harbinger of The Plan - not just that car.  Enough, surely!

Yes, I'll take a look tomorrow, casually, but essentially the start of waving goodbye from my world. 

On a positive note, I guess it adds to the value of current models in eyes such as mine.

Edited April 15, 2019 by mdavies

[C8RKH]

2 minutes ago, mdavies said:

Bibs, £1m plus, 7 years, McLaren and Aston Martin.  That is said to be the harbinger of the plan - not just that car.  Enough, surely!

Yes, I'll take a look tomorrow, casually, but essentially the start of waving goodbye from my world. 

Along with the recent quotes from Popham around "affordability" and maintaining price points?

Oooops, sorry, forgot I was the internet and needed to be all doom and gloom :)

I'll not be in the market for a £1m hyper car either, however, I might just be tempted by a cracking new car, around £80-£120k IF it does not have a bloody +2 configuration lol.....

[mdavies]

My comments are on that quoted paragraph - deliberately!  Not on what might or might not be said tomorrow.

[electro_boy]

It’s like you’re going out your way to be upset. 

You have every right to be pessimistic about the direction that Lotus may head towards in the future and if that suits your personal preference or not. 

But to me the small snippets of news are positive. 

They are aiming for the cars to stay on the current affordability level. Aiming to keep the cars with their current character but make them more useable.

New hyper car to improve the brand image and presence. Sure I’m never going to ever get anywhere near to affording one but there is still their current line up and future line up that will still interest the current crowd.  We know very little about the hyper car, for all we know it could be a class leader? Why dismiss it already with almost no knowledge about it? 

[C8RKH]

Maybe Porsche will stop building the 911 to focus on the hyper car replacement for the 918.

And of course with £1m+ Aston Valkyrie and McLaren P1 they'll not be making their cheaper cars either?

Lotus does get a good knocking on here whatever they do.

[DaveC72]

New season of Game of Thrones, Avengers End Game, Star Wars "The Rise of Skywalker" teaser and now a proper (at least on the face of it ) Lotus announcement at a major car show?

I am, to all intents and purposes, squealing in a most un-masculine manner this April.

After the almost weekly special editions of the JMG Era, I'm kind of excited... there's been lots of infrastructure announcements... now hopefully for the real deal.  I'm off to sacrifice a goat.

[Barrykearley]

6 hours ago, C8RKH said:

IF it does not have a bloody +2 configuration lol.....

Ahhh fret not - that +4 suv configuration is on its way 👍

[C8RKH]

1 hour ago, Barrykearley said:

Ahhh fret not - that +4 suv configuration is on its way 👍

Arrrrrggggghhhhhhhh! 😜

[Advantage]

I'm not sure it's enough to make the cars useable or even affordable. They have to be desirable too. And right now there isn't much that fulfills that criteria. All change please. 

[au-yt]

https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1120322_lotus-kicks-off-revival-with-confirmation-of-electric-hypercar

Obviously my posts (3off) as i found them today are in contravention with something on this form because they have all been deleted and they were news related

Edited April 16, 2019 by au-yt

[Bibs]

 

[red vtec]

So is the Evora now the "Halo" model for Lotus?

[Bibs]

I'd imagine the £1m electric hypercar will be the halo model mate. 

[C8RKH]

2 hours ago, au-yt said:

https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1120322_lotus-kicks-off-revival-with-confirmation-of-electric-hypercar

Obviously my posts (3off) as i found them today are in contravention with something on this form because they have all been deleted and they were news related

They may have been moved to a different thread - hopefully one of the Mods will confirm.

[Bibs]

There's a link to the posts in the correct thread right below that post.

[NedaSay]

Considering the amount of unimpeded coverage Lotus has been getting in the past 12 hours... I would considering that unveil a success. The GT4 Concept is clearly destined to flatter the Chinese market, Opening a new Driver Academy that ties in the work that Geely is already doing over there is great. It is still not a commitment to a full motorsport return though, which is what we really want don't... Hopefully some teams jump in to get this thing on track PB Racing, VSA motorsport...

The Type 130 is going to be an amazing piece of kit by the look of it and the words of Pistonheads!! My understanding is that Type 130 is the successor of the 3-Eleven that JMG was reportedly wanted to bring to market... It is indeed going to make it to market with an electric powertrain that includes an AWD system and a dress that will be very very revealing if we just go by the air movement of the CFD imaging Lotus has put out for all to see : 

Now one question, how heavy light is this Lotus going to be? The journos are adamant the car will have no less than 1000bhp and be good for 250 miles before a charge ; for something about as long as an Evora so 4,30m long and almost 2m wide. Should we start a poll for the weight of the thing ? 

The fact that the new management is massively investing in the brand history is great. The new website may still be in an interim stage but it is really looking the part, there again a good use of the infrastructure provided by Geely group. It seems the new management and Classic team Lotus have been working together closely on the launch of GT4 Concept as a lot of the media content provided has been shot at CLT new workshop and a lot of memorabilia on the stand is actually also coming from CLT. 

The future looks bright. Can't wait for the London display.

Edited April 16, 2019 by NedaSay

[Likuid]

This is why I disagree with people who say that the hypercar is a terrible idea. Yes, most of us here can't afford it. The goal of the hypercar is not to make money directly. In fact I won't be shocked if it loses them money (directly). Honestly a hypercar is probably the cheapest (relatively speaking), quickest and easiest way to bring Lotus back into prominence. The only way this won't work is if its a terrible car. That way when the new line-up launches or 4 years Lotus will have some clout. Will the hypercar fix all of Lotus' issues? No, Lotus still needs better dealership networks, especially in the U.S. I don't think Lotus is oblivious to this. However to get new dealers or a better network they need cars for the dealers to sell, but the cars also need to actually sell. The hypercar helps this. You can't afford the new Lotus hypercar, but you can afford the new Elise, Evora or Esprit (whatever they would be called).

[Advantage]

Weight of the hypercar? If it comes in at under two tonnes it's doing well. I'd suggest around 1800kgs depending on dimensions.