Future of Lotus

[Techyd]

Slightly off topic but in this months 'Magneto' for those that get this magazine there's a two page Lotus ad!

Its a picture of a dead straight road cutting through the countryside...the tag line in the middle reads "Bloody Romans" and in the bottom right is the (new) Lotus logo and 'For the Drivers'

So....they are spending some money on marketing!! @The Pits !  This is possibly the first I've seen outside of  Lotus magazine in some time!

[Bibs]

[The Pits]

Obviously a brand ad that might cause a few wry smiles but not very effective on its own. Brand press ads are like bricks, of limited use on their own but you can build something substantial with them over time. A brilliant product ad helps sell the thing plus build the brand at the same time but that art has been largely unlearned by the ad industry. At least this ad requires some decoding, helps build affinity and credits the reader with some intelligence, a rare thing for a car ad these days. Most seem completely at ease with just showing a picture of the car, mere awareness. What is usually lacking and what Lotus really needs are reasons to buy their cars, compelling, thought provoking arguments succintly and memorably made, ideally with some wit and charm.

A lot to ask for most marketing departments these days but as you can see, work that people respond to is easily shared. In a sea of mediocrity, the rewards for raising the bar are greater than ever. Trouble is, Zuckerberg can tell you how many people click on your FB ad, what time of day they did so, what they had for breakfast that morning and what colour underwear they are wearing so that's where most of the money goes these days. Because it's so targeted it's assumed that the viewer is already interested in what you have to sell so they do away with intrigue, insight and charm entirely.

[KAS-118]

Well I guess the immediate future is that as they've just bought out a 'new' version of the Evora, quickly followed by a limited Edition Elise, they should be bring out an Exige soon.....

[NedaSay]

The limited edition Elise is Australia only and possibly a request from the Australian importer... Phil's Evora is possibly the model that they should have never discontinued. Exige is still the biggest seller in the range.  The recent ad in a step in a possible direction but  they will need to up the ante something fierce to get traction... 

[The Pits]

Today’s Valentine’s Facebook ad is dreadful. I know it’s throwaway thing of little consequence but contrary to a popular misconception a pun is not a creative idea. It’s what lazy creatives resort to when they have no idea. This one is painful, non-sensical, amateurish and de-values the brand. The budget needs to be more wisely spent. Shame when there are so many really good agencies out there who would love to work for Lotus and a good agency wouldn’t have let this leave the building.

On a more positive note the plans for the next car if they are able to deliver them are for a much more exotic car than a Cayman. The Evora platform is exceptionally good in my experience and I the idea of a sleek 2 seater Evora based sports car has been very appealing since Dany Bahar's day. It could well turn out to be much more of a 'baby' McLaren than a Cayman clone. If so that is an area I am much happier for Lotus to be exploring. Lots can and will happen between now and launch. Evija's success will have a major influence on what happens next I'm sure. If successful it will embolden the engineering and design teams. If it goes the way of the T125 then some major changes will be taking place, further delays and the end result is very likely to be 'safer' and less bold because that's what has proven to work for that P company.

[Bibs]

[geartox]

Do you know if Lotus will be present at the Geneva Motorshow 2020 ?

[Bibs]

They wont be. 

[geartox]

Ok thank you.

[C8RKH]

12 hours ago, Bibs said:

Sorry but thought as marketing goes that is utter shite!  Just ain't feeling the love at all.

[Barrykearley]

That’s harsh - there’s a 13yr old spotty kid at the local school who’s now mortified you shitcanned their hard work

[C8RKH]

Well that kid should be thankful I was in a good mood and only gave him an E- as opposed to an F!

Sometimes I do find it hard to love Lotus as a company, I do love their cars, brand and heritage though.

[ChrisJ]

1 hour ago, C8RKH said:

Sorry but thought as marketing goes that is utter shite!  Just ain't feeling the love at all.

Glad it isn't just me then.

[Stubox]

16 hours ago, Bibs said:

[NedaSay]

Uh they were not set to be in Geneva, but by the look of it they may not be able to attend Beijing either. 

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/motor-shows-beijing-motor-show/beijing-motor-show-likely-be-postponed-due-coronavirus

Do we know if they are going to attend Goodwood? it has sort of become their default event.

[Stubox]

Goodwood though never a cheap venue as you need to have a decent pitch and build would be a good place to see the Evora based car , especially as their ‘home’ market show looks to be postponed. 

[stephenwhyte]

The situation is real simple - Lotus have nothing new to show the public just yet.....they will have at the end of the year and that’s when you’ll see what they have in the pipeline no matter how much people moan for it to happen earlier.

So there’s no point in attending Geneva, Beijing, Goodwood (unless they want to show their current wares).......so can we just give them space to try and take a company that’s been stuck in the 90’s for the last 30 years and wait until they are ready to move the business forward!

It won’t be too much longer - first step next year, with new Evora based platform car and we will see the Evija in full form.....maybe even earlier than this.Thereafter new models will follow and realistically we will see them in ‘22.

Their situation is not something that can be changed overnight, but let’s just be thankful that Lotus are on the rise once more and better times are ahead👍

#forthedrivers

[Barrykearley]

I’m just hoping it is #forthedrivers  and it doesn’t just become #fortheveryveryrichdrivers.

[blindside]

Fair enough comment Stephen & obviously most, if not all of us on here are committed Lotus fans who genuinely care about the marque.
However, some constructive feedback around the current marketing approach can only be useful for the leadership team at Hethel. 
After a really positive 70th anniversary event, (& a real groundswell of support for the brand), much of what has happened since has been confusing to say the least and amateurish at worst. (With the notable exception of the noise generated around the Evija which to be fair will be in a very rarified niche). 
It does not in any way match the well defined and telegraphed model differentiation & ‘roadmap’ information output from their competitors. It’s an approach that was excusable pre-Geely, but surely not now.
I’m no marketing expert but an information vacuum that’s occasionally filled with superficial noise and confusing model makeovers does not cut it. Things need to improve significantly. This criticism is surely valid; especially when it’s coming from Lotus core customers who in the past have shelled out for new cars & might/might not do so again. If Lotus genuinely wish to survive & prosper they need to establish & maintain a much stronger relationship with their customers at every stage of the ownership cycle. Sadly that’s not the case. Although it was a little haphazard in my experience the CRM process actually seemed to work better pre-Geely.

[Barrykearley]

I’d say they need some new models desperately - but Porsche have managed to spew out the same stuff for decades which folks buy and fight over 

[C8RKH]

The third one still looks the best. Lovely shape.

[mdavies]

No comment yet from the heavyweights here?  Re Popham's quote in the March EVO (271), p39 re the new range:

"..........appeal to a much larger audience tomorrow. And electrification will be key to this. Lotus will offer a level of electrification on all future cars and it's our learnings from Evija that will allow us to do this."   (No mis-typing: "Evija," not "the Evija". Better get on message everybody, it's a whole mind-set.)

But, more significantly, I'm taking "all future cars" to include the forthcoming Evora chassis sports car.

So saving for my 430 redoubled.

  

 

[Likuid]

I swear I read or heard somewhere that the "stop gap" car will be petrol only.

[Loquacious Lew]

^I thought so too.  Petrol car was my last understanding but nobody tells us anything.  

If the '21-22 car is based on the Evora platform hopefully they'll keep the name and make the best one ever.  The platform has earned that and renaming the car isn't important.   The Evora is finally getting a little traction here in the form of the GT. Not huge, but better.  A lot of guerrilla warfare has been waged on behalf of the Evora.  If it is a 400 pus horsepower car,  calling it an Elan (which I also thought I heard was possible) would be a waste of a lot of You Tube videos.  

I have a lot of thoughts and questions  about this interim car as we all do.