The team running Lotus’s turnaround doesn’t seem to mind being perceived as overambitious. The British outfit is developing an IndyCar engine, a family of V6 and V8 engines for its road car, and is considering building an engine for F1… and that’s in addition to developing a modular platform (and everything else) for five different world-class performance luxury cars. And on a certain level, there’s nothing wrong with a little brashness, especially if the goal is to turn a tiny specialty marque into a Porsche-beater. But when it comes to announcing product, Lotus’s over-eagerness does real harm to the firm’s prospects. [Gallery after the jump]
After all, high-end performance car buyers are used to a slow tease of future products: the spy shots and Nordschleife testing videos that prove not only that a sportscar has been relentlessly developed, but is also attracting attention from the paparazzi of the car world. By showing five designs for new cars at once, Lotus has denied itself the opportunity to seduce a client base, instead simply throwing itself at the market and demanding acceptance. With new official pictures of the Elise, Elan, Esprit and Elite (all of which will be on the market by 2016, according to Lotus) posing around the Los Angeles area, we have another opportunity to be taken in by this audacious attempt… but if Lotus doesn’t inspire the market with these designs now (and they do have a way of blending together), what more will they be able to bring to the table later? Unsurpassed performance? Value pricing? A ‘ring Record? Or just the desire to compete with some of the most lusted-after brands in the world?
Lotus is in dire need to show they have a game plan. Which is why they’ve shown so many cars. How many of them will actually get to market is still a question.
Lotus will also be fielding two F1 teams next year with the purchase of Renault F1. Their F1 engine may be from Mecachrome as Renault seems to be pulling out of the sport (Renault engines are built be Mecachrome).
Mecachrome is also is serious need of cash right now so a Lotus deal would be ideal, and their engines lead Vettel and Red Bull to a world championship this year. But F1 has shown itself time and time again that its a horrible marketing tool.
As far as their V6 and V8 engines they’ll likely be based on Toyota engines re-branded as a Lotus. They’ve already shown a Camry based 4L V6 dry-sump that makes 400-470hp, and they’ll have a 620hp 5L V8 based on the ISF, but enough changes will be made to call it a “Lotus”.
Lotus has a history of calling modified engines their own as the Lotus 900 series engines were modified Vauxhall engines, but were marketed as a Lotus engine. Lotus Twin-Cams were also based on Ford Capri blocks with Lotus designed double overhead camshaft.
Lotus still does have an efficient and cost-effective strategy. Lotus really has the single VVA platform and a line of modified engines from Toyota that they can make into a wide range of vehicles. Their efforts in F1, and other sports, are just marketing tools. Its an ideal method of building sport cars with strong margins.
In this increasingly internet and blog-centric enthusiast car culture, Lotus will have no problem getting PR for every little new revision of the 5 different Lotus models. Also the influential car British magazines will play their part as cheerleaders.
The Elite looks swell. The Esprit looks like a Gallardo look-alike kit car, unfortunately.
The phrase that comes to mind is “destined to fail.” I hope to be wrong on that, but this just reminds me of so many tech companies that had a bajillion semi-related good ideas, then tried to do all of them simultaneously, stretching their resources too thin and leading to failure on all fronts.
The only thing wrong with the photos is my house isn’t in the background. I’d love to have any/all of these cars.
Yeah, that’s because it’s my house, so get off my lawn, kid!
What boring, derivative designs. They all look like an F430, Gallardo, and R8 mashed together.
They look good to me, especially the Elite. Nothing boring about any of them IMHO.
These cars sound like good ideas to me. If I were in the market I would definitely check out an Elise before a Cayman or w/e. All the armchair purists are just that, so their dollarless opinions don’t matter anyway
Toyota/Lexus took 10 years for the LF-A. Nissan took 8 years for the GT-R with the 911-Turbo as a benchmark.
If Lotus can deliver a car that performs anything like those two in 5 years I’ll be amazed.