Viewing 15 posts - 41 through 55 (of 55 total)
  • Goodbye Lotus!
  • hora
    Free Member

    Doesnt the Lotus Elise come with a ejector-tree finder option?

    Blamed on a supplier rather than design flaw

    Solo
    Free Member

    Now if they brought out a reasonably priced, competitive spec warm/hot range of saloons I reckon they could sell some cars. The cost of development and tooling up just seems too great though. It’s a shame they haven’t teamed up with Jag to produce some smaller BMW 1 and 3 series competitors

    Arguably, that was the market for Proton, the parent company.

    The issues, ime, were more fundamental. Extremely poor middle management, politics, misguided adherence to “this is what we’ve always done” and “its good enough”, when obviously it very much wasn’t.
    There were some shocking types there in positions they really shouldn’t have been in, imo.

    Clean slate and the brand might just be salvageable, but as it was when I was there. No chance, when you can get, for similar money.
    A metal bodied car, with an interior which employs contemporary materials and production techniques. That goes and handles very well.
    As before, with 50K burning a hole in my wallet, then between an Evora and an equivalent Porsche. It would be the Porsche for me.

    footflaps
    Full Member

    I can see the appeal as a track car, but as a road going car it just seemed horrible compared to, say, an entry level Porsche, which is far more refined and reliable. I’m amazed they’ve lasted this long.

    Solo
    Free Member

    I’m amazed they’ve lasted this long.

    They didn’t, the patient has been in the ICU for a long time, being supported by the parent company.

    In my time there, there were 6 Esprit replacement programs launched. None ever made it to market. All that money, those opportunities, wasted.

    Shandy
    Free Member

    Their problem is that their only real strength is the driving experience and “bang for your buck”. They have to be considerably cheaper than cars with equivalent performance from larger manufacturers, because they can’t level the playing field on specification. If you take their cars against the equivalents from Porsche, usually you’re heading towards the top of the range Porsche until you reach the performance figures of the Lotus. Unfortunately for Lotus nearly everyone will drive the base-spec Porsche and decide it offers nearly all of the performance in a much better package.

    Houns
    Full Member

    I hope not, lotus S2 Elise is my dream car. Hate to see them go the same way as TVR. That would only then leave Aston Martin left to buy my cars from when I win the lottery

    bikebouy
    Free Member

    Erm, you could buy a Morgan.

    Solo
    Free Member

    Shandy.

    Lotus are in the poo because their strengths were far, far outweighed by all their many weaknesses. Producing a car with class leading (perhaps) ride and handling, does not mitigate the woeful short falls in other areas. Modern customers have tasted the goods from Germany and have more sophisticated demands. Its no longer enough to make a car fast and fun to drive. It must also have a good interior, convey the sense of quality, solidity, reliability. Admittedly, all manufacturers suffer varying degrees of all those things, but they normally work to improve them, at least to bring them within reach of the competition. Lotus just kept going back to what they knew, plastic bodies, aluminium extrusions and modular ‘tubs’ for the chassis, etc.
    Not good enough for todays market, the sales,lack of, show us this.

    breatheeasy
    Free Member

    Unfortunately for Lotus nearly everyone will drive the base-spec Porsche and decide it offers nearly all of the performance in a much better package.

    That’s their problem – you can’t drive any car at their full potential around the roads (well, maybe a Smart 2-seater..) so it’s often the badge name rather than spec people buy. 50k to spend on a fancy car? Probably middle aged, overweight, midlife crisis so go directly to Porsche.

    Similar to Nissan Skyline – yes corners at 5.2g, 0-60 in a second, etc. etc. but a Nissan badge on the key fob as you chuck them into the bowl at the swingers party…

    davetrave
    Free Member

    Modern customers have tasted the goods from Germany and have more sophisticated demands.

    Maybe I’m in a very small minority then but when I bought my Elise, the short list consisted of Elise, 350Z, Z4, S2000 and Boxster, all of which I test drove. None of those offered what I wanted in terms of driving fun and connection – they were too refined and I felt I may as well have been driving a souped up saloon…

    That said, having had some experience of Hethel, especially as an enthusiast, I’d have to agree with Solo about why they are where they are now…

    PJM1974
    Free Member

    My father did a stint there in the 60s after the aircraft industry imploded…

    …most of the stories about quality control (or lack thereof), unpaid invoices and the constant threat of action by suppliers was true even then. My father describes a lot of the Lotus management at the time as “crooks” and/or “arseholes”. Allegedly, there was also more than one shop floor sabotage attempt on a senior manager’s life by filling a polythene bag full of oxy-acetylene, stashing it under the bonnet and wiring it to the starter motor.

    They did have a lot of fun with the prototype Lotus Cortinas though.

    PJM1974
    Free Member

    Also, I cannot remember the last time I saw a new Lotus on the road.

    I do know they do an awful lot of consultancy work (I believe that they had a hand in the 1998 Astra and Focus chassis development for example) and that the car making is very much a small, niche activity.

    thepurist
    Full Member

    2 pages in & no mention of Dany Bahar and his ‘vision’ for the Lotus brand?

    maxtorque
    Full Member

    Even if they made an absolutely perfect sportscar, i don’t think it would matter. Since about, oh, 2008, MPG has been the new MPH !

    globalti
    Free Member

    Some folk on here are remarkably well informed.

Viewing 15 posts - 41 through 55 (of 55 total)

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