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
Erm, you could buy a Morgan.
Shandy.
Lotus are in the poo because their [i]strengths[/i] 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.
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...
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...
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.
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.
2 pages in & no mention of Dany Bahar and his 'vision' for the Lotus brand?
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 !
Some folk on here are remarkably well informed.
