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Re: Lotus at Paris Auto Salon
Jean:
The Elite will be a DB9 killer, and then some...
+1
And then some indeed, as it's a folding hardtop, it will be Ferrari California M (out 2013) killer as well as DB9 successor...
The Elite looks stupidly amazing. It is giving the Esprit a run for its money. The Esprit is an exotic mid engined design but the Elite looks as good as it.
Re: Lotus at Paris Auto Salon
I'm still 'digesting' theese new cars,would like to know what you guys think...
-Is Elan basically a rebodied Evora?Transverse or longitudinal engine?Bored/strroked Evora lump or some other Lexux engine?Love its design,proportions are great
-Esprit will have to fight very hard for its customers,theres some serious competition out there,what it needs is the LFA V10 but i had a hunch Toyota wasnt going to give its flagship to someone else,will supercharged japaneese saloon engine be 'enough' in peoples minds
-Elise just doesnt look finished to me,but it seems to bee 4-5 years away and its good that they didnt abandon that market segment
-Elite actually looks quite promissing,if they also offer it as a fixed roof coupe-watch out M6/XKR/SL AMG/GranTurismo....
Re: Lotus at Paris Auto Salon
OK I have all this figured out:
1. Gauss does not exist.. he is a front for the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg..
2. the GD of Luxembourg has taken control of Lotus
3. the purpose of this huge output of new Lotus cars is to ensure that there are more Lotus postings on Rennteam than Porsche postings and move the centre of automotive fandom from Stuttgart to Luxembourg
Glad to have been of assistance in helping you all understand these confusing times.... 
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2010 Audi S5, 2009 Porsche 911S
Re: Lotus at Paris Auto Salon
First off, @4trac: LOL 
Secondly, @Gauss: Since you've been a lotus costumer for quite some time and have owned several of their cars, how does this new approach set with you? (I'm asking you since you are the 'representative' in RT of lotus market so far) And as someone who known an elise inside and out how does the new model and the predictions change your views on the car?
Re: Lotus at Paris Auto Salon
Enmanuel:
Secondly, @Gauss: Since you've been a lotus costumer for quite some time and have owned several of their cars, how does this new approach set with you? (I'm asking you since you are the 'representative' in RT of lotus market so far) And as someone who known an elise inside and out how does the new model and the predictions change your views on the car?
IMHO Lotus has completely changed. The new era has started with a complete range of new cars that have almost nothing to do with Lotus' former cars, except for its brand name. Whether it's going to be a good and profitable new future for Lotus or a miserable disaster is yet to be seen.
I'm as clueless as everyone else. Every Lotus fan had been kept in the dark until just recently. There is still no word about what engines are planned for the different models. I just hope that they are continuing the same way that they have started this.
The team, and especially the design team, have accomplished an amazing job so far. There must have been a tremendous lot of hard work going on at Hethel for the last months.
At first I was personnally a bit sceptical when I heard the rumours that the CEO Dany Bahar wanted to raise Lotus to the level of selling only expensive prestigious cars in future. The intent of comparing Lotus with Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin etc. sounded really a bit silly to me, kind of like wishful thinking of someone who wanted to prove something to his former collegues at Ferrari (Dany Bahar worked at Ferrari before becoming CEO at Lotus)!
But then I saw these new cars in the flesh in Paris and I heard about their specs and what else Lotus was planning (entering different race series etc) and I was blown away. I have to admit, that I can actually see a slight chance that Lotus might pull this thing off and achieve their plans...... All they need to do is keep the enthusiasm, motivation and strenght and keep the creative ideas flowing and don't screw up in the built and in the handling department.
It's true that the market is well busy with expensive sportscars already, so Lotus has to be innovative and keep itself distinguishable from the others (by superior handling for example - and maybe being lighter?).
One thing is for sure, they are really launching this thing big. Lotus also has to find the sponsors for building these cars. I have read that Proton/Petronas have the means to finance it, but they have asked Lotus to try and find sponsors first before they want to intervene.
The only thing I feel a bit saddened about is the fact that the original idea behind the Elise has died. The next generation Elise will have none of the original traits.
I also understand that Lotus has to go this route now. Times have changed and people, aka the customers, are getting more and more demanding.
For the next couple of years (until the production of the new cars), Lotus will only be selling the Evora variants and the facelifted Elise 1.6 and I really wonder how Lotus is going to finance the new production.
By the way, they are also building a new track (or enlarging the old one) at Hethel.
So I'm as excited as the rest of us to see how Lotus will be doing in the future. 
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