MKSGR:
Grant:
fritz:
Ferdie:

The pictures show the concept car for this year´s Paris show. The production model is announced for 2014.

One can clearly see that Lotus heads for new customer groups, the car is departing from their current design language seen on Elise, Exige and Evora.

 Another departure from Lotus' history:

"Weight: 1,650 kg "

Ouch! Smiley

Yes it's too heavy, but it's lighter than all the competition from Panamera, Aston-Martin DB9, Lambo Estoque, M-B CL, Audi RS5, Ferrari 599/612, etc...
 

 1650kg would be a major disaster Smiley Look at the GT2RS or the new McLaren. These cars are much lighter at the same level of hp.

 

If this car were intended to compete with the GT2RS or McLaren, I would be seriously worried as well!  However, that is the job of the new Esprit, not the Elite.  Grant correctly point's out this car's competition.

I do not think Lotus will be able to take on Ferrari, but the car may drive better than the equivalent Aston martin / Mercedes and thus steal some sales.

Lotus was involved in small part with the Nissan GTR, so maybe they feel confident in making a high performance car despite high weight.