Lotus planning to take on Ferrari and Porsche

A teaser image was released last Monday by Lotus, implying the “dawn of a new era” for the small British sports car maker. It’s possible that the image simply means the arrival of a new Esprit or an Evora convertible.

But it’s also possible that Lotus is hinting that it will soon become a true luxury sports car rival to Ferrari. Lotus’ owner Proton had recently revealed a five-year business plan for Lotus’ future. Currently, Lotus makes three models, with two (Elise and Exige) being hardcore lightweight track cars. The Evora may be more luxurious but it’s still not on the same level as Ferrari.
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Yonder7 - 6/25/2010 9:43:17 AM

+1 Boost

I love english cars...but honestly I do not think that Lotus have what it takes to challenge Ferrari or Porsche.....Sorry it is not going to happen.

dlin - 6/25/2010 10:10:55 AM

0 Boost

That's not a price range of Ferrari to start w/, and Lotus might lose its 'hardcore' identity in this upmarket game. Caution!

bmwdrvr - 6/25/2010 10:24:59 AM

+2 Boost

The espirit is one of the cars that made Lotus fames at least in the past few decades so a new espirit that used to competed with the 911 and entry Ferraris cant be a departure from its identity its the car that most people many people pre elise identified as Lotus.......

dlin - 6/25/2010 2:15:42 PM

0 Boost

Existence of Esprit exists doesn't necessarily mean Lotus has to stick with it. A brand needs assessing its alignment of product and core value constantly. Granted there's more money in upmarket, but plenty of well-established competitors as well. Lotus can get lost like Honda.....

thstone - 6/25/2010 12:39:59 PM

0 Boost

Hah! For goodness sake, Lotus uses a Camry engine for the Evora. Lotus should not even be mentioned in the same paragraph as Ferrari and Porsche.

Terry989 - 6/25/2010 6:46:59 PM

+3 Boost

I'm glad Lotus is using the Camry engine - - - developing it's own makes no sense for a company of this size. A sports car is more than just the engine itself. Lotus tunes the engine to their own specifications and installs it in a superb light weight chassis with a road feel that few cars can match. Toyota engines are well made, reliable and over engineered which means they are well matched to forced induction. While they may not always win on 0 to 60 times (the only performance specification most people even look at), they are terrors on the track.

Sourcing engines has worked for other uber performance cars (Pagani, Noble, McLaren, etc.) and is current working for the current Lotus line-up. If they price the new Esprit in the range of a heavily optioned 911S (~$110K), they will be successful, but if priced in Ferrari territory (~$200K), they will not.