A smidgen of news from DRB

[Hedgerley]

It appears they are about to go on their annual media retreat - here is something of what they will be saying,including a statement on Lotus.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/201...

Given its almost exactly 12 months since they bought Proton and hence Lotus, I really did expect more by now. How long can their review take!!!

[V8 FOU]

Bit worrying really. They need to make their Lotus position (!) clearer from an investment / business point of view let alone from a production / punter point of view.

Fingers crossed as usual......

Just keep playing with my 2 Loti...

[Hedgerley]

It would appear they remain committed to Lotus - they have just opened a flagship store and showroom in Malaysia and are already delivering cars there. Here's what DRB had to say about their 'turnaround plan'. Not much unfortunately, apart from saying it will take two years by which point Lotus will be selling between 3,000 and 4,000 cars globally.

http://www.mysinchew.com/node/81676

Here's the new showroom. Looks good.

http://www.lotuscars.com/gb/events/cars/malaysian-...

Edited by Hedgerley on Tuesday 8th January 11:56

Edited by Hedgerley on Tuesday 8th January 16:02

[Hedgerley]

And here's the Press Release. DRB seem to be saying all the right things. We can but hope for the future.

http://www.lotuscars.com/gb/news/corporate/lotus-o...

[Toaster]

Indeed and whilst it may seem cautious to some it seems a good sign as this is investment companies do not open new showrooms with plans to kill off the product

[propaganda]

The cost of a new showroom is peanuts compared to any investment made in Lotus. The pitiful sales of Lotus in 2012 indicate there is little life in the brand, they need new models as they have just about sold an Elise or Exige to everyone who wants one. Used car sales are of no use to them, they need the oxygen of new models. The whole episode of shutting development fro months was arch criminal idiocy regardless of the need under Malaysian law. Things do not look good.

[Toaster]

propaganda said:

The cost of a new showroom is peanuts compared to any investment made in Lotus. The pitiful sales of Lotus in 2012 indicate there is little life in the brand, they need new models as they have just about sold an Elise or Exige to everyone who wants one. Used car sales are of no use to them, they need the oxygen of new models. The whole episode of shutting development fro months was arch criminal idiocy regardless of the need under Malaysian law. Things do not look good.

Yawn, come on be original with your post.

[V8 FOU]

Toaster said:

Yawn, come on be original with your post.

The floor is open for your witty and original post....

[Captain Muppet]

propaganda said:

... they have just about sold an Elise or Exige to everyone who wants one...

That logic doesn't seem to apply to, say, the Vauxhall Astra*. You'd think everyone in the world who wanted an Astra* would have one already, but still they sell new ones.





* or Caterham, or Boxster, or 911, or TT, or indeed anything else that you have been able to buy for decades and is still for sale now.

[Alfa numeric]

Captain Muppet said:

That logic doesn't seem to apply to, say, the Vauxhall Astra*. You'd think everyone in the world who wanted an Astra* would have one already, but still they sell new ones.





* or Caterham, or Boxster, or 911, or TT, or indeed anything else that you have been able to buy for decades and is still for sale now.

The thing is most people in the market for an Astra will want another one in three years, whilst a good number of people who buy an Elise will never sell it. As much as I hope they continue selling it, Lotus need to make more than just the Elise to survive.

[Frimley111R]

More importantly: They may have done so in the UK but they are a global company. There are huge numbers of people out there who haven't had the chance to buy one. New dealerships globally will give the cars a new lease of life. There's still no real competitors for the Elise/Exige.

I'm not saying that the future is rosy but its also not doom and gloom. Cup half full/empty and all that....

[Toaster]

V8 FOU said:

The floor is open for your witty and original post....

I know, but I need some motivation ;-)

[WayneB]

Captain Muppet said:

That logic doesn't seem to apply to, say, the Vauxhall Astra*. You'd think everyone in the world who wanted an Astra* would have one already, but still they sell new ones.





* or Caterham, or Boxster, or 911, or TT, or indeed anything else that you have been able to buy for decades and is still for sale now.

I understood what the OP ment with that comment, the Evora had strong sales initially then production slowed to a trickle.

At what point does the cost of keeping it in production outweigh the financial gains?

Shades of the Europa S?

GM went through a similar thing with the Fiero in the 80's, it sold like crazy initially, then as everyone descovered it had alot of shortcomings sales slowed to unaceptable levels, despite Lotus being bought in to fix all of the issues producing arguably what was the best of that model (the 1988) which ironically had the lowest sales.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_Fiero

[RobM77]

It annoys me how fussy and persnickity the car market can be sometimes. I've driven several modern Porsches with a view to buying, and before Christmas had a chance to drive an Evora S on a decent test drive. Both were good cars, but the Porsche was riddled with niggles that stopped my money going anywhere near it - the Evora S on the other hand was utterly superb. In concept and on paper, a 911, Cayman or Boxster is the better car (mainly due to the bespoke flat 6 mounted low and centrally); but in the realisation and development of that design in terms of cabin ergonomics, ride, handling and performance, the Evora S is streets ahead. Even if you disagree with me, it isn't exactly a bad car. It's so annoying when everyone at Hethel is doing their upmost best, and in fact they're so good at tuning suspension that they, and some of their former employees, have customers queuing up for advice; yet all I see everyday here in London is Porsches being driven everywhere, and I'm certain the annual accounts of both companies reflect that too. Shame.

[Offspeccer]

Agreed. I've already said this on the other thread, but any trader who walks out of his office in Berkeley Square with a bonus in his pocket has a choice of supercars to buy from dealers on the Square. Same goes for the bankers in Canary Wharf, where Porsche have not one but two dealers in close range.

Why on earth would you bother to go up to Stansted to buy a Lotus?

I hope the Malaysian flagstore is a step in the right direction, but putting some dealers in a couple of premium UK locations is not rocket science...

[Thorburn]

Offspeccer said:

Why on earth would you bother to go up to Stansted to buy a Lotus?

I hope the Malaysian flagstore is a step in the right direction, but putting some dealers in a couple of premium UK locations is not rocket science...

Don't dealers tend to be franchises run by other companies though - not something owned by the manufacturer?

You don't have two Porsche dealerships by Canary Wharf because Porsche put two there, you have them because two companies think it's worth running a franchise there.

The Lotus dealership network took a hit under Bahar with his putting dealers on notice - the one here in Swindon dropped the franchise for example - but they have seen some new ones come on-board since and there Service Centre coverage is pretty good now: http://www.lotuscars.com/gb/dealers-and-service-ce...

Even so the uncertainty last year certainly didn't help - Snows were going to set up a dealership in Hedge End but pulled out: http://www.seloc.org/2012/10/snows-group-lotus-dea...

[ravon]

The sixty-four billion Dollar question to Rob: as it was utterly superb, compared to the Porsche's you tried, and you inferred you had money to purchase a Porsche, did you end up purchasing an Evora ? If not, it would be very relevant to the endless discussions on this Forum to know why you didn't , as you seem like the perfect potential customer, already a Lotus owner, a racing driver so able to extract that "extra Lotus something" that us less honed probably miss.

[Offspeccer]

Thorburn said:

Offspeccer said:

Why on earth would you bother to go up to Stansted to buy a Lotus?

I hope the Malaysian flagstore is a step in the right direction, but putting some dealers in a couple of premium UK locations is not rocket science...

Don't dealers tend to be franchises run by other companies though - not something owned by the manufacturer?

You don't have two Porsche dealerships by Canary Wharf because Porsche put two there, you have them because two companies think it's worth running a franchise there.

The Lotus dealership network took a hit under Bahar with his putting dealers on notice - the one here in Swindon dropped the franchise for example - but they have seen some new ones come on-board since and there Service Centre coverage is pretty good now: http://www.lotuscars.com/gb/dealers-and-service-ce...

Even so the uncertainty last year certainly didn't help - Snows were going to set up a dealership in Hedge End but pulled out: http://www.seloc.org/2012/10/snows-group-lotus-dea...

Fair point. I guess the more refined issue is to ask why the Lotus franchise is so poor that none of the dealers want to dance with it?

[RobM77]

ravon said:

The sixty-four billion Dollar question to Rob: as it was utterly superb, compared to the Porsche's you tried, and you inferred you had money to purchase a Porsche, did you end up purchasing an Evora ? If not, it would be very relevant to the endless discussions on this Forum to know why you didn't , as you seem like the perfect potential customer, already a Lotus owner, a racing driver so able to extract that "extra Lotus something" that us less honed probably miss.

You're right, yes, it is the obvious question. Unfortunately I'm a poor example because my situation changed about a year after those Porsche test drives. I quit motor racing and did more cycling, running, kayaking and other things instead. This meant I needed to split my car money rather than going for one car, so I bought a tidy handling practical car with a roofrack and a big boot for carrying stuff about in, and then a track focused car for track days, a Lotus 2-Eleven. If my situation hadn't changed then yes, I'd have bought an Evora. The Porsche should be better than the Lotus on paper, but to drive it just isn't.

[Thorburn]

Offspeccer said:

Fair point. I guess the more refined issue is to ask why the Lotus franchise is so poor that none of the dealers want to dance with it?

Constant rumours of it being sold or going under and lack of new cars being built to sell would be two big factors I'd imagine.

They need financial stability and good, saleable, products to get the people who run dealerships interested in the brand - when Bahar was asking for £1m investment in a showroom who would take the risk vs. an established high-end brand?