What's with Top Gear?

[Chromed]

So why no mention of lotus on last nights show? , is there some conspiracy ? .

[Megaflow]

There was no mention of lots of manufacturers, but they were included in the line up, they were never go to have time to lsit them all.

[RobM77]

I've just watched TG on iPlayer and immediately searched for the same thing. TG have to have something against Lotus, surely? Not only no mention of them, but no review of the new Exige V6 either as far as I know? They've reviewed and included in their show cars by Ariel, Noble, Caterham and Morgan - all smaller than Lotus and making fine, but more obscure, cars than Lotus. I genuinely believe, having driven a lot of the competition, that Lotus build the best sports cars in the world - to not mention them on a TG special about British cars is not just 'cause there was no time', it has to run deeper than that.

[Tonyringtone]

It stuck out like a sore thumb not including the best British sports car manufacturer of the modern age on TG! Clearly Jeremy can't fit in the new Exige, the Hamster couldn't handle the power or see over the steering wheel! and James is only at home in cars his dad used to drive. Top Gear desperately needs a refresh, with an injection of knowledgable presenter(s) more in tune with the art and craft of driving.

PS. They also overlooked Bristol Cars.

[RobM77]

Mrs RobM77 actually made the point earlier that perhaps it's Lotus' decision... We all saw Clarkson's hamfisted driving of the Elise S2 111S on Top Gear in 2003 and his apparent inablity to appreciate a car that can't be powerslid around or thundered up and down straights with a noisy V8. Maybe having another Lotus on TG would be like Lemmy from Motorhead reviewing a Debussy album? Lotus are maybe better off not letting Clarky drive their cars at all, and concnetrating on supplying the written motoring press with cars, which has done them huge favours lately with magazine 'Car of the Year' accolades for the Evora and Exige?

[Captain Muppet]

Tonyringtone said:

Clearly Jeremy can't fit in the new Exige,

Didn't Clarkson fit just fine in the S2 Exige for racing around the track avoiding the Apache helicopter missile lock?

[Chromed]

Well he took the piss out of getting in and out, but he loved the exige, Richard Hammond reviewed the V6 in his mirror column and loved it. I knew the V6 was in this series, but not to even mention iLotus seemed very strange.

[RobM77]

I may be wrong about them not reviewing the V6, but I don't remember seeing it in the listings; I don't really watch TG anymore but was tempted to watch this one because of its British car features. I was a bit disappointed though - they started with some big heavy off roader weighing over 2 tonnes, a huge £70k comfy Jag with a slush box, and a feature on British cars that didn't even mention Lotus! I enjoyed the Mark Webber interview and lap though - he came across really well.

[anonymous-user]

I was annoyed not to see a convoy of road cars but the Lotus name stood out on the F1 car so at least the brand got some cover.

[BibsTLF]

A comment from Lotus on their fb page...

"An Aspen White Evora Sports Racer, a Chrome Orange Elise S & a Laser Blue Exige S were featured on the Mall.

Unfortunately no mention of Lotus by TG and we seem to have ended up on their cutting room floor. See them on this video between 3m 00s and 3m 26s... http://t.co/doFfaNNaOJ"

[Chromed]

Ahh, I didn't spot them. Sorry was a typo previous post, I knew the v6 was not featured in this series.

[RobM77]

I can imagine Top Gear thinking 'we can't edit everyone in', but honestly that's ridiculous. Missing Lotus out of any feature on British cars is like missing Porsche or Mercedes out of a feature on German cars.

[marshalla]

Being generous to TG - that piece was filmed a while ago and Lotus' future hasn't been entirely clear/stable until relatively recently. Someone may well have taken a decision to leave them out just in case they were no longer around on the date of tranmission.

[RobM77]

Fair point

[Frimley111R]

LOTUS F1 cars were on there though but as said, they couldn't cover everyone but surely a brief split second could have.

[sparkey]

RobM77 said:

I can imagine Top Gear thinking 'we can't edit everyone in', but honestly that's ridiculous. Missing Lotus out of any feature on British cars is like missing Porsche or Mercedes out of a feature on German cars.

Much as I love lotus I think most on here have little perception of the level of lotus sales at the moment. In the UK last year 137 Lotus cars were registered - that's the total of all models - in the whole year - in one of their biggest markets - and it includes their own press cars and dealer demonstrators. Porsche sold 7998 in the UK last year - nearly 60 times as many as Lotus do in their home market and the UK is far from the biggest market for Porsche.

A bit sad and hopefully it'll be better this year with the Exige V6, but they are not in any way a "player" in UK road car manufacturing at the moment.

S..

[RobM77]

As true, mystifying and sad as that is they're still much bigger than some of the other manufacturers given lots of exposure on TG; Ariel or Noble for example. Lotus also have the longest history of continuously producing great cars. Oh, and 79 Grand Prix victories. TG have basically just shown their utter ignorance of cars in general.

Edited by RobM77 on Tuesday 6th August 23:28

[Captain Muppet]

There was quite a bit of air time of the Lotus logos on the F1 cars.

To most viewers I suspect the F1 team and the car company are pretty much the same.

[Stephanie Plum]

sparkey said:

Much as I love lotus I think most on here have little perception of the level of lotus sales at the moment. In the UK last year 137 Lotus cars were registered - that's the total of all models - in the whole year - in one of their biggest markets -

S..

I'll think you'll find that the UK isn't as big a market for them as it used to be. Look East......

[Tuna]

Stephanie Plum said:

sparkey said:

Much as I love lotus I think most on here have little perception of the level of lotus sales at the moment. In the UK last year 137 Lotus cars were registered - that's the total of all models - in the whole year - in one of their biggest markets -

S..

I'll think you'll find that the UK isn't as big a market for them as it used to be. Look East......

Yup. 3 out of 4 Lotus cars go abroad these days. Last year was also somewhat unique due to the shutdown. UK sales this year are significantly up already, and the Exige has only just started being delivered to customers.