New Lotus T125
Discussion
"This Saturday sees the World debut of the most exclusive and expensive Lotus since the company began in 1952."
More on the Lotus forums here: http://www.thelotusforums.com/cms/index.php?option...
More on the Lotus forums here: http://www.thelotusforums.com/cms/index.php?option...
While I'm sure it will be a fantastic car, I'm not sure its the right direction for Lotus. The appeal for me when I bought my elise was that here was a car that could deliver big performance and terrific handling at a fraction of the price of others.
This giant killing reputation could be lost if they begin to make expensive, high end stuff and forget aobut their traditional customer base. So I give this car a cautious welcome.
This giant killing reputation could be lost if they begin to make expensive, high end stuff and forget aobut their traditional customer base. So I give this car a cautious welcome.
Fidgits said:
the thing is though, you only need to sell a handful to make the same sort of profit of 100's of elise's.. and with limited runs there are all sorts of loopholes around crash testing and legislation to reduce R&D costs..
True, just as long as they keep making cars for their traditonal customer base too and don't forget about us as they try to go 'upmarket'.patmahe said:
Fidgits said:
the thing is though, you only need to sell a handful to make the same sort of profit of 100's of elise's.. and with limited runs there are all sorts of loopholes around crash testing and legislation to reduce R&D costs..
True, just as long as they keep making cars for their traditonal customer base too and don't forget about us as they try to go 'upmarket'.More pics and info here http://gglotus.org/blog/?p=1409 quoting a price tag of $1,000,000.
Bang for buck has always been the appeal of the Lotus marque for me, and I like to think of an old Lotus like an old US muscle car, affordable, yet with giant killing (thankyou) performance and handling. Raising the profile of the brand and making the cars more exclusive is a double edged sword for current lotus owners: firstly, it makes our current cars instantly more desirable and therefore hold their value (even) better. Secondly, unfortunately, it loses the appeal for people like me as a blue collar driver's car; in short, if you change the identity of the brand, you lose the pedigree that the brand has created, which will be lamentable for many lotus owners and fans.
People have short memories. It's only recently that Lotus has offered a 'cheap' car for sale with the sub £20k Elise and a £50k V8 Esprit. Historically, once the tax laws were changed to negate the advantages of selling cars as kits, a Lotus has always been expensive to buy compared with its rivals.
And Chapman would have loved the idea of minimal input and financial commitment, with maximum return and exposure.
And Chapman would have loved the idea of minimal input and financial commitment, with maximum return and exposure.
GKP said:
People have short memories. It's only recently that Lotus has offered a 'cheap' car for sale with the sub £20k Elise and a £50k V8 Esprit. Historically, once the tax laws were changed to negate the advantages of selling cars as kits, a Lotus has always been expensive to buy compared with its rivals.
And Chapman would have loved the idea of minimal input and financial commitment, with maximum return and exposure.
and if you think about it, the Elise is the only car that actually made them a profit... (in recent times, much like the 7 did).And Chapman would have loved the idea of minimal input and financial commitment, with maximum return and exposure.
Don't think Colin would be too chuffed at blatant badge engineering...
Andy T said:
And why unveil it in the a$$ end of nowhere
It's Monterey car week and the run up to Pebble Beach http://www.pebblebeachconcours.net/ which is where all the big $s they want to tap into will beGKP said:
People have short memories. It's only recently that Lotus has offered a 'cheap' car for sale with the sub £20k Elise and a £50k V8 Esprit.
My memory is long enough to remember that they couldn't build enough Elises to keep up with demand, whilst you could count the number of £50K V8 Esprits they were building a year on your fingers (with maybe the odd toe, when there was a bit of a surge in sales).Admittedly the basic design of the Esprit was getting a bit long in the tooth by that stage, but even peak sales figures of the Esprit as a model were far from spectacular.
But isn't that all a bit academic? It seems we're talking about a non-road legal track car, not a prestige GT, at the moment?
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