Lotus Update - EVO Magazine
Discussion
In the new issue of EVO - Lotus: New Dawn (Take Two).
As I'm lazy, copied from my post on The Lotus Forums:
A major update on their plans confirms the Elan has been been put on the back burner, probably until the end of the Evora life cycle. The Esprit, Elite, Elise and Eterne are all go. It also means is that the Evora will continue to be developed, with convertible and targa options definitely in the running as well as more track focussed versions. This and the decision to build their own V8 for the new range is based on customer feedback from Paris. And Bahar insists they will never desert their 'core' Elise and Exige market but they will be made more usable. He claims to have been misunderstood when he focussed on 'new' Lotus.
The new V8 will be naturally aspirated and rev high, a 'screamer' apparently. The plan is to fire up the new V8 this summer and have the first mule running in October. The aim is to reveal the Esprit in production form in March 2012. Very aggressive timeframes but Zimmermann is confident. This is the guy who was responsible for all of the Mercedes AMG engines over the past 10 years, including the V12's in various Pagani's, including the latest Huayra, as well as the Mercedes SLS, his last project before joining Lotus. He's got form.
The Esprit will go on sales March 2013 with the Elite, using the same engine and architecture as the Esprit (but front engined of course) following in October 2013. They are likely to be made predominantly of aluminium as the y are ditching GRP accept for design areas where composite makes more sense.
The Esprit will be built at Hethel as will existing models for the foreseeable future but they are opening an engineering centre in Stuttgart to take advantage of the Autobahns, the Ring and the fact that many of their partners are based in Germany. Manufacturing could move overseas given the larger volumes but major investment in Hethel will continue.
So, they seem to be on track but its a huge amount to deliver their vision. Harry Metcalfe for one is 'starting to believe it'.....
As I'm lazy, copied from my post on The Lotus Forums:
A major update on their plans confirms the Elan has been been put on the back burner, probably until the end of the Evora life cycle. The Esprit, Elite, Elise and Eterne are all go. It also means is that the Evora will continue to be developed, with convertible and targa options definitely in the running as well as more track focussed versions. This and the decision to build their own V8 for the new range is based on customer feedback from Paris. And Bahar insists they will never desert their 'core' Elise and Exige market but they will be made more usable. He claims to have been misunderstood when he focussed on 'new' Lotus.
The new V8 will be naturally aspirated and rev high, a 'screamer' apparently. The plan is to fire up the new V8 this summer and have the first mule running in October. The aim is to reveal the Esprit in production form in March 2012. Very aggressive timeframes but Zimmermann is confident. This is the guy who was responsible for all of the Mercedes AMG engines over the past 10 years, including the V12's in various Pagani's, including the latest Huayra, as well as the Mercedes SLS, his last project before joining Lotus. He's got form.
The Esprit will go on sales March 2013 with the Elite, using the same engine and architecture as the Esprit (but front engined of course) following in October 2013. They are likely to be made predominantly of aluminium as the y are ditching GRP accept for design areas where composite makes more sense.
The Esprit will be built at Hethel as will existing models for the foreseeable future but they are opening an engineering centre in Stuttgart to take advantage of the Autobahns, the Ring and the fact that many of their partners are based in Germany. Manufacturing could move overseas given the larger volumes but major investment in Hethel will continue.
So, they seem to be on track but its a huge amount to deliver their vision. Harry Metcalfe for one is 'starting to believe it'.....
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