Quote Of The Day: The "Authentic" Rolling Chassis Edition
It’s one thing for a sportscar brand like Lotus to shrug off the self-destructive iconoclasm of its most hard-core “fans,” but it’s quite another thing for its chief executive to take a piss on the entire supercar market while describing the downpour as “authentic, cloud-filtered Alpen raindrops.” To wit, the following bit of nonsense found at Autocar:
The new Lotus Esprit will offer a more “authentic” driving experience than the Ferrari 458 Italia and McLaren MP4-12C, according to CEO Dany Bahar… Bahar claims the Lotus Esprit will “have the character and emotion” that he says the McLaren lacks. He also revealed that the rolling chassis was now complete and fully running prototypes would be ready by November… Formula 1 KERS-style technology is also expected to feature on the Esprit, but Bahar said such electronic systems would be used only where they add to the driving experience and not as driver aids.
If you can make any sense of this blithering nonsense, or how Bahar came to it based on his impressions of a rolling chassis, you must work in marketing. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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When he says. "...Esprit will “have the character and emotion” that he says the McLaren lacks." , what he means is that it will have the reliability that Lotus has always been famous for. When will these guys learn to keep their traps shut until they producs an actual car?
Gee Dany, Jump the Shark much? Or have you stolen one of Max Bob's stogies?
Judging from the wheels alone that appears to be a backbone and whatnot from a DeLorean, No? Considering that Lotus is going to grow itself to death, the picture is somewhat appropriate.
Instead of dreaming up 5 make-believe cars, I wish Lotus would just finish the engineering on the Evora. That would be an extraordinary car with a little attention on the basics. And as a sidenote, it really does stretch credibility when you claim your Toyota-engined car will offer a more authentic driving experience than a Ferrari. I'm not saying it isn't possible, only that it's a little hard to believe.