What's Wrong With This Picture: The Anti-Lotus Edition
The last time Lotus trotted out an “Elite,” it was a funkily be-hatched, sports tourer which, at about 2,000 lbs, was already nearly a thousand pounds heavier than the sleek fiberglass coupe it replaced. Thirty five years later, the beat goes on: as part of its mainstreaming effort, Lotus is showing a new “Elite” concept at the Paris Auto Show that is the heaviest and most powerful model the brand has ever produced. At 3,700 lbs, and offering a hybrid five liter V8 (reportedly based on the Lexus LS600h drivetrain) and a folding hardtop, this Elite appears to be aimed at Ferrari’s California… and more generally, at people who don’t know who Colin Chapman was. Lotus CEO Danny Behar tells Autocar
Make no mistake, there’s a definite market requirement for the Elite. It’s the ultimate compromise of sports car feel with comfort and space. There will always be those who say Lotus should stick to small sports cars, but we didn’t take the decision to design something like the Elite lightly. It is based on months of careful research and planning.
What Behar apparently doesn’t get is that McLaren would be more than happy to take Lotus’s status as the preeminent British sportscar maker if it takes its eye off the ball for a second. And going from the Elise to the Evora to a full-fat, hybrid hardtop convertible tourer is quite the leap of faith for Lotus. Business is business, but brands are brands… and we didn’t realize just how mainstream Lotus was aiming for.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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An SUV needs to be (somewhat) reliable. Porsche is the Toyota Camry under the sportscar. Lotus the Alfa Romeo .... made on a monday. There is also the fact that everybody knows Porsche, Lotus is more for the TTAC readers
Well design wise i think they took several pages out of their former supplier's (Renault) handbook - it looks very much like a current gen Laguna Coupe mixed with the Megane CC if you squint a bit. As for weight, the Evora was already heavier than the NSX, with a similar (and similarly powerful powertrain), so there you go...