They call the floating instrument panel the ‘halo’, which is an appropriate metaphor for the entire Evija project.
As with the Pininfarina Battista, it exists to help showcase and cast a warm glow over what’s coming from Lotus. We’ve yet to see what else that’ll be but, if Geely’s ownership of Volvo and Polestar is anything to go by, it’ll include an understanding that you make sure good people are in place, and let them get on with things.
And so to the Evija. What should we expect? Astonishing acceleration, clearly, to levels internally combusted road cars have never reached. And it’s worth noting that, if Lotus can keep the Evija down to the 1680kg being targeted “in lightest specification”, then it won’t weigh so much for a car of this power either: a Bugatti Chiron weighs all but two tonnes, after all.
But this is still a car that’s ‘not very Lotus’ in the traditional scheme of things. It’s hugely powerful, it’s expensive and it weighs nearly a tonne and three-quarters.
Is that a shame? Well, being ‘absolutely, resolutely Lotus’ is commendable, and produces cars that are fun to drive at any speed.
That is arguably more relevant now than ever, but it hasn’t put the company on a sustainable footing for quite some time. So things have to change. This is a ‘halo’, a statement of intent. But I’m more excited about what will follow it.
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... different article. the F1 team and the road cars weren't the same company, but Chapman was involve with both. Hence Team Lotus and Group Lotus, with Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering. The "revivial" F1 team was in name only, however, at the start of that with the team which became known as Caterham, Tony Fernandez did have a masterplan on eventually buying Group Lotus. The rebranding of the Renault team was stupid! Nobody ever said the Elise was the return of a revived Lotus, it was more like a reduction in worry for the future of the company and the hope that it could be the start of a return to form, at the time the only division of the company actually making any money was Engineering; weren't Esprit sales down to barely 100 at the time of the Elise's launch? Exige was a high performance Elise, at no point was that a revival vehicle either. The Europa? from the outset they said that was a short-run model using up left over vx200 parts. Bahar? nobody took that seriously, engineers were leaving the company, he was ruining everything throwing around money they didn't have on things they were never going to be able to do properly due to that. Anyone who knows anything about Lotus knew he was the wrong man for the job and the beginning of the end. Absolutley no a revival moment. Evora; ok, you can have that one, i think a lot of people were hoping that was going to sell a lot more than it has, especially in the early days. The problem there was - by my reckoning at least - you could tell the money had ran out and they had to get it in to production, so the interior was a bit off and a couple of other things. Silly things, such as the Evora S should have been launched first - only called Evora - with the regular one shortly after as a cheaper version. That would probably have made no difference though, realistically. People were saying it was heavy and slow, whereas in reality it was only 50kg heavier than the last Esprit, while being stiffer and much better built, with better handling etc, and straight line performance was on a par with it too. With some time and development, the weight has come down and performance has gone up, along with build quality. Anyone giving credit where it's due? na, didn't think so. The Esprit, even with the problems and age, did cast a big shadow for the Evora to try and shine in. People actively try to find faults with a Lotus, while happily ignoring them with other cars. You can spend a lot more money on a car... and have it catch fire on you.
Surely the Elise should have
Surely the Elise should have been a revival car due to the amount sold, similar to Porsche and the first boxter, It could/should have started a new era of lotus, its a shame they didn't do a practical version and call it the elan as that could have gone up against more useable mainstream roadsters. I've always been a lotus fan even though I've never owned one, one day maybe, though I love the esprit and excel the modern useable Evora is a car I would love to own. This hypercar, though not very lotus, is hopefully what lotus needs to be able to sell Evora's or equivalent for Porsche money without the usual lotus not as worthy comments and here's hoping they make a new elan for sensible money.
Producing a hypercar
Producing a hypercar effectively raises Lotus's profile enough to allow it to charge more for its future mainstream models, in other words, a sound commercial move.
Of course it's not a proper lotus, but
If they can sell 130 examples and make a profit, then it just might create funds to develop something simple and light, more in keeping with the Lotus ethos. It might actually be a better means to an end than spending countless millions on running a middle-of-the-grid f1 team as Lotus has done in the past. It will create interest, headlines and awareness of the brand. And at least Geeley is prepared to invest money in the company and try something different. For that it should be applauded.