Post by rcollum on Apr 27, 2021 7:19:49 GMT -5
Lotus posted a presentation this morning. It's about an hour long, and fairly slow in some segments. It starts with a (subtitled in English) presentation by the Geely director, and follows up with some pretty good segments with British Lotus managers. They talk about products, and the future. They announce the name of the new Type 131 - Emira, pronounced ay-MEER-uh. (Hey, it starts with an 'E', and apparently, nobody has a patented automotive product using that name...) They confirmed that it will NOT be an electric-powered vehicle, but also confirmed that it will be the LAST non-electric-powered Lotus.
drivingtomorrow.lotuscars.com/en/presentation.html
The presentation has no views of the Emira. The unveiling for the new model will happen in July, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
They also talked a bit about their current project, with Renault's Alpine group, building an all-electric sportscar with Alpine.
They talked about worldwide expansion of the brand. On our Zoom tour of Classic Team Lotus, one participant asked what always gets asked in our area - 'When will DC get a Lotus dealer?'
We have asked this of Lotus Cars USA, many times. The standard answer for years has been, 'We are looking'. The hard facts are, until they have product to sell, it cannot happen. No dealer is anxious to bring on a brand they will have to spend money on - for space, for techs, for sales, etc. - to sell a couple a year. The Evora has not been a volume seller, in any way. All we can hope is that the Emira is priced well, and has great performance, and has the looks.
Here's hoping!
--Bob Collum
drivingtomorrow.lotuscars.com/en/presentation.html
The presentation has no views of the Emira. The unveiling for the new model will happen in July, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
They also talked a bit about their current project, with Renault's Alpine group, building an all-electric sportscar with Alpine.
They talked about worldwide expansion of the brand. On our Zoom tour of Classic Team Lotus, one participant asked what always gets asked in our area - 'When will DC get a Lotus dealer?'
We have asked this of Lotus Cars USA, many times. The standard answer for years has been, 'We are looking'. The hard facts are, until they have product to sell, it cannot happen. No dealer is anxious to bring on a brand they will have to spend money on - for space, for techs, for sales, etc. - to sell a couple a year. The Evora has not been a volume seller, in any way. All we can hope is that the Emira is priced well, and has great performance, and has the looks.
Here's hoping!
--Bob Collum