patrick_y
[PuristSPro Moderator]
33540
I hear Lotus makes more money as a consulting company than as a car maker.
Lotus Engineering is a consulting arm that helps other brands fine tune their cars. I heard that this firm makes more money than Lotus does selling cars. I don't know if this is still the case. Lotus, being mostly owned by Geely, a Chinese car firm with fairly deep pockets, should be able to survive in the short term. But why continue to pour money into the Hethel sports car factory in an unprofitable product? However, all Chinese car companies are in a battle for supremacy in their home market. And this price war is taking a toll on all of them. Even established Chinese car firms like Geely aren't guaranteed a place in the future.
At the end of the day. Lotus can't build a desirable car. And when they do, the car isn't well tuned from a software perspective and they can't sell it. The few that they do sell have so many problems that it scares off other potential buyers. Hampering owners and filling the dealership's service departments with service problems. Automotive technicians strongly working on Lotuses, as the problems are substantial, warranty claims pay very little, and there is a tremendous amount of frustration and diagnosis that often leads to nowhere. Thus, many Lotus dealers aren't very profitable.
Sad to say this, as Lotus does make a wonderful car - when it works. But is the world missing out on anything when Lotus does stop their sports car production in Hethel? I guess consumers are missing something - competition is a good thing. But at the end of the day, the product is just not good enough.
Designing a car is not just about designing a car; it's about designing a car that you can build - it does have to be built in a factory. Then it's about designing a car that can pass regulations such as pollution and crashing. Once the car is crashed, the car also needs to be able to be rebuilt - or else no insurance company will insure it. And it's about designing a car that is able to be maintained - and with the tight spaces, mechanics/technicians had to use tools with long extensions and work in there with tiny mirrors - as Lotus didn't think about making the technician's job easier. Oh, and you need software to drive all of it! Traction control, airbag, ABS software, all needs a lot of fine tuning. Lotus only has one strength here, and that's designing a mechanical chassis that will work well and feel sporty to drive. In today's world, that's just not enough!
Beginning of the end for Lotus as a sports car maker? 🤷🏻♂️
Recent article in evo: https://www.evo.co.uk/lotus/emira/207957/can-lotus-survive-its-latest-crisis seems to imply that the days of Lotus as a sports car manufacturer and Hethel as a production plant might be numbered. While this would be a sad day emotio...
Just for fun I asked Grok about the V8
Rebuilding a Lotus Esprit V8 engine typically costs around twelve thousand five hundred to thirty thousand dollars, depending on the shop, parts, and extent of the rebuild. Costs can climb if you need rare parts or extensive repairs like fixing a shattere...
Almost bought one ?twenty years ago..
....but couldn't negotiate the road bumps on my street.alas
Additional info? Hmm, great cars that were marketed wrong.
An excellent product that was too lightweight for Porsche and Ferrari. On the other hand, those clamshells were surely a bit pricey. Ah well, they say the good die young. Guess we still have Miata.
Quite probably the case…
Geely did pump in money but seemingly it did not fix the issues adequately 😊🤷🏻♂️
Hard to say 🤷🏻♂️
The Chinese part of electric cars and SUVs seems unaffected for now. While the volume predictions of how well those would sell were sorely missed they still sell in drastically higher numbers than the sports cars did in the end. So let’s see 🤷🏻♂️ ...
There have been conflicting reports as to whether or not this rumour is true.
Even a minister from the British government is said to be having a meeting with Geely who have said they have no intention of closing the factory. So hopefully these rumours are false and the factory will not be closing down, but who knows I suppose anyth...
Difficult Times …
Lotus face difficult times and are seriously weighing the closure of the factory it has occupied since 1966, moving all future production abroad and potentially to the United States. Lotus’s quarterly report showed customer deliveries had decreased by 42 ...
As I said previously these were just rumours and thanks to my friend Gemini I have this further information.
However, Lotus has issued clear statements denying these claims. They have affirmed that: The UK is the "heart of the Lotus brand" and home to their sports car manufacturing, global design center, motorsport operations, and Lotus Engineering. Lotus Cars i...
The hopes we share…
I guess not all would be closed, since the third party engineering consultancy is likely to survive in some form 👍🏻🤞🏻
1,274 cars sold and 1,300 employees...
...this sums up the situation pretty well IMHO.
Right you are…
Not sure what portion are production and what engineering (that gets spread over a larger volume) but the issue is clearly there 🤷🏻♂️
🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
Sadly with the Emira it was over promise and under deliver. The car might have had the ingredients but the service and after sales did not fully live up to it and between announcement and sales the price also climbed North by quite a bit 🤷🏻♂️ ...
I hear Lotus makes more money as a consulting company than as a car maker.
Lotus Engineering is a consulting arm that helps other brands fine tune their cars. I heard that this firm makes more money than Lotus does selling cars. I don't know if this is still the case. Lotus, being mostly owned by Geely, a Chinese car firm with f...
Will probably check the classifieds…
But outside of the UK the resale values currently are still very high unfortunately 🤷🏻♂️
I can't see a future for Lotus, speaking as a 4 time, 40-years owner
Even I could never convince myself to buy an Esprit Turbo or V8. I see Lotus as unreliable (generally), little dealer support from the few dealers that exist in the US, very few clubs or aftermarket support, very high prices for parts, more or less dedica...
Not sure I could or wanted to 😊🤷🏻♂️
The SUVs are a sign of the time and I guess they will in this case appeal less to the dyed in the wool fans of the brand than in previous applications of other brands, since the values are even less compatible. But the trend won’t stop. You will soon see ...
Two weeks ago I saw a Lotus parked on a street in Philadelphia. I don’t know what model but it had the top down and inside it looked like a toy car. It hardly had any seats, the cushions
…where very thin and on the floor of the car. Everything else was just as spartan. It could have been a race car but it made me think, inside, of a go kart. And it didn’t look like a race car. How could anyone enjoy driving that car around? I remember the...
I wouldn’t say Geely was the end of them…
Often the problems go deeper and the companies get sold when the writing is on the wall already. From what you describe the Lotus you saw on the street is definitely a pre-Geely era model. But as much as there were few takers, it’s still unfortunate if th...
Hi Besancon,
What you describe is exactly what made Lotus great, originally it was never meant to be a luxury car it was simply a drivers car and a go kart that was road legal. No bells and whistles or any luxury just a pure adrenaline fuelled drivers car. Marc
Sadly the original customers now reached an age…
Where a certain level of comfort is quite welcome 😉🤷🏻♂️
And Safety, don't forget a level of Safety
Compare to an early Miata for size: Knee-high Door handle high ...
A bit surprised that even the first Gen Miata is quite a bit bigger 😊
Thanks for the educational shots - much appreciated 😊👍🏻🙏🏻
“far too many middle-aged men on Lotus payroll wearing oversized glow-white trainers, spending more time signing leases on city centre vanity showrooms than understanding the business they are paid handsomely to operate
Quote from the article about sums it up for me. In the early days I was told Lotus was built for “men under 5 foot 10 inches with a size 8 shoe.” (Colin Chapman) No one larger could fit or drive it