Lotus cars till now have always been lightweight roadsters with high performance that made them suitable for the race track. Nothing much else have they given us and this is due to its founder father Colin Chapman’s original philosophy, that of performance though low weight.
Given the changing scenario of the world and its demands Lotus too is now going to deviate from this age old philosophy. Profits and sales they have realized and accepted are now based on varied topics rather than just one. Lotus would now soon be going to take a dive into the luxury market as well. At the Paris Auto Show scheduled for October 2010 we are going to be given a different than the usual Lotus type of effect. The effect would be in competing with the like of the Aston Martins and the Ferraris.
Long has been the time when Lotus has seen high ranking in the auto market when profits have been counted. The last was in 1996 when they sold their brand to Malaysia’s Proton. They have now changed tack to read as ‘tomorrow’s luxury sports car, today’. The car has been made with the upmarket customers and their demands in mind.
The car fitted with advanced technology would have seven-speed dual clutch transmissions, active aerodynamics, continuously variable dampers, hybrid and range extender systems, heads up displays, and the option of more alternatively-fuelled variants. Naturally the price would be substantially higher than what the present Lotus demands.
Currently Lotus sells about 2000 to 2500 units per year. Even with the increased price Lotus expects the sales figure to rise up to 7000 units in a year. Lotus plans to launch along with this high value car an affordable minicar sharing the same platform and model from Proton. This car would balance off the sales figures that Lotus hopes to achieve with the high priced car.
The first few models that we should be seeing at the Paris event should be the replacement of its Espirit supercar.
Source: motorauthority
