Lucrative Or Timewasting: Unusual Spending

The sharp-eyed among you will have noticed my oddly-titled headline is an acronym of Lotus, inspired by the original coined to describe their inconsistent brilliance: 'Lots Of Trouble, Usually Serious. In its 58 year history, Lotus has, with or without Colin Chapman at the helm, been a pinacle of innovation and ingenuinty, both in the cut and thrust of F1 and with their lightweight, well-balanced sports cars. However, as you'll have seen from their revelations at the 2010 Paris Motor Show, 'simplify and add lightness' has been binned in favour of high capactity, high performance, high priced philosophy. That decision, and the current ambition has been debated and slated unremittingly since the reveal, and while purists may revolt, Lotus and its Proton parent need profit and have deemed reinvention as a Porsche and Aston rival the best plan of action.



The gubbins with the go on Lexus IS-F duty

 Out of all the various aspects of the plan, there's argument over, the sheer amount of the new models, their styling, expected arrival dates and how the dynamics of the Elise, Elan, Esprit, Eterne and Elite will fare with the best, once they are here.
One of possibly the more minor points, but still worth a look, is the policy on the engines that will power Lotus into its new era of luxury motoring. Despite initial reports that the 8 cylinder models would receive variations of the Lexus V8 found in the LS600h and IS-F, now word has come from Lotus that consideration is being given to fabricationg a totally new and bespoke motor, which, in different capacitites, could see service in the back of the sports cars and noses of the GTs. Benefits of this are obvious: the cars develop their own character, so important in this market where emotion rules over pramatism. Also, commonaility of spare parts and maintenance lower service costs which is of course welcome in an area where costs are usually so high.


Colin Chapman at the wheel of Lotus



However, as admirable as yet another idealistic Lotus proposal is, it does seem outweighed by the negatives which render it unnecessary. Developing a high performance engine capable of being constructed in different sizes and states of tune, powering vastly different cars, while simultaneously meeting international emmision and consumption legislation is heroically, obscenely expensive. Almost all low volume sports car makers, like Ariel, Spyker, even the first Koenigsegg, use engines readily available and pre-approved for their prospective markets. Concerns about reliabilty are also alleviated. Pagani went bespoke with their AMG-built V12 for the mighty Zonda, but never being certified for the USA proved very limiting, something which is being changed for the C9 successor. Lotus incidentally doesn't possess the luxury of being able to charge £1million + for its cars like Pagani to offset its engine costs.

At least it's better looking that a Panamera...

While Lotus's new board may fear that an ostensibly Toyota based motor won't attract Aston Martin* customers, a stronger position with new models fully on the market using existing engines would be a preferable base to start considering a new V8 mill. Certainly, with GM ex-chief and Lotus shareholder Bob Lutz admitting even he feels the new lineup has (just) "a 60% success chance", perhaps those masterminding the new operation should take insiration once again from the previous philosophy, and keep things simple.

*Of course Aston Martin's DB9/DBS/Rapide V12 is based on a 'doubled' Ford V6 design, and remains one of the most iconic current engines.