Lotus Confirms Evora-Based Crossover (!) and Roadster

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Frederik
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Lotus Confirms Evora-Based Crossover (!) and Roadster

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Lotus Confirms Evora-Based Crossover (!) and Roadster
22/12/2014 at 9:57 via caranddriver.com
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While a refreshed, more powerful Lotus Evora returns to the U.S. late next year, the company is also planning a crossover variant meant to make the wee British-Malaysian automaker profitable for the first time in nearly two decades.

While we broke the news back in October that Lotus CEO Jean-Marc Gales was considering sedans and crossovers, we thought he was referring to new models based on cheaper Protons, the Malaysian automaker tied with Lotus under Malaysian conglomerate DRB-Hicom. But in a new interview with Britain’s Car, Gales said the crossover would be based on the Evora and compete with a production version of the Audi TT Offroad Concept unveiled at Beijing in April. Plus, Gales said there would be a successor to the 2-Eleven, the mad, track-only Elise without a windshield that blew us away when we tested one in 2007. He also all but confirmed to Car that there would be an Evora roadster, “which is the easiest thing in the world to do.”

For months, Lotus will have nothing to peddle in the U.S. but the track-only Elise S Cup R and Exige V-6 Cup. The feds told the Evora, the only street-legal Lotus on sale here, to promptly GTFO next year due to an expiring smart-airbag waiver. From Gales himself, the next Evora—which will meet all U.S. safety regs when it debuts at Geneva next March—will be a refresh and not a top-to-bottom redo. The supercharged Toyota V-6 will breathe through an intercooler for “substantially more horsepower,” and Lotus will lower and thin out the doorsills to make entering an Evora easier than, say, a kayak. It will also become even more expensive.

“Lotus cars will be sharper than ever before,” Gales told Car. “We will tip the balance toward handling. The ride will stay good, but the handling will be even better.”

Gales, who took over in May, said he plans to make Lotus profitable by 2016 (the first such occasion in 17 years, he said) and that the brand could break even with 3000 cars per year, more than double the 1263 cars sold in 2013. Between 2017 and 2020, when a Lotus sedan might launch, Gales wants Lotus to approach 10,000 cars. This is all pleasant to hear, but we’re so used to Lotus emitting vapor of late—absolutely nothing promised under CEO Dany Bahar’s bizarre three-year stint hit the pavement—that we remain skeptical. Lotus is in the process of firing a couple hundred employees, and until that dust settles, a lifted, mid-engine Lotus 4×4 won’t drive off of a PowerPoint slide.

Bron: http://blog.caranddriver.com/lotus-conf ... -roadster/
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Mario
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Re: Lotus Confirms Evora-Based Crossover (!) and Roadster

Bericht door Mario »

Geen officiële foto's, maar zoiets dan?...
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Coen
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Re: Lotus Confirms Evora-Based Crossover (!) and Roadster

Bericht door Coen »

Dan zou ik zeggen, direct in productie brengen! Alleen is het dan wel weer een ontzettende niche markt voor een 3 deurs.
Lotus Elise S2 111S & Porsche 997.2
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