2015 Lotus Elise + 2014 Lotus Elan

^^^ Still, what's on the market now that's lighter? Current Miata weighs the same. It's also the same jump between the first and second gen Elise in heft.
 
Doesn't make it any less unacceptable. This is Lotus. And for what it's worth, I liked the old styling just fine, better than this even.
 
Good god, I love the Elan already. Hopefully I can afford one by the time it goes on sale.
 
I like their new design language on the Elite, but I wish they'd make their other cars a little more unique looking.
 
Jalopnik said:
I can barely type right now I'm so excited. Who knew Stephen Baldwin was going to release four of the hottest supercars ever today? The 2015 Lotus Elise will be the smallest and cheapest, but just look at it!

The next generation Lotus Elise bowed with the lesser Baldwin moments ago at the Paris Motor Show and, while the car doesn't enter the market until Spring 2015, details are already out on the latest iteration of the car we love to love.

With a bevy of other debuts it's no surprise Lotus worked hard to keep their current favorite a favorite by not messing too much with the formula. The new hotness features the same RWD, mid-engined, two-seat configuration. Power comes from a 316-horsepower 2.0-liter inline four propelling the car to 62 mph from a dead stop in just 4.3 seconds.

The car adds start/stop technology to further reduce emissions, which we don't care about, and will come with a peculiarly-oriented six-speed manual, which we do care about. The biggest concern? Weight jumps to about 2,400 pounds from the current approximately 2,000 pounds of car.
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I think it's a fairly straight forward reason why Lotus wants to shift focus. They need to turn around...

Looking at Lotus as a company they are in pretty much the same trouble as Porsche were in the early 90s; they're making losses and they're low on cash. From the look of these concepts they obviously want to cater for a wider market from which they can actually make money. It also looks like there are lots of synergies between these cars; one of the tricks Porsche pulled off with the (986) Boxster and (996) 911, it saves them a load of development cash. That's why they made the Evora such a flexible platform. My guess is that Lotus have looked carefully at precisely what Porsche did to get things turned around, as their cases are very similar. As for the whinefest about their cars getting "heavy" and loaded up with equipment, I'd say that's a necessity if they want to reach out to more customers; there are too few looking only for hardcore sprotscars like the Exige and to a certain degree the Elise as well. The whinging is made even less justified by how good the Evora turned out to be; aside from a slightly uninspiring engine, the rest of the car is truly excellent. For a reference, just read EVO Magazine's Car Of The Year feature from last year.

It's also good to see their new designs, they certainly look modern and striking, and will have to make it to production as soon as possible as the Elise in particular is starting to look rather old now. If Lotus manages to make this turnaround, the future at Hethel does look bright.
 
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smib said:
Doesn't make it any less unacceptable. This is Lotus. And for what it's worth, I liked the old styling just fine, better than this even.
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The Espirit which is a "real" Lotus weighed almost 3,000lbs later on in its life.
 
marcos_eirik said:
I think it's a fairly straight forward reason why Lotus wants to shift focus. They need to turn around...

Looking at Lotus as a company they are in pretty much the same trouble as Porsche were in the early 90s; they're making losses and they're low on cash. From the look of these concepts they obviously want to cater for a wider market from which they can actually make money. It also looks like there are lots of synergies between these cars; one of the tricks Porsche pulled off with the (986) Boxster and (996) 911, it saves them a load of development cash. That's why they made the Evora such a flexible platform. My guess is that Lotus have looked carefully at precisely what Porsche did to get things turned around, as their cases are very similar. As for the whinefest about their cars getting "heavy" and loaded up with equipment, I'd say that's a necessity if they want to reach out to more customers; there are too few looking only for hardcore sprotscars like the Exige and to a certain degree the Elise as well. The whinging is made even less justified by how good the Evora turned out to be; aside from a slightly uninspiring engine, the rest of the car is truly excellent. For a reference, just read EVO Magazine's Car Of The Year feature from last year.

It's also good to see their new designs, they certainly look modern and striking, and will have to make it to production as soon as possible as the Elise in particular is starting to look rather old now. If Lotus manages to make this turnaround, the future at Hethel does look bright.
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Plus, if they're going the Porsche route, there will inevitably be hardcore versions in the pipe.
 
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Well, off to relabel the "Buy Coco an Elise" jar as "Buy Coco a Pre-2015 Elise."

Even if they come out with a hardcore bonkers version, there's nothing about the way this design looks that grabs me, either. :( Sure, I may catch a ride in someone's when they finally make this, get the same "hoooooooolllllllyyyyyy craaaaaaaaapppppp!!!" feeling I did riding in the current one, and decide that I don't care if it looks like a kumquat as long as it still goes like stink, but...eesh. The current Elise is just so much prettier to look at than this that it ain't even funny.

The current one's been around for a while and still doesn't look like an old design to me. I'm not saying they should never change it, but rather that the tiny adorable happyelise has the makings of a classic. Updating such a car's always going to be incredibly difficult, but geez. They didn't have to fail so hard and go the Generic Late 2000s Sportscar route with their design language. Do not want.
 
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