A decade or two ago, we’d have been worried and depressed about news that Lotus, our precious little struggling Norfolk sports car company, was being refounded by Chinese owners to make SUVs, saloons and crossovers.
But much has happened in the meantime that makes it clear this is the only way to go, that it’s likely to be successful and that it should be welcomed
First is the Porsche example. The Stuttgart company can only afford to build its top-end sports cars, to race at the highest levels and to burnish its performance car reputation because it makes a big majority of saloons, crossovers and SUVs. These are desirable cars in their own right and have become the 'sports cars' of their sectors.
Second is the performance of Geely. This extraordinary company, led by the even more extraordinary Chinese visionary, Li Shufu, has shown with its sensitive management of Volvo, Polestar, LEVC and the rest, that it is brilliant at preserving heritage and reputation while vastly expanding and improving businesses.
Third is the market itself. Car consumers like having an uncompromising brand, so long as the cars themselves contain a good deal of comfort and compromise.
And because we at Autocar know him so well, we’d add a fourth success element: the continuing presence of master designer Peter Horbury as Geely’s chief arbiter of Lotusness. With all these positive elements at work - plus other background stuff such as shared parts, distribution and marketing know-how - it’s hard to see how this latest Lotus expansion can fail.
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The Eletre from Lotus Tech, the new EV arm of the Lotus Company, is promising to be a revolutionary leap forward in electric vehicle technology, and it looks like it might just deliver.
Journalists continue to peddle this lie about Porsche: 'You might not like the Cayenne, but without it the sports cars wouldn't exist.'
This might be true if Porsche were still an independent company, but it's not: it's a wholly owned subsidiary of Volkswagen. The SUVs are a choice, not a necessity.
It should be noted that the introduction of the Cayenne in 2003 predated the closer integration of the two companies by eight years - ample time for the financial benefits of the new model to have had a massive effect.
I think Chunky Chapman would actually be spinning in his grave, since lightness was always his North Star.
Sadly, to survive the next 20 years Lotus has to join the other manufacturers rather than plough its own furrow.
To me this puts the Lotus badge in the same place as the MG badge....just that - a badge, nothing more.