Tag: SUV

Lotus 2020: Two New Cars

The Lotus 2020 plan is out. Again.

The message from Jean-Marc Gales, Lotus CEO: Two new cars by 2020. And guess what? There’ll be an SUV as well. Some months after Chinese car company and Volvo owner Geely bought Lotus from Proton, Lotus’ future plans are out in the open.

Well, a bit.

Lotus 2020: Two New Cars

It won’t be a new Esprit.

Lotus made its name with sports cars, so by 2020 we’ll have two new cars.

The first will replace either the Evora or Exige. The Evora runs on the newest of Lotus’ platforms while the Exige rides on the Elise’s now 22 year old tried and tested hydroformed aluminium tub.

It seems weird that the Evora would be the first to be replaced (it’s only been around since 2009) but Gales is a smart fellow who seems to know what he’s doing. He had previously said that the Elise replacement would arrive in 2020, but that was before Geely turned up.

Gales told CAR Magazine that the new car won’t feature a hybrid powertrain, with Gales citing the weight of two engines.

Reading between the lines, it’s possible the Elise could get the chop. Gales said that there’s not much money in sports cars – they cost a lot to develop and you can’t sell too many of them. Either way, the Elise’s super-clever, iconic aluminium platform will live on doing what it does best – reasonably cheap to build, super-strong, super-light, easy to work with.

The second new car is the car I reckon Lotus should be doing – a carbon-tubbed track monster. That car can’t replace the Elise unless a financial miracle occurs (or Lotus works out how Alfa Romeo do it so cheaply in the 4C).

SUV

This is the car nobody really wants Lotus to make, but it has to. An SUV is the way to the market’s heart and a Lotus SUV should be something very interesting indeed. Gales promised that all future cars will stay true to the Lotus DNA of lightness. He wouldn’t be drawn on engines but did drop a heavy hint about an electric drivetrain being in the mix.

A Lotus SUV will be interesting, if nothing else. The less information I have makes me further intrigued…

Geely, Volvo and Lotus

There is finally new money flowing through Lotus, which also managed a profit in the last financial year. The production line has scored a cash injection and Lotus engineers have been on a parts-bin raid to update electrical and safety systems. We might finally see decent stereos, a sat nav and hopefully some new switchgear.

We won’t be seeing the big Volvo touchscreen (from experience, it’s way too big to fit in a Lotus) and it’s highly unlikely the SUV will be a rebadged XC-something. That’s good news, even though both of those things are excellent in their own right. They’re just not right for Lotus.

While the news isn’t that of a new sports car onslaught – and I’m a bit worried that the Elise may not live on – it’s great to see Geely money is flowing. In my head, Lotus could be almost a McLaren sub-brand, a harder-core drive-to-the-track sports cars that are more user-friendly than, say, an Ariel Atom.

For the full story without my bleatings, check out CAR’s story (which missed the bits about the previous plans).

January 29, 2018
Land Rover Defender Works V8 Is Bonkers

Land Rover Defender Works V8 Announced

Land Rover has gone a bit overboard in its 70th Anniversary year, producing the Defender Works V8.

As most of you probably already know, the Defender went out of production a couple of years back after many decades in service. Over the years it scored little in the way of creature comforts. Less attention was paid only to the styling, which barely changed. You can imagine the consternation in the Defender project corner every time a new homologation rule arrived in the mail. “We have to put indicators on?”

Defender Works V8

I’ve been to a few 70th birthday parties over the years, but none has been this stark raving mad. While dropping a V8 into the Defender isn’t new – the 1979 Series III Stage 1 started the trend – it’s not exactly commonplace. It’s not really part of the Defender’s charm to have a bellowing bent eight under the square-rigged bonnet.

The V8 develops a rather decent 297kW (481bhp) and 515Nm. The last Defenders to roll down the line were rather more sedate, with 90kW (145bhp) and 360Nm. Top speed wasn’t 170km/h and even if it had been, trying to hit it would have been madness. 0-60mph (98km/h) arrives in 5.7 seconds. Imagine the look on a quick 5 Series driver’s face. Ironically, you’ll both be using the same ZF eight-speed automatic transmission. The Defender even has a Sport mode. Hipsters the world over will be utterly furious.

To help tame the grunt, beefier springs, dampers and anti-roll bars help keep things on the road.

Further evidence of caution having been thrown to the wind is a distinctly un-Defender set of 18-inch diamond turned sawtooth alloys. While you can accelerate toward muddy ruts at great speed, these wheels will probably eject themselves to avoid certain ruination in the ruts.

The website says the production cars are “specially selected” but Twitter phenomenon Sniff Petrol spotted a set of partially assembled cars on a factory tour last year.

Seems these official Defender V8s will be brand new cars. When I went to see the last Defender come off the line in 2016 I spotted these new panel sets out the back of the factory and at the time I thought ‘now why would they need those…?’ pic.twitter.com/RkO9EnP9A5

— Sniff Petrol (@sniffpetrol) January 17, 2018

Why?

Well, turning 70 in any business is a gigantic achievement, triply so for a car maker. It’s a notoriously difficult business and Land Rover came face-to-face with ruin more than once over the years. So it’s worth celebrating, as Ferrari demonstrated last year.

The head of Jaguar Land Rover Classic, Tim Hannig, says the idea has been kicking around for a while.

“The idea of reintroducing a V8 Defender was something we were discussing as far back as 2014, when we were still building the Defender in Solihull. We knew the demand was there for a powerful and fast Defender; the Land Rover authenticity is the ultimate finishing touch for discerning clients purchasing these collector’s edition Defenders.”

Fair enough. They’ll be a collector’s item alright – just 150 will be available for purchase in either 90 or 110 versions. A 90 will cost a staggering £150,000, which will score you an Audi R8 Spyder in the UK.

If you want one, you better be quick and, basically, live in the UK. The press release carefully avoids mentioning countries outside of the kingdom except to say Middle East and North Africa region customers can grab one on a personal import basis.

If you fancy a closer look at the business producing the Defender Works V8, click here.

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January 17, 2018