There’s goodwill for Lotus. So much of it. Watching this Norfolk icon stumble through crisis after crisis feels wrong. We’ve been watching them fail for decades now. Owners coming and going, leaving a trail of broken promises.
Geely owns them. The Chinese group that figured out Volvo. You’d think they’d fix this, too. Nine years later? Still stumbling. Staff cuts piled up after the “Vision 18” plan collapsed. They wanted to build 150 thousand cars by 2028 by 2018. Last year they managed less than seven thousand. Yikes.
I remember the Paris Motor Show in 2010. Under Proton then. Boss Dany Bahar stood there with five new car concepts. A “complete remake” he called it. Bold. Exciting. A bright future. None of those cars ever got built. Not even close. It was a ghost parade.
Now comes a new plan.
This one feels… different. Smaller, sure. 30,00 cars a year is the goal. Hybrids mixed in, rather than forcing every driver into an electric box overnight. It feels realistic. Maybe even humble. Which is a rare quality in auto land.
And there’s a car.
A petrol supercar. Nearly 1,000 brake horsepower. The Esprit name returns. The teaser image? Sharp. Aggressive. It works. But let’s be clear about what this actually is. A halo car. It’s not going to pay the bills. The volume comes from elsewhere. The sensible stuff. The affordable stuff.
The Eletre SUV and the Emeya GT divide the crowd. Purists hate the size. But widen the scope, add a hybrid powertrain like the new Eletre X suggests, and suddenly people might care. They might even buy them.
Then there’s the Emira. A proper two-seater. If Lotus gives that car some love, updates the powertrain, it reminds everyone what they’re actually famous for. Lightweight. Balanced. Fun.
Can a British brand owned by China succeed again? Sure. It happens all the time. A buoyant Lotus would feel good. Right. Like a small victory against the tide. We’re rooting for them. Really we are. This time.
Let’s hope this plan doesn’t vanish like smoke too.
