Archive for Lotus

The feasibility study between Lotus Engineering Malaysia Sdn Bhd and Youngman Automobile Group Co Ltd (Jinhua Youngman) recently concluded with positive results, and Lotus has managed to secure the deal to assist Jinhua Youngman produce passenger cars. Jinhua Youngman started off manufacturing commercial vehicles, but recently secured a license from the Chinese government to produce passenger vehicles. Lotus will start with a 4-door saloon for Jinhua, with work scheduled to begin early 2007. Jinhua plans to have a 4 car model line-up within the next 5 years.

Do you think Jinhua will be using our existing platforms like the ones that have spawned the GEN2 and the Waja, helping Proton achieve better economies of scale? Or perhaps Jinhua will be using the flexible and advanced Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA) by Lotus, which use was demonstrated to the public with the rapid development of the Lotus APX Concept. The latter sounds more likely.

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We have more details on Group Lotus’ plan to turnaround the company within the next 5 years. Previous details on the plan revealed plans to produce more of it’s own cars, re-engineer third party cars, as well as expand it’s engineering consultancy business. More details about those details at this post.

Further details reveal that the flagship Lotus Esprit will be postponed to a end 2009, making it a 2010 model. Lotus says it needs more time to “insert more Lotus DNA” to ensure global competitiveness. Rumours previously had it that Lotus was to release the Esprit next year. The new Lotus Esprit is expected to be a mid-engine, rear wheel dirve layout and could use a 4.8 liter V8 DOHC unit from BMW, making more than 400 horsepower, which would be a real rocket combined with the Lotus philosophy of performance through weight reduction.

In the meanwhile, Lotus announced it will introduce a new mid-market level model in May 2008, as well as a new 4-seater high-performance model in collaboration with Proton - are we going to see a Proton car being tuned up in the style of the Lotus Carlton? Bernama reports that this model will be based on the Proton Satria Neo. The Lotus line-up currently includes the Elise, the Exige and the Europa.

As part of it’s efforts to cut costs, Group Lotus also announced 200 job cuts in it’s manufacturing workforce. The Hethel plant workforce suffers because of the US market slowdown, which is the company’s biggest market. Rather than calling it downsizing, officials have said it is more of a “right-sizing.”

There are some rumours of Proton selling off Lotus like what it did to MV Agusta, but Proton’s MD Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir was quick to clarify that there are no such plans, not now and not in the future. He was quoted to say “We will make sure that Lotus will work. We must ensure Lotus is a success; there is no other way.”

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Group Lotus 5-year turnaround plan.

Proton Holdings Bhd is setting up a special unit to fully capitalise on it’s UK subsidiary Group Lotus, part of Group Lotus’ five-year turnaround plan. The unit, to be comprised of people from both Lotus and Proton is in it’s final planning stages.

Part of Group Lotus’ plan to turn around in 5 years include producing it’s own sports cars like the Elise and Exige, producing Lotus-branded versions of third party production cars like what they did with the Lotus Carlton as well as engineering consultancy. It needs all of these revenue streams to turn around. Lotus already has engine and chassis engineering deals with 4 Chinese car markers including Nanjing Automobile Corp which owns MG Rover. Lotus also has a deal to manufacture the Tesla Roadster, an electric sports car by American company Tesla Motors.

Lotus’ deal with Nanjing will help modernise MG’s range of cars, with the first fruit of the collaboration to be a new MG TF, with a MG ZT following up later in 2008. Besides that, MG Rover’s K-series motor will be upgraded to meet the latest European Union emission standards.

Photo: Jussi Koskinen

The Lotus Carlton was born during the days where General Motors owned Lotus, before Proton bought them. It was based on the 1986 Vauxhall Carlton/Opel Omega Mark 2 3.0GSi, a family saloon sold in the US as a Vauxhall and in Europe as an Opel. The Carlton earned the European Car Of The Year award in it’s year of launching.

Lotus basically took the Carlton, added a rear boot spoiler, air intakes on the bonnet, Lotus badges, and souped up the engine. It turned the 3.0 inline-6 into a monster twin turbocharged 3.6 liter inline-6 making 377 hp at 5,200 rpm. The car came in only one colour; Imperial Green - a colour which looked like black except under very bright lights.

General Motors originally had a sales target of 1,100 units, but only managed 950 (320 Vauxhalls and 630 Opels). This was due to the early 1990s recession, not many could afford a £48,000 car.

Look after the jump to watch Tiff Needell review the Lotus Carlton.

Click here to read the rest of 1990 Lotus Carlton (Lotus Omega)

Lotus CEO Mike Kimberley reveals some of Lotus Cars’ future plans in an interview with Autocar. Kimberley says Lotus is aiming to increase it’s annual production to 8,000 units in the next five year’s time, which is double the current levels. This increase is to be spearheaded by sales of the Lotus Elise and the Lotus Europa, as well as the new Lotus Esprit powered by a BMW V8 engine coming in late 2007.

Kimberley also hints that Lotus might be producing more tuned cars using donor cars by other manufacturers. Some Lotus-tuned donor cars are the Lotus Cortina based on a Ford Cortina and the recent Lotus Carlton based on the Vauxhall Carlton pictured above. I’m sure many of you remember what Lotus did to an old Lada Riva in an episode of Top Gear. If you’ve missed it, the video is available here.

The Vauxhall Carlton originally had a 3.0 liter inline-6 DOHC engine. Lotus increased the stroke of the engine to 3.6 liters, and bolted on two Garrett T25 turbochargers with a water-to-air intercooler to give the engine 377 horsepower at 5,200 rpm with 557Nm of torque at 4,200rpm. They mated this to a ZF 6-speed stick shift from the Chevrolet Corvette ZF-1. The result was the Lotus Carlton. It did 0-100 in 5.2 seconds and had a 283km/h top speed.

Of course in tandem with the increased power, the suspension and brakes were upgraded. A family sedan which could go really really fast, ala BMW M5 style.

The Project NEF engine aims to produce a high performance prototype engine without the need to resort to exotic materials or manufacturing technology, ensuring the transition from prototype to production with ease and speed. It was designed and developed by Lotus Engineering’s powertrain division.

The first in the engine family is the 3.0 liter supercharged DOHC 75 degree V6 engine found in the new Lotus APX prototype. The supercharged 3.0 liter V6 makes 300hp at 6250rpm and 360Nm of torque at 4500rpm. 80% of that 360Nm of torque (288Nm) is available from as low as 1500rpm. Acceleration should be very good. Pretty impressive stuff.

Other family models include a 2.2 liter and 3.0 liter normally aspirated versions, which compliment this supercharged one. They are all production feasible, but not planned for production, unless of course there is a customer who wants to buy it. Perhaps Proton would be one of the potential customers? Makes sense seriously.

The narrow 75 degree angle makes the engine compact. It also gives the engine better vibration characteristics, removing the need for a balance shaft and the extra cost and weight that comes with it. The engine is controlled by a 32-bit ECU capable of 200 million calculations a second.

The Lotus APX Concept was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show 2006 recently. The Lotus APX, which means Aluminium Performance Crossover was designed by Lotus using it’s Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA) and has an all-aluminium monocoque structure, which follows true to “Performance through Light Weight” core brand value.

Click here to read the rest of Lotus APX Aluminium Performance Crossover

Lotus will be unveiling this concept car called the Lotus APX Concept at the 2006 Geneva Auto Salon. The APX is built using Lotus’s Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA) and is powered by a 3.0 liter supercharged V6 engine making 300 horsepower.

The Lotus APX (stands for Aluminium Performance Crossover) has an all-aluminium monocoque structure and follows true to Lotus’s “Performance through Light Weight” core brand value. The APX’s power to weight ratio is about 190 horsepower per tonne.

Perhaps Proton might use this for an MPV model. Thanks to Nahar for the pointer!

Jeremy Clarkson puts the Lotus Exige in a head-on handling bout against an Apache helicopter gunship. Trust Top Gear to always come up with outrageous but entertaining ways to test his sports cars. Jeremy Clarkson drives the Lotus Exige around the track, and the challenge is to out-maneuveur the Apache gunship which will try to get a radar lock on the car to fire it’s missiles.

Video is after the jump!

Click here to read the rest of Handling Battle: Lotus Exige versus Apache Gunship

Lotus has finally announced the Lotus Europa S, after spyshots of it being seen around Europe and in Malaysia being test driven along Proton models like the Savvy and the SRM. Alot of speculation has been going on about the name of the new car as well as whether Proton will be offering a re-badge of it.

Click here to read the rest of Lotus Europa S