In a recent interview with British magazine Auto Express, Lotus Group Chief Executive Officer Dany Bahar provided some info about the Lotus City Car, stating that the model will boast better performance figures than its direct competitors from Audi, BMW and Mini. According to Bahar, “There’s no point in trying to fight the MINIs, and the small BMWs and Audis unless you have a special offering. Our car will be an EV or range extended EV and will offer performance of no other small car“. This statement doesn’t say much about the immediate future of the model, but makes it clear that the British manufacturer is firmly committed to this project.

The Lotus City Car was firstly introduced to the public at the 2010 Paris Auto Show as a concept car, weighing in at 1,400 kg and powered by a rear-mounted electric engine delivering an output of 220 hp with 240 Nm of maximum torque. The final production model should be pretty similar to that concept and is expected to make its debut on the market in 2015 with a price tag of about 35,000 € (45,000$ - 29,000£). Although the car will initially be introduced as a Proton model, Mr.Bahar confirmed that it will be easily switchable to its Lotus version, a conversion that will justify in full the inflated price tag over the Proton-badged model.

The City Car concept was equipped with lithium batteries providing it with 60 km of range, but Lotus also added a range extender in the form of a 1.2-litre 3-cylindre bioethanol engine delivering 34 kW (46 hp) which boosts the autonomy of the vehicle up to 500 km (310 mph). As for the performance, the carmaker claimed a 0-50 km/h (31 mph) sprint time of 4,5 seconds, a 0-100 km/h (62 mph) sprint time of 9 seconds flat and a top speed of 170 km/h, with a CO2 emission level of 60 g/km. Click on the ‘Continue Reading’ link below to find out about the upcoming ‘Esprit’.

Continue reading: Lotus CEO talks about City Car and hybrid Esprit plans

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The Lotus board gets another feather in its cap as Gordon Murray joins the Lotus Advisory Council. That makes for quite a council over at Lotus as Murray will hook up with other names from the car industry like Bob Lutz, Burkhard Goschel (former BMW designer) and Frank Tuch (Volkswagen engineer).

Murray’s qualifications hardly need introducing after his career in Formula 1 racing as a designer and engineer behind models like the McLaren F1 supercar. Murray has apparently always admire Lotus, and supports CEO Dany Bahar’s vision for a new business model for Lotus.

Still it’s hard to know whether he’ll have a hands on role at all and just when exactly we’re going to start seeing some evidence of the new design work and business plan in real production models ready for the market. We’d be more than happy to see a pinch of Murray’s creativity in future Lotus models and can’t wait to see if his influence will be evident.

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In a detailed report from InsideLine, Lotus CEO Dany Bahar is looking to larger car manufacturers to buy Lotus so that the company can continue to develop its standalone models and make the investment required to build its line-up. The publication mentions a name like Toyota as an example of the kind of pairing up the CEO would like to see, as he embarks on a mission to do the following:

• expand the Lotus product portfolio
• reposition (we add relaunch) the brand as a premium marque competing with the likes of Porsche
• increase annual sales to six to eight thousand units a year by 2015

With that plan in mind, it’s clear that added investment and a significant backer is probably required. In the meantime, amongst all the marketing glitter from Lotus of late, the road to product development has been a rocky one. After recent reports that the Lotus Elan is being shelved, Autocar now says that Lotus has a hit list of 150 things it wants to change about the Elise and Evora.

Continue reading: Lotus sale and 150 changes to Elise and Evora?

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After a quite stunning line-up of Lotus models at the 2010 Paris Motor Show, for quantity if nothing else, there haven’t been many indications from the company of where it’s going, substance-wise. We were worried for a while there that after seeing the glossy Lotus magazine, the weird and eclectic conceptual art campaign, and a series of highly polished design videos, that Dany Bahar and his Lotus team were more about swagger than substance.

Which is why we were especially curious to check out this Autocar test drive video of the Lotus Evora. After reports that the only Lotus to get an engineering overhaul was going to be the new Esprit, we also heard that Lotus intended on raising quality to compete with the likes of other supercar and luxury car makers like Ferrari and Aston Martin.

So we’ll take future Lotus plans as playing in that field - upping its game through quality build and technology and not just fancy marketing. That will obviously help with image, but Lotus has plenty of pull on its own if it can back up its snazzy new look. Autocar claims that at the moment, the Evora S is the most important car in the Lotus line-up (suggesting that it won’t be axed?) and it should give us some indication of where the company is going in its fast-moving, new developmental phase.

According to the test drive, the cabin has a much better build quality than the previous model and that’s just the start. In terms of driving the new Evora S, it seems that what was a great driver’s car at the beginning - with fantastic cornering and stability - just got itself some “proper supercar performance”, and superior torque right across the range; which all means that it’s a “riot” to drive. Is Dany Bahar putting his money where his mouth is? If this video is anything to go by, yes. In English terms it’s “bloody marvellous”.

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Is Lotus systematically poaching from Ferrari or is it just coincidence that another executive has moved from the Prancing Horse to the British company? As Andreas Prillmann takes up the position of Chief Commercial Officer for Lotus, the team of former Ferrari managers now at Lotus comprises five.

Prillmann was Director of Business Development at Ferrari, and now joins other former Ferrari guys Dany Bahar (Lotus CEO), Claudio Berro (Lotus Motorsport), Gino Rosato (Lotus Corporate Affairs) and Donato Coco (Lotus Design Director). Prillmann has plenty of industry experience, having previously worked also for Aston Martin, Porsche and General Motors in various sales, dealership management and PR roles. He says of his appointment:

“It took me just ten minutes to accept the offer from Dany Bahar for the role of Chief Commercial Officer at Lotus. It was an easy decision to make as I see Lotus as a brand with so much potential and I am delighted to join this iconic company at such an exciting time and look forward to instigating the new strategic plans and initiatives that will take the Lotus brand to the next level.”

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Lotus has appointed a new CEO to its ranks with Dany Bahar, previously Senior Vice President for Ferrari’s Commercial and Brand division. The appointment will be effective from October 1st, as Bahar replaces Michael Kimberley, who retired from Lotus in July.

In a statement from Lotus, Bahar says: “I am looking forward to taking on the challenges as CEO of this legendary and iconic company with a peerless motorsport history. Lotus has a worldwide reputation for innovative engineering and superb sportscars that lead the world in efficiency, design and dynamics. With the recent launch of the award-winning Evora, there is proof that Lotus is better placed than many to capitalise on the rapidly changing automotive market. I can’t wait to get my plans underway in October.”

The appointment coincides with the release of the new Lotus Elise Club Racer which will be presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show this month. See our post on the Elise Club Racer for more details.

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