With Dany Bahar no longer at the helm of troubled sports car specialist Lotus, you would think that the brand's foray into making more mainstream vehicles would have ended. Unfortunately, the situation may be far from it, if Group Lotus's new chief Jean-Marc Gales is to be believed. Speaking with Reuters at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show, Gales admitted that Lotus may need to also jump on the crossover/SUV bandwagon if it plans to survive the upcoming years.
While the news is likely upsetting, to say the least, to die-hard Lotus fans, Gales promises that Lotus will not just do another plain crossover but "reinvent the category," quickly explaining himself: "We'd do an SUV that is very light, very fast on the track and has outstanding handling," he told the news agency. "I'm a bit torn between an SUV and a four-door sports car - but in the end I can see that the SUV has the bigger market."
On the plus side, despite what the quote may suggest, Jean-Marc Gales is actually an old-school car guy who seems to understand the Lotus philosophy better than his predecessor. "We had an electronically opening glove box, which in a sports car is worse than useless. I don't know who put that in, but I took it out." he said at Geneva. In my book, this is a perfect example of his Colin Chapman-like mindset, so hopefully the crossover Lotus will adhere to the "simplify, then add lightness" principle as well, as that would indeed revolutionize the niche.
Continue reading to learn more about Lotus' future SUV.
Lotus CEO Admits SUV Possibility originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 6 March 2015 16:00 EST.
read more
No comments:
Post a Comment