Lotus boss talks of future
Lotus boss Mike Kimberley sets out his stall
Extreme sports cars such as the Elise and Exige will continue to be the ‘iconic, purist baseline of the Lotus brand’ according to new group CEO Mike Kimberley, but the marque must also broaden its activities if it’s to prosper as a business. To that end he would like to see Lotus re-engineering mainstream cars in the spirit of the Lotus Cortina and Lotus Carlton, and he has also placed a priority on reinvigorating the company’s engineering consultancy division.
‘Niche models such as the Lotus Cortina helped put Lotus and Ford on the map,’ explains Kimberley, ‘but to do that sort of thing again we’d need to ensure that it wouldn’t affect the DNA of the brand.
'As for Lotus Engineering, we’ve allowed it to reduce in scale, but there’s so much skill and talent there that I see it as an area of real growth.’
That rebirth already seems to be underway, with recently announced deals to modernise MG product for the Chinese firm Nanjing, and an agreement with the American company Tesla to help develop and manufacture an Elise-based electric sports car.
Despite some outside criticism of the Europa S (above right), Kimberley is unapologetic about the car. ‘There are a lot of people who want a car they can drive every day, and for Lotus not to have a "lifestyle" car would be to deny us a sector of the market five times bigger than the one we’re in now.’
Of the Elise he says: ‘It will continue a commonsense evolution that will run for many years with a reasonably major change coming in a couple of years. Following the success of the Elise S we will develop the entry-level market.’
As for the Esprit (although that name has not yet been confirmed), Kimberley is enthusiastic, saying: ‘It will be a great car and has to be a proper Lotus. It will be the jewel in the crown of the Lotus line-up, just as the Esprit always was.’
