Staying true to its pillars: a new Lotus is formed

27 January, 2015

In a time where many automakers are struggling Lotus Cars are bucking the trend. They’ve recently announced that their overall sales are up by 54 per cent in the past nine months. In terms of volume, this is an increase of 551 cars on the prior year bringing sales to a total of 1565 cars.

Clearly Lotus Cars’ new strategy is working, with 25 new dealers added over the past nine months and a further 50 to join by the end of 2015. Lotus’ CEO, Jean-Marc Gales, said, “The positive reception that all our new Lotus cars are receiving in both new and established markets shows that our product development strategy is heading in the right direction.”

Lotus are set to reveal a new car at the Geneva International Motor Show in early March, 2015, said to remain true to Lotus’ core pillars of lightness, performance, and driving purity. The demand for Lotus’ cars is still rising in China and Japan, and a new model is speculated to considerably accelerate sales in the USA, Europe, Middle East, and Asia.

 

Merry Christmas from NZ Classic Car magazine

The Classic Car magazine team is taking a few weeks’ holiday from the work computer and heading to the beach for some kickback time.
Merry Christmas, and have a wonderful summer holiday to all our readers, followers, and fans. Enjoy this special extra time with the family. We will be posting archive articles again in mid to late January.
Have fun, be good and be careful out there.

Two engines instead of one?

Popping two motors into a car is not only complicated, it doesn’t always end well. Donn Anderson recalls early attempts, including John Cooper’s ill-fated original Twini Mini built 58 years ago

For a boost in performance, better traction, and perhaps improved handling to some, two motors seems an obvious solution. It would also eliminate the need to develop a larger engine replacement from scratch, but would that outweigh the not inconsiderable technical difficulties?
The idea of using a pair of engines dates back at least 86 years to the Alfa Romeo Bimotor single seater racing car that was officially timed at 335km/h, or 208mph. Taking a lengthened Alfa P3 chassis, the Italians fitted two supercharged straight eight 2.9-litre and 3.2-litre engines, one in front of the cockpit, and the other behind the cockpit.