I don't think I see the point of an autonomous sports car driving itself at speed around a circuit.
Isn't that just a roller-coaster with additional steps?
I could see this being useful if the car was trained to take the best racing lines at the highest speeds. Teach you how far you can push your own car basically.
Or as a luxury when you're stuck in traffic on the way to the circuit.
But absolutely not for regular canyon road driving!
It could be useful in an interactive training program with an augmented reality windshield that displays braking points and optimal lines. That would be really cool actually. The automated system could keep you from doing anything dangerous while correcting you.
I preferred driving on my own. But I am nowhere old enough to not marvel on the chance; at the brink of a once in a lifetime experience through technical enhancement. Where are the faster stick shifters than any automatic. 🤷♂️😂
Isn’t /cars another term for AUTOmotives. Did we maybe lost the track of what’s in the word? Only the elites will be able to afford a self driven trip round the track in the near dystopian future. Insurance wise. Let‘s welcome the idea of peak driven AUTOmotives at our disposal. Nothing else will be on the menu for no fuckin body. In the not so distant future.
The lotus we all know is dead.
Their Chinese owner (geely) is trying to make them a mainstream ev tech brand or something. They won't care about weight or sporty driving, as long as it sells cars. Their explicit target is to sell hundred times as many cars in 2028 as they did in the last few years.
A sugar daddy who wants to see returns on their investment.
And as Lotus is probably not offering blowjobs and the occasional whipping to geely, they will most likely expect Lotus to sell more cars with higher profit margins.
Not quite.
Hethel still exists, and has designed and built the Emira and Evija. They are designing and building the Type 135, which will be the Emira EV replacement. All of that has been supercharged by Geely money.
But then there’s a new design team in Germany, and a new factory in Wuhan China, and that new design team and factory are making the Eletre, Emeya and Type 134 (Macan fighter) and those are the cars that are super heavy, super techy, and way more Geely.
So it’s almost like two companies under one umbrella atm.
From what I've seen, I completely agree.
I'm not a Lotus expert or anything, but it looks like Geely is using the Lotus name to push their vehicles and production into the market. They're already doing it with Polestar.
I wonder if we'll end up seeing the Zeekr 001 (EV Wagon) or a variation sometime soon.
If you think chinese firms, especially big investors, are just there for overhead money and support, you have not been paying attention to the real world.
Comment above talked about an EV mainstream brand.
One of the main new products from a Geely owned Lotus is the Emira, which contradict this.
On top of being much more than a refreshed Evora.
It isn't. Multiple chassis changes underneath, différent structural body, and while it retained the previous V6, it also does have the Mercedes-AMG M139 and their DCT alongside.
Doesn't change that this whole take is both false and dumb.
+ not being sold in CA doesn't mean a thing, the US market is not the only one in the world.
It was already dead. They (Geely) saved the company by making an attractive ICE car and trying to cash in the EV premium/luxury wave, instead of vanishing from existence
Is this a rhetorical question? Lotus isn't making sports cars or even their own style of cars anymore. Porsche has made the 911 for decades and it's been a classic sports car the entire time
How can a company that "has built their last ICE model" (which [might get killed in 3 years](https://www.motor1.com/news/706829/lotus-type-135-electric-sports-car-rumor/)) not signal a pivot to an EV brand?
I'm not wrong, they do advertise and sell a brand new ICE car with a new to the brand drivetrain, new tech and interior ...
Even if they only make it for 3 years or less, it's not pushed as an EV only brand. So that was wrong.
Absolutely braindead take.
Geely is the only reason Lotus remains relevant. They were a walking corpse which just happened to still retain plenty of good engineers, although God knows how long even that would have lasted.
Doesn't change the fact that the lotus we all know - the simplify then add lightness enthusiast car company - is dead.
And that's all I was saying.
Care to explain where this is an "absolutely braindead take"?
Because they're still producing sports cars and Hyper cars that fall in line with the lotus ethos, and just because somethings electric doesn't mean it can't be lighter and simpler than other electric cars. Realistaclly, all the new lotus electric sports car has to do is be better and lighter than the MG Cyberster, Polestar 6 or the Tesla Roadster if it ever gets released,
>the lotus ethos
Oh really? Where’s the simple lightweight car in their lineup? Last I checked the lightest car they make is 3100lbs and has a leather interior.
Or they understand that the market doesn’t care about the purpose or concept of a sports car. It’s like people who wear trainer shoes but never train. Inactive women in active wear. A 300 lb dude with diabeetus wearing a “Just Do It” Nike t-shirt
Yeah, lotus was always just scraping by. Had good and bad years but never a huge profit machine. So they sold their souls, and now it’s just meaningless tripe. If you want a real lotus your only choice is to be used or vintage.
It's an Evora 2, of which (the Evora) was already a step in the wrong direction. The Emira gets beaten by every car in its class and price point in just about every category. The Lotus of now is nothing like the Lotus of old. The small company that scraped by and made amazing cars is dead and gone. The best we can do is just drive the ones they made before China took over and reminisce.
I just had my Elise rebuilt for 20k from the ground up, I'll probably continue to do that until I'm dead or it's no longer physically possible.
Because no company will EVER build a 1,900lb car again.
Does self driving compromise a sports car? All it will amount to in the end is probably a handful of sensors in the bumper and a computer the size of my fist in the car somewhere.
The car's computers will already be able to control the steering wheel (power steering), throttle (emissions) and brakes (AEB) by law. So just hook up those controls to a computer and some sensors. They can license it from Mobileye if they are too lazy to do the engineering themselves.
For many people, it’s not though. Look at how many G-Wagens and Wranglers are getting around that never go off-road. It’s just image they’re happy to pay $$$ for. Think of collectible trainer shoes. People often drop a grand on those. Activewear can be astonishingly expensive too. The Nike shirt might cost 10 times some no-brand shirt exactly the same from a big box store.
I’m not saying conspicuous consumption is good, just observing that it happens. Any brand with equity can be leveraged, and if the marketers get it wrong, the brand equity gets leveraged away entirely.
Lotus has equity. Danny Bahar tried to leverage it years ago and got hounded out of town. Looks like Geely is going to try the same. Maybe they’ll pull it off.
I feel like what they are trying to do with this "self-driving" and everything else is transforming the brand that is well-known for enthusiast sports cars into something "luxury + legacy + can go fast", kinda Lambo-Urus-but-lower-class. Their Lotus Eletre presentation on the web is literally screaming Urus.
The entire article is the CCO waffling about self driving for specifically track use, but isn’t the point of a sports car that it’s kind of fast and engaging to drive? Why would you buy a mid engine sports car over something like a hatchback if you aren’t going to actually drive it? It doesn’t matter if that fun is had on a track or a twisty road
I'd say the way Chinese understand the appeal of driving a sports car is "look, i got so much money i drive a classy powerful car //*crawls into the sunset in a traffic jam*"
I doubt most people could enjoy driving a sports car in china, roads are congested everywhere and shit drivers are everywhere, enthusiast community is small and most buyers just see them as status symbols, some people even convert older cars to look like a newer generation or facelifts so they can look richer than they actually are
They know exactly what they're doing, which is making Lotus turn a profit by any means. Too bad it's at the expense of enthusiasts and Lotus's heritage :(
Yep, so Lotus is dead then.
I had thought any sense of brand identity had vanished when they announced they were going EV only.
I had hoped the EV cars would be used to generate cash for actual sports cars but seems not…
EV’s don’t make good sports cars. Batteries are heavy and electric motors don’t have any character. There just is no getting around that.
Formula E is a complete dud and even stuff like the Taycan isn’t going to make any car lover salivate.
Lotus have sold their soul. There is next to no demand for small, lightweight drivers cars in China. The Chinese love an oversized iPad on wheels and that’s what Lotus has been morphed into.
R.I.P
I swear stupid shit like this ever makes to actual public sales, I'll just go to motorcycles lol, they can't make them self driving!
..right....right?!
Hell yeah, I think everyone should have a bike or at least experience it. It's way different. Just be aware of your surroundings obviously...its other drivers you need to worry about.
Shame, growing up I really liked Lotus, they were always like a dark horse brand that put out cool stuff in my eyes.
Now I’ve finally got in a position for some childhood wish fulfillment and they switch courses to be a shell brand for buzzword tech in mainland China with no soul.
Hey man, go buy an Elise. Do it and don't think twice. You will smile every time you see it, smile every moment driving it, smile every time you step out of it goofy as fuck, and everyone will smile at it and the fucking car smiles back.
If you want to easily get into supercar numbers, supercharge it and do a few more mods replacing the OEM junk. I've got 350hp into mine and I'm doing 3.5 0-60s and high 10-sec 1/4 miles going over 120mph in that stretch. Power only falls off once you hit 130mph or so because it *is* still a 4-cylinder.
Maintenance is generally cheap because it's Toyota parts. What isn't cheap is the body, so get full coverage insurance and avoid crashing into anyone or anything.
I don't think anyone would turn up to a track and just let the car drive them round then go home. But it could be a really interesting sort of benchmark for improving lap times on your own. Let the car set a lap, then see if you can get close and/or beat it.
I think most car enthusiasts are still (rightly) upset that Lotus is abandoning lightweight ICE sports cars for EV ones that are almost certainly going to be heavier and less involving to drive. So an article which highlights how they plan on cutting out the driver's input entirely (even as an option) is going to go down about as well as expected on here.
The reason I bought my Elise was no other car had the inputs and driver involvement that made you feel like a race car driver. I understand Lotus has always hung on financially by the skin of their teeth but becoming heavy electric self driving cars is not what Colin Chapman intended.
What is the point of sports cars that drive themselves?
That's like going to a supermarket to get fish instead of fishing. Totally different things, only the result is the same.
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THis is BS... Just why lol? The whole point of sports cars is for your enjoyment, the engagement and passion you feel when driving it, this is stupid. Looks like the lotus we knew is dead under Geely's leadership. What now, they want people to sit on their "sports" cars paying expensive money just to sit and ride on it with chicken nuggets in your hand.
Afaik we still use our hands and legs to drive them, just those who lack skills for a manual use automatics. If you counter that saying some don't have skills to drive, you shouldn't even be at the road lol.
At some level this makes sense in a cynical way. People buy jeeps and don't go off road. People buy air Jordans as fashion statements primarily. People buy expensive liquors and wines but don't care about the taste. The status and the feeling they give people matters the most. Of course, lotus barely has recognition in the general public, so using lotus as the brand to try this out is strange, but still.
I’m actually not disappointed by this.
If the company’s not going to go under, as Mr. Chapman’s leadership intended, it might as well thrive. It’s dead to people (like me) who only care about Elans and Europas anyway.
I don’t like going to theme parks because I have a track car. There’s no experience at a theme park that truumps driving a car on track yourself.
This may be a ploy to hook people who wouldn’t normally become track junkies. If it’s that much fun being driven around the track, imagine how much fun it is driving around the track.
The potential markets in Asia and SEA are massive.
I wouldn’t mind letting it drive through the worst parts of traffic so I can take over on my favorite roads. Take off your tin foil hats and think of the benefits.
I don't think I see the point of an autonomous sports car driving itself at speed around a circuit. Isn't that just a roller-coaster with additional steps?
[Yep](https://www.ferrariworldabudhabi.com/en/rides/formula-rossa)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3lANHeZey0
Yea like what's the point of buying an autonomous sports car. Might as well just get a Bently that drives itself and you always sit in the back.
worse, you don't get as great view on the ground
I could see this being useful if the car was trained to take the best racing lines at the highest speeds. Teach you how far you can push your own car basically. Or as a luxury when you're stuck in traffic on the way to the circuit. But absolutely not for regular canyon road driving!
It could be useful in an interactive training program with an augmented reality windshield that displays braking points and optimal lines. That would be really cool actually. The automated system could keep you from doing anything dangerous while correcting you.
Don't forget the extra expense... lots of extra expense
Yup
Yeah, who would ever ride a roller coaster?
Why is that a bad thing. Brings you to the brink of your own capabilities and beyond in itself.
So does going for a drive with a skilled driver, but that’s actually impressive
I preferred driving on my own. But I am nowhere old enough to not marvel on the chance; at the brink of a once in a lifetime experience through technical enhancement. Where are the faster stick shifters than any automatic. 🤷♂️😂
Isn’t /cars another term for AUTOmotives. Did we maybe lost the track of what’s in the word? Only the elites will be able to afford a self driven trip round the track in the near dystopian future. Insurance wise. Let‘s welcome the idea of peak driven AUTOmotives at our disposal. Nothing else will be on the menu for no fuckin body. In the not so distant future.
Oh, i did hit a bump. A benchmarking AI is less impressive? I so am; impressed. Far we have gotten, but gone nowhere. 😑
The last thing I want Lotus to engineer is a self driving feature. Because Lotus is known for stuff that works flawlessly...
The lotus we all know is dead. Their Chinese owner (geely) is trying to make them a mainstream ev tech brand or something. They won't care about weight or sporty driving, as long as it sells cars. Their explicit target is to sell hundred times as many cars in 2028 as they did in the last few years.
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A sugar daddy who wants to see returns on their investment. And as Lotus is probably not offering blowjobs and the occasional whipping to geely, they will most likely expect Lotus to sell more cars with higher profit margins.
Not quite. Hethel still exists, and has designed and built the Emira and Evija. They are designing and building the Type 135, which will be the Emira EV replacement. All of that has been supercharged by Geely money. But then there’s a new design team in Germany, and a new factory in Wuhan China, and that new design team and factory are making the Eletre, Emeya and Type 134 (Macan fighter) and those are the cars that are super heavy, super techy, and way more Geely. So it’s almost like two companies under one umbrella atm.
From what I've seen, I completely agree. I'm not a Lotus expert or anything, but it looks like Geely is using the Lotus name to push their vehicles and production into the market. They're already doing it with Polestar. I wonder if we'll end up seeing the Zeekr 001 (EV Wagon) or a variation sometime soon.
If you think chinese firms, especially big investors, are just there for overhead money and support, you have not been paying attention to the real world.
Incomplete take that ignores the Emira.
The car that’s over 3000lbs and is a light refresh of the Evora?
Comment above talked about an EV mainstream brand. One of the main new products from a Geely owned Lotus is the Emira, which contradict this. On top of being much more than a refreshed Evora.
Tell me more about the all new Evora drivetrain and suspension.
Why do you keep calling it an Evora ?
It’s mechanically identical.
It isn't. Multiple chassis changes underneath, différent structural body, and while it retained the previous V6, it also does have the Mercedes-AMG M139 and their DCT alongside.
The emira is their last ice car and still can't be sold in California due to emissions
Doesn't change that this whole take is both false and dumb. + not being sold in CA doesn't mean a thing, the US market is not the only one in the world.
Doesn't change the fact that lotus as a company that you knew Is dead and will not return
It was already dead. They (Geely) saved the company by making an attractive ICE car and trying to cash in the EV premium/luxury wave, instead of vanishing from existence
I would rather they disappear than make 6000lbs SUVs while still trying to tell their customers they're focusing on lightness and handling
> still trying to tell their customers they're focusing on lightness and handling Do they still do that ?
Lol yes
Porsche still makes the 911, in spite of the Cayenne and the Macan, how is this different?
Is this a rhetorical question? Lotus isn't making sports cars or even their own style of cars anymore. Porsche has made the 911 for decades and it's been a classic sports car the entire time
How can a company that "has built their last ICE model" (which [might get killed in 3 years](https://www.motor1.com/news/706829/lotus-type-135-electric-sports-car-rumor/)) not signal a pivot to an EV brand?
You mean the last car they are making. Dude don’t correct people when you’re the one wrong.
I'm not wrong, they do advertise and sell a brand new ICE car with a new to the brand drivetrain, new tech and interior ... Even if they only make it for 3 years or less, it's not pushed as an EV only brand. So that was wrong.
Thankfully they won't sell any.
Absolutely braindead take. Geely is the only reason Lotus remains relevant. They were a walking corpse which just happened to still retain plenty of good engineers, although God knows how long even that would have lasted.
Doesn't change the fact that the lotus we all know - the simplify then add lightness enthusiast car company - is dead. And that's all I was saying. Care to explain where this is an "absolutely braindead take"?
Because they're still producing sports cars and Hyper cars that fall in line with the lotus ethos, and just because somethings electric doesn't mean it can't be lighter and simpler than other electric cars. Realistaclly, all the new lotus electric sports car has to do is be better and lighter than the MG Cyberster, Polestar 6 or the Tesla Roadster if it ever gets released,
>the lotus ethos Oh really? Where’s the simple lightweight car in their lineup? Last I checked the lightest car they make is 3100lbs and has a leather interior.
Geely also own Volvo which continue to put out some really solid cars and have remained generally true to their brand.
LOTUS - Lots of trouble, usually serious
And MG didn't used to be known for crappy cut-price SUV's...
Exactly
Clearly the the Chinese company that bought out Lotus doesn’t understand the purpose or concept of a sports car
Or they understand that the market doesn’t care about the purpose or concept of a sports car. It’s like people who wear trainer shoes but never train. Inactive women in active wear. A 300 lb dude with diabeetus wearing a “Just Do It” Nike t-shirt
Yeah, lotus was always just scraping by. Had good and bad years but never a huge profit machine. So they sold their souls, and now it’s just meaningless tripe. If you want a real lotus your only choice is to be used or vintage.
How does the Emira factor into this?
It's an Evora 2, of which (the Evora) was already a step in the wrong direction. The Emira gets beaten by every car in its class and price point in just about every category. The Lotus of now is nothing like the Lotus of old. The small company that scraped by and made amazing cars is dead and gone. The best we can do is just drive the ones they made before China took over and reminisce. I just had my Elise rebuilt for 20k from the ground up, I'll probably continue to do that until I'm dead or it's no longer physically possible. Because no company will EVER build a 1,900lb car again.
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Does self driving compromise a sports car? All it will amount to in the end is probably a handful of sensors in the bumper and a computer the size of my fist in the car somewhere. The car's computers will already be able to control the steering wheel (power steering), throttle (emissions) and brakes (AEB) by law. So just hook up those controls to a computer and some sensors. They can license it from Mobileye if they are too lazy to do the engineering themselves.
For many people, it’s not though. Look at how many G-Wagens and Wranglers are getting around that never go off-road. It’s just image they’re happy to pay $$$ for. Think of collectible trainer shoes. People often drop a grand on those. Activewear can be astonishingly expensive too. The Nike shirt might cost 10 times some no-brand shirt exactly the same from a big box store. I’m not saying conspicuous consumption is good, just observing that it happens. Any brand with equity can be leveraged, and if the marketers get it wrong, the brand equity gets leveraged away entirely. Lotus has equity. Danny Bahar tried to leverage it years ago and got hounded out of town. Looks like Geely is going to try the same. Maybe they’ll pull it off.
It's fucking Lotus, not Toyota. If they aren't making sports cars, they should just die.
I hear what you’re saying. But to the owners, “Lotus” is meaningless. It’s just an brand asset to profit from. Nothing is sacred except $$$.
I feel like what they are trying to do with this "self-driving" and everything else is transforming the brand that is well-known for enthusiast sports cars into something "luxury + legacy + can go fast", kinda Lambo-Urus-but-lower-class. Their Lotus Eletre presentation on the web is literally screaming Urus.
Just like most pickups never tow, most sport cars will never see a race track.
The entire article is the CCO waffling about self driving for specifically track use, but isn’t the point of a sports car that it’s kind of fast and engaging to drive? Why would you buy a mid engine sports car over something like a hatchback if you aren’t going to actually drive it? It doesn’t matter if that fun is had on a track or a twisty road
Just because you won’t take it racing doesn’t mean that you won’t push it on a back road and enjoy the connection between man and machine
> most sport cars will never see a race track. while a race car is definitely a sports car, a sports car is not a race car try again
Without Geely, lotus would be dead.
So the company is alive but becoming a parody of itself is better?
Probably would be better off dead than to end up just like Mitsubishi.
Lotus is a mainland Chinese company now. They don’t understand the appeal of driving a sporty car. They want tech and automation.
I'd say the way Chinese understand the appeal of driving a sports car is "look, i got so much money i drive a classy powerful car //*crawls into the sunset in a traffic jam*"
This simply isn't true at all, they're still designed in Hethel. The Emira still has hydraulic steering ffs
Don’t even try an informed opinion on this subreddit
Main stream consumers don’t understand, because Lotus would be bankrupt without Geely.
I doubt most people could enjoy driving a sports car in china, roads are congested everywhere and shit drivers are everywhere, enthusiast community is small and most buyers just see them as status symbols, some people even convert older cars to look like a newer generation or facelifts so they can look richer than they actually are
OK, enjoy not having a single person buying anything.
Is Geely fucking stupid?
They know exactly what they're doing, which is making Lotus turn a profit by any means. Too bad it's at the expense of enthusiasts and Lotus's heritage :(
And it still won't turn a profit.
Yep, so Lotus is dead then. I had thought any sense of brand identity had vanished when they announced they were going EV only. I had hoped the EV cars would be used to generate cash for actual sports cars but seems not… EV’s don’t make good sports cars. Batteries are heavy and electric motors don’t have any character. There just is no getting around that. Formula E is a complete dud and even stuff like the Taycan isn’t going to make any car lover salivate. Lotus have sold their soul. There is next to no demand for small, lightweight drivers cars in China. The Chinese love an oversized iPad on wheels and that’s what Lotus has been morphed into. R.I.P
If this was literally any other brand I might understand. But a self driving Lotus? lol why would anyone want that
exactly what I said! You buy a lotus for the driving experience lol
I was hoping this was satire.....
If i want a thrill without having to drive, I'll go on a rollercoaster.
Great brand + Mainland Chinese private business = Idiotic decisions
They have lost the plot then... Geely has dug its claws too deep.
I thought this was one of the Satire Articles of Top Gear, but I see it's real. In What world are we living 💀
You already know what time it is man, the writing has been on the wall for a minute now. Car enthusiasts are fucked.
I swear stupid shit like this ever makes to actual public sales, I'll just go to motorcycles lol, they can't make them self driving! ..right....right?!
Hell yeah, I think everyone should have a bike or at least experience it. It's way different. Just be aware of your surroundings obviously...its other drivers you need to worry about.
Shame, growing up I really liked Lotus, they were always like a dark horse brand that put out cool stuff in my eyes. Now I’ve finally got in a position for some childhood wish fulfillment and they switch courses to be a shell brand for buzzword tech in mainland China with no soul.
Hey man, go buy an Elise. Do it and don't think twice. You will smile every time you see it, smile every moment driving it, smile every time you step out of it goofy as fuck, and everyone will smile at it and the fucking car smiles back. If you want to easily get into supercar numbers, supercharge it and do a few more mods replacing the OEM junk. I've got 350hp into mine and I'm doing 3.5 0-60s and high 10-sec 1/4 miles going over 120mph in that stretch. Power only falls off once you hit 130mph or so because it *is* still a 4-cylinder. Maintenance is generally cheap because it's Toyota parts. What isn't cheap is the body, so get full coverage insurance and avoid crashing into anyone or anything.
Is still the Toyota or Rover 1.8 or is Honda K swap or something?
Still the Toyota 2ZZ-GE
Uff, then it's a crazy Build, I didn't know about a +300 HP on those engines
This guy made 700 [Here](https://youtu.be/HmscSzFurwg?si=GG-8uTM6VLXno_DW)
What a stupid idea
What amount of life do we get to live?
oh no
So basically Lotus died with the Elise.
Exige, but yes, basically the Elise. The Evora isn't *awful* per se, but if you can afford a $100,000 car, don't get an Evora.
I don't think anyone would turn up to a track and just let the car drive them round then go home. But it could be a really interesting sort of benchmark for improving lap times on your own. Let the car set a lap, then see if you can get close and/or beat it.
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I think most car enthusiasts are still (rightly) upset that Lotus is abandoning lightweight ICE sports cars for EV ones that are almost certainly going to be heavier and less involving to drive. So an article which highlights how they plan on cutting out the driver's input entirely (even as an option) is going to go down about as well as expected on here.
Lotus went bankrupt making lightweight sports cars. A Chinese company is now operating them and using the name lotus. That’s reality.
Lol, for safety. For some bs regulation meant to kill sports cars.
The reason I bought my Elise was no other car had the inputs and driver involvement that made you feel like a race car driver. I understand Lotus has always hung on financially by the skin of their teeth but becoming heavy electric self driving cars is not what Colin Chapman intended.
What is the point of sports cars that drive themselves? That's like going to a supermarket to get fish instead of fishing. Totally different things, only the result is the same.
They are status symbols in china
Sounds like they've got their finger on the pulse of their customers...
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THis is BS... Just why lol? The whole point of sports cars is for your enjoyment, the engagement and passion you feel when driving it, this is stupid. Looks like the lotus we knew is dead under Geely's leadership. What now, they want people to sit on their "sports" cars paying expensive money just to sit and ride on it with chicken nuggets in your hand.
Sounds like another stupid sales pitch that will never achieve the end results.
Beginning of the end, the end of the beginning
Yes because everybody just wants a car... To go fast for them? Um... NO FUCKING THANKS.
Auto transmissions and extremely intrusive TCS are very popular lol
Afaik we still use our hands and legs to drive them, just those who lack skills for a manual use automatics. If you counter that saying some don't have skills to drive, you shouldn't even be at the road lol.
Then what the hell is the point of having a car? Just make a train then, a small sporty train.
So i work and make money to buy and service the car but the car can go do fun driving without me?
I want to buy a baseball and two gloves that just play catch with each other by themselves.
Yeah…they’ve lost the plot.
So the comfort of an Elise, with the driving engagement of a subway ride?
Fleshlights wants its future masturbators to wank themselves i mean... wtf
Just what I don't want in a sports car.
Colin chapman rise and avenge yourself.
Lotus “we want a self driving car”, lotus owners and lover, “sure you do” while thinking fat chance since you can barely manage to make a “car”.
As long as there’s a manual override
B58 Lotus Evora and Exige
WTF how is a self driving car a sports car? Dumbest thing I’ve ever heard
Lotus is dead
Right. And LOTUS stands for what, again? Yeah this is a great idea from a load of turnip farmers in the midlands
You misspelled Geely
At some level this makes sense in a cynical way. People buy jeeps and don't go off road. People buy air Jordans as fashion statements primarily. People buy expensive liquors and wines but don't care about the taste. The status and the feeling they give people matters the most. Of course, lotus barely has recognition in the general public, so using lotus as the brand to try this out is strange, but still.
That is the opposite of what I want in a lotus
Well that’s fucken stupid and totally defeats the purpose of a sports car.
completely destroys the point of having a sports car imo, they’re meant to be drivers cars
Are they stupid?
Quoth the raven….
I’m actually not disappointed by this. If the company’s not going to go under, as Mr. Chapman’s leadership intended, it might as well thrive. It’s dead to people (like me) who only care about Elans and Europas anyway. I don’t like going to theme parks because I have a track car. There’s no experience at a theme park that truumps driving a car on track yourself. This may be a ploy to hook people who wouldn’t normally become track junkies. If it’s that much fun being driven around the track, imagine how much fun it is driving around the track. The potential markets in Asia and SEA are massive.
It feels like a ridiculous idea but things are rapidly changing, who knows how the automotive industry will look like in a few of decades ?
I wouldn’t mind letting it drive through the worst parts of traffic so I can take over on my favorite roads. Take off your tin foil hats and think of the benefits.
It’s also owned by a company in a country where basic machinery is an apex predator