Lotus future

[Autocross7]

http://www.insideline.com/lotus/lotus-to-replace-esprit-in-move-upscale.html

Sorry if this is a re-post of the article...

[eurosport]

The new Esprit — or a concept version of it — will be the first Lotus designed under the creative leadership of Donato Coco, formerly of Ferrari and Citroen, who took over from Russell Carr as chief designer under Bahar.

:001_unsure::crying::sad:
Wonder how much they left on paper from initial designs on the MES during MJK's era or if the Ferr*ri boys wanted a clean sheet...:confused:

[WayneB]

I cannot imagine they have done a complete re-style since December of the MJK era Esprit proposal as I was under the impression that car was pretty much at the frozen stage where the total design had been finalised.

I am not really a fan of Donato Coco's designs I'm mystified why the company even needs him to be honest. I find his Ferrari designs busy and somewhat overdone.

A return to clean striking design as per the Giugiaro era is what I would much prefer.

[Autocross7]

I agree. Ferrari cars of today are rather boring or over stated. The 599 is prob my least favorite and a good example of Donato Coco's work. Vandenbrink did a good bit more for the 5999 with his 250 GTO revision IMO... The 355 was the last pretty Ferrari...

The new Esprit will no doubt have a buyer list waiting... but that does not mean it will be anything that strikes me a s"good"...

[Mark B.]

Was he responsible for the 612? I saw one today, what a miserable looking thing and the wheels are some lame. A scaled up 10 year old Hyundia.

I know the initial design of the Esprit replacement was drop dead gorgeous and Esprit like because Steven Crijns told me.

[WayneB]

I guess now its adorned with lots of extra creases and do-dads to make it more Ferrariesque hence more better in the new managements eyes.

Ferrari/Pininfarina have really lost the plot lately, their designs over the last few years have stunk.

Lotus should be looking over at Ital-Design and Lamborghini for a design direction.

[Autocross7]

Detroit finally took the hint and looked to the past... Thank God! :thumbup: Perhaps Lotus should do a similar thing style wise...

[Andy B]

Detroit finally took the hint and looked to the past... Thank God! :thumbup: Perhaps Lotus should do a similar thing style wise...

Whoa! The Mustang is OK, the Challenger is barely OK until they ran out of car at the rear end but the Camaro is hideous. Also the retro look in the form of old wagons like the PT Cruiser and HHR are not the best of sellers but that's what you get for trying to disguise Neons and Caveliers:D
And lets not revise the Eclat with big black rubber bumpers.:thumbdown:

[Autocross7]

Whoa! The Mustang is OK, the Challenger is barely OK until they ran out of car at the rear end but the Camaro is hideous. Also the retro look in the form of old wagons like the PT Cruiser and HHR are not the best of sellers but that's what you get for trying to disguise Neons and Caveliers:D
And lets not revise the Eclat with big black rubber bumpers.:thumbdown:

I am not a muscle car fan really, but the new stuff is way way better than anything from the 85' to 2000 era IMO. The Fox Mustang was never anything I cared for at all. The Camaro of the 1980 was horrid... but it sold I suppose. They have already started to "update" the Mustang and it shows. The Challenger is a little thick at the rear, but I like it. As for the Camaro... clearly there are people that love it and have bought it as it was by far the most popular car in the Hot Rod Power Tour this year. PT Cruiser down fall, a vehicle I do not care for, was price. The base was advertised at 14-15K... only buyers could never locate one. So, the vehicle really ended up being priced well above what was advertised.

As for revising the Eclat with big black rubber bumpers... LMAO! I was thinking more of a G body Esprit or Elan Sprint... But in the case of Ferrari... I think the 308GT4 was far better looking than the new California... but that's me.

[Mark B.]

I think the new Mustang's great. If I could afford a new car in that price bracket (which I can't) I'd way prefer one of those to almost anything else.

Oh and the new California gets uglier every time I see it :(.

[WayneB]

The new Mustang was strongly influenced by the 2007 Italdesign-Giugiaro Mustang concept which unsurprisingly I quite liked.:)
http://image.musclemustangfastfords.com/f/mustang-auto-shows/viva-la-mustang-giugiaros-interpret-ford-icon/1032837+w640+cr1+re0+ar1/mmfp-061129-mustang-by-giugiaro-front-view.jpg

Italdesign is now owned by Volkswagen after being sold reciently by Giugiaro so I guess we can look forwards to some great looking Volkswagen, Audi and Lamborghini products.

Its times like this I wish Volkswagen had been succesful in buying Lotus.:crying: