Lotus is going to build a crossover

[Sad, little man]

If Lotus was raking in the dough, I'd be appalled. But as is, I support this move in hopes it gets them back on solid financial footing so I will continue to have a place to buy spare parts for my car in the future.

Hopefully the end product is not a soul-less suburbanite cruiser.

http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2015/04/lotus-crossover-production-confirmed.html

[TheBenior]

I'm a little curious where the platform will come from. The Porsche SUVs have the advantage of sharing development costs with luxury/near-luxury VAG products, which probably allows loaded full-size pickup profit margins.

Lotus will either need to share a platform with another automaker, Proton (which seems iffy for the money Lotus will charge), or develop their own (expensive).

[FaultyMario]

tit-for-tat with a major automaker?

The Toyota ZRs deal must have come with some sort of consulting chips thrown in.

[Yw-slayer]

If it's fucking good and can fit 7 people or 2 mountain bikes in the back I'd consider it instead of a Model X. But only just about.

[Leon]

Shark jump in 3, 2, 1 ...

[The359]

The article does say that development will be shared with Proton, so I assume the both of them will be getting a version of the crossover, similar to the Porsche-VAG situation. I don't think this is necessarily aimed at high luxury, more at a performance SUV similar to a Grand Cherokee SRT8.

[speedpimp]

It will also be built/sold in China and its target is the Porsche Macan.

[samoht]

Wish it was a rival for the Ariel Nomad:
http://9a95cdacd53dec175ce4-7e93ef9cb189e5802f5676deb193c52b.r71.cf3.rackcdn.c om/nomadIntro/fullSize/nomadFront.jpg

[Sad, little man]

Shark jump in 3, 2, 1 ...
Coming down on Lotus for building a crossover is like looking down on a homeless person for taking a job dancing around on a street corner with one of those signs advertising a furniture store sale (I dunno, do they do that over there?)

It's not the most dignified thing in the world, but it's necessary to survive.

If this was just a blatant grab for more cash like the Porsche Cayenne, I'd say the same thing. But really, Lotus needs something they can make some money on. They are selling precisely one model in all of the US right now. It's not sustainable. They need to broaden their product portfolio a little bit.

[Leon]

I'm not a snob

I'd come down on any manufacturer building a crossover :)

[Mr Wonder]

I think there's a fairly robust argument that the Cayenne was necessary for Porsche to survive. While it doesn't dilute the brand as much as a Lotus crossover would, it was (and is still imo) a "cheapening" of the name.

[IMOA]

I used to be quite down on sports car companies building SUVs but the realization that cayenes enable Porsche to build niche cars like the GT's has significantly softened my stance. So now when I see a cayene I don't think 'look at that dickhead driving an abomination' I think 'look at that dickhead driving an abomination. Thanks for that'.

That said, I don't think it will work for lotus not only for the engineering reasons (no acces to a half decent platform' but mainly for status reasons. People in general aspire to own a Porsche and to be able to drive one without the downsides of it being a sportscar is a marketing win. The only people who really aspire to own a lotus are sportscar purists and very few of them are interested in an SUV. Unless they're ladyboys and let's face it, sportscar loving ladyboys aren't all that common.

[samoht]

:D at IMOA thanking the dickheads for subsidising his GT4 :D

[Yw-slayer]

I only know of one.

[speedpimp]

I'm not a snob

I'd come down on any manufacturer building a crossover :)
That is until you find out it moves like a Salsa dancer.

[Taimar]

It's not the most dignified thing in the world, but it's necessary to survive.

Better to rage, rage against the dying of the light. As every once-sacred sports car brand gets ready to build a suburban grocery getter tank for over-privileged D-bags, Colin Chapman vomits in his grave.

Ten years of Cayenne and I still cringe at every Porsche SUV I see, and that horribly ugly sedan. And I'm not even a Porsche guy.

[thesameguy]

It may be ugly, but it's a helluva drive. Boss has Turbo S.

[Godson]

The current model has the best seats out of anything I have sat in for both comfort and holding. Bar none.