1999 Lotus Esprit S350 V8 Twin Turbo - Collector's Condition - Export Welcomed on 2040-cars

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Lotus Esprit all but ready to go, but held back by management issues

Brief and disappointing is this report from Autocar on the status of the Lotus Esprit: it is finally ready and sitting at the light, but the light might not go green for a long time. The good news is that from being a concept two years ago at the Paris Motor Show, the aluminum and carbon fiber revival coupe is "purportedly almost finished." It is powered by a twin-turbo, 5.0-liter V8 with something like 650 horsepower, boosted by a kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) and shifting through a seven-speed paddleshift transmission. Even with all that, the UK price is said to be around that of a Porsche 911 4S Cabriolet, and the car only needs "signing off and minor tweaking."
The bad news is that former company owner Proton couldn't stay independent long enough to see through the company's ambitious five-concept-car assault - led by then-CEO Dany Bahar who was hired explicitly to lead such a campaign - and was swallowed up by Malaysian auto supplier DRB-Hicom. For a brief spell Lotus had to shut down production for lack of funds. Then the new owner cleaned house, sweeping out Bahar and, according to the Financial Times just one month ago, the Esprit and every other concept with it. Just after the FT piece came out, Lotus denied the Esprit had been canceled. Still, according to Autocar, the management whirlpool is keeping the Esprit "far from becoming a production reality."
If we're honest with ourselves, we'll keep in mind that the Esprit has been slipping into and out of a terminal ether for what seems like decades. None of us knows what is going on inside Hethel HQ, but the fact that there really is a lightweight, twin-turbo, 650-hp Lotus Esprit finally ready to be produced has to be, in spite of all else, very good news.

Lotus F1 Team reveals new E23 Hybrid

Lotus is keen to leave a lackluster 2014 Formula One World Championship campaign behind it and race forward towards a new era, and this is the car with which it hopes to do so. The new E23 Hybrid is the twenty-third chassis to come from the Enstone-based team. As with the new Williams that was the first new chassis revealed for this year, the principal difference you can see is the more conventional nose to replace the twin-tusk setup of the E22, but there's more to it than that. For starters, it's the first new Lotus to pack Mercedes power after the team parted ways with Renault – the manufacturer that used to own the team and which has powered every car the team has built since Benetton signed with the French automaker way back in 1995. It also packs a completely new suspension setup after the original FRIC design in the preceding E22 was banned mid-season, forcing Enstone engineers to go back to the drawing board halfway through the championship. Word has it that, after earlier rumors suggested the team might not even make it back onto the grid, new sponsors will be added before the season gets under way in Melbourne on March 15 with the Australian Grand Prix. To pilot the new car, Lotus has retained the same two drivers as last year in Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado. The team is hoping to perform better this season than it did the last, when it finished the constructors' championship way down in eighth place – the same result it achieved in 2009 under Renault ownership and the worst it had performed since the Toleman days in 1983.

Lotus to layoff a quarter of its workforce

Lotus has issued a press release to day, wherein it indicates that a "need to both reshape its organisation and to reduce costs" may result in the loss of "up to 325" jobs. That's a fairly significant number of layoffs for any company, but considering that Lotus currently employs 1,215 people (per the company's bio in the same release), it could mean a full 25-percent of the automaker's workers could soon be sharpening their resumes.
CEO Jean-Marc Gales says in the statement that Lotus has "worked very hard to avoid the need to make this proposal," but admits that it is now "essential" to the future of the company. The chief indicates that post-restructuring, he expects Lotus to be a "leaner" and "more competitive" organization, one which - and we can all see a little silver lining here - is focused on "producing class-leading sports cars and innovative engineering."
The 325-job number appears to be soft at this point, with the statement indicating that some negotiation about which and how many posts will be cut is yet to come. Further, the company may "redeploy" some employees, and may even recruit new blood for "key roles," all with an eye toward running the strongest possible team going forward. Though, we imagine that the recruitment bit won't fly well for those employees getting the sack.