Search the Community

Now that Lotus have announced their latest, if not greatest models I have noticed that all of the look strikingly similar to one another. Is it just me? I don't think so. I think you readers would too. What I do know is that I wrote about the Elite, mentioning that it looked Maserati-ish and it had a touch of the recently departed Toyota Celica from some angles. The thing was at that point of time, Lotus only released details on that one car. Now that it has announced the new Elise, Esprit, Elan and the Eterne as well, I now noticed that all the cars look the same. Some may have an extra door or two, some may have a longer rear end that would accommodate a larger V8 engine (Esprit), some may be entry level but after looking at the photos of of especially the Elite, Elan and Elise I find that they actually look very similar. Too similar to be exact. Of course some may argue that the current Elise and Exige look the same. They should as they are the same car. One with a roof, one with a removable targa roof. The Evora looks similar, but it has a longer wheelbase and slightly different front and rear design cues so you will never mistake it for the smaller Elise/Exige models. The unpopular Europa also looked like a proper Lotus, but didn't look similar until you couldn't tell one Lotus from the other. It looks like things have changed. If I didn't look at the number plates, I may have not bothered to tell the difference from one new Lotus to another. I suppose while the designs are cutting edge and modern, I also mentioned that the Elite looked like a Celica; ergo very Japanese looking. Like origami. And therefore very non-European? This is the question I now ask. Are the new Lotus too similar and not as unique as the older, current models? If so then this new business model of high end, high tech cars may not work. Uniqueness sells supercars and sports cars. So far the Lotuses look good if it stands on its own, but five similar looking models on the motor show stand? I doubt it. Of course we can hope that these new Lotuses will handle lovingly well. That fact may be unique enough to most.