Lotus reposition

"These changes reflect the strength of the dollar, our plans to grow Lotus in Australia and requirement to ensure Australian Lotus dealers have a strong and viable business that will enable them to prepare their businesses for the arrival of the next generation of Lotus products," says Glen Sealey, General Manager of Lotus in Australia and New Zealand.

Lotus, which has dealers in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, has released details and shown prototype models of five new sports cars that cover a broad spectrum of the performance and luxury market, along with a new city car, which are due to enter production from 2013.

"To ensure the success of these new models, our dealer group must have the facilities and staff to welcome these new models and the customers who wish to buy them," explains Mr Sealey. "To enable what will be a substantial growth in the scale and performance of their businesses, Lotus must provide a range of variants from the existing range that match their highly competitive, indeed, benchmark on-road performance, with equally highly competitive pricing and equipment levels. This we have achieved with our repositioning of the range."

The Lotus range now opens with two variants of the Lotus Elise, the compact two seat sports car, providing a new entry level price of $67,990 excluding statutory charges, delivery and dealer costs, and the supercharged Elise SC. Reflecting its highly focussed track day orientation, the Lotus Exige coupe is now available in one variant, the Exige S. The Lotus Evora, which will become the mainstay of the Lotus range gains two new variants, with automatic Lotus Evora IPS and the range topping supercharged Lotus Evora S joining the entry Lotus Evora, which now opens its pricing at $119,990 excluding statutory charges, delivery and dealer costs. All models and variants also gain substantially new levels of equipment and features.

"These changes, although substantial for the Elise, Exige and Evora models must not been seen as the only plans for these models prior to the arrival of the next generation of Lotus models," says Mr Sealey. "They are just the start. Coming months will see exciting new variants, which will grow and develop the Lotus reputation for performance, exquisite road manners and a solid value equation."

The entry level Lotus Elise is now priced at $67,990 excluding statutory charges, delivery and dealer costs and, as it now includes as standard the Sports Pack, the new price represents a total saving of $8,000, while with the top version the supercharged Elise SC has a new price of $77,990 excluding statutory charges, delivery and dealer costs which, when combined with the newly standard Sports Pack, is a total saving of $23,000.

The now-standard Sport Pack of equipment includes the Lotus Traction Control System on the Elise SC and ESC on the Elise 1.6, twin oil coolers, Bilstein Sports Dampers; Y spoke forged alloy wheels in Hi-Power Silver and ProBax Sports Seats.

With a new price of $79,990 excluding statutory charges, delivery and dealer costs, the Lotus Exige S is not just $25,000 easier to own. The addition of the previously optional Sport Pack to the standard equipment list represents a further saving of $6000, producing a total saving of more than $31,000, with reductions to statutory charges included. The additional equipment added by the Sport Pack equipment includes the Lotus Traction Control System, twin oil coolers, Bilstein Sports Dampers; Y spoke forged alloy wheels in Hi-Power Silver and ProBax Sports Seats.

The Lotus range is now topped by the first of two new Evora variants, the Lotus Evora S, which is fitted with a new supercharged engine that boosts engine performance from 206 to 257.5 kW, endowing the Evora with supercar performance. Sitting in the middle of the new range, the Lotus Evora IPS offers a new automatic gearbox that combines the performance and responsiveness for which the Evora is renowned with the ease of use of a self-shifting gearbox.

The Lotus Evora is now lavishly equipped with nearly all the previous options list converted into standard equipment. This means that accent lighting, premium deep pile carpet, fully leather trimmed interior, heated seats, high grade audio system with seven inch touch screen display, SatNav, subwoofer and high quality speakers, cruise control, parking sensors and remote tyre sensors are now all standard, a package that was previously more than $18,000 on the options lists.

The new Lotus Evora range opens at $119,990 excluding statutory charges, delivery and dealer costs for the Evora 2+2; the new Evora 2+2 IPS is $124,990 excluding statutory charges, delivery and dealer costs and topping the range, the Evora S 2+2 is $139,990 excluding statutory charges, delivery and dealer costs.

"Colin Chapman launched an extraordinary company that has won in more motor sport disciplines than any other company and produced road cars of unparalled quality and ability," says Mr Sealey. "It is now our job to continue that legend and ensure that more Australians may enjoy the unique Lotus experience. These changes are the first step in a new era for Lotus in Australia."