Autocar November 21, 2018

WHAT’S GOING ON at TVR? Not a lot, Colin Goodwin tells us, thanks to a tangle of European Union red tape (p48). The investment in TVR by the Welsh government earlier this year means it’s now subject to EU funding laws. TVR can’t build its new factory until construction firms across Europe have had a chance to bid, a process that will run into next year. TVR’s delays show just how tricky a business it is to launch a car brand, with unexpected delays and setbacks emerging from the most unlikely places. Les Edgar, frontman of the reborn TVR project, bought the brand back in 2013, but it’s unlikely the new car will hit the road until 2020. That’s a whole generation and life cycle for a Porsche 911. The…

Lotus is set to stun the world with a new £2 million-plus electric hypercar that acts as a statement of intent under new owner Geely. The new model will be built in strictly limited numbers, and will be the fastest, most expensive and most radical model made by Lotus in its 70-year history. The project is shrouded in secrecy at Lotus’s Hethel headquarters in Norfolk, but Autocar understands it has been given the codename Omega and development work is well under way, with a reveal of a concept version set for next year. Further details are scarce at this stage, but Autocar can confirm the new model will use a bespoke all-electric drivetrain when it launches early in the next decade. The £2m-plus price tag will propel Lotus into a…

If any car maker deserves success and good times to come, it is Lotus. Yet simply having investment and a management that believes in it is by no means a guarantee of success. The hypercar project is hugely exciting, yet also potentially a big risk. It will test the badge appeal of Lotus like never before. It wants near-Bugatti money for this new hypercar, not ‘merely’ McLaren or Ferrari. Key to its success will be just how limited it is. Too few is better than too many. To sell out, Lotus will be hoping there are enough millionaires who get the brand and want to see it at its very best, and recent history has shown us such limited, expensive models are often oversubscribed. For the established players, anyway. Lotus’s…

The Lotus hypercar will soon be joined by two other all-new models – an SUV and a replacement for the Evora – in a three-pronged line-up. To that end, Autocar has learned of two more active project names at Hethel: Gamma, for the first new Lotus SUV, and Ypsilon, which is the replacement for the Evora. Lotus has long talked about making an SUV, and the Gamma project is likely to make use of Volvo’s engineering and technology, including its internal combustion engines, and plug-in hybrid and electric drivetrains, all of which hold appeal to Lotus. An all-electric SUV, should Lotus go that way, would benefit from the halo effect of the Lotus hypercar. Multiple SUVs are planned in the long term, although initially just one model is in development…

While Lotus has never made an electric car itself (at least publicly: Group Lotus’s Lotus Engineering arm regularly conducts secret projects for other car makers), there are a number of electric Lotuses in existence. Most famous is the Tesla Roadster. The model used to launch Tesla, the Roadster was based on an Elise chassis and given a 200-mile range. Almost 2500 found homes in its four-year production run, which was devised to get Tesla used to making and selling electric cars and introduce its brand to the world on proven underpinnings. Intriguingly, around the same time, Dodge made an electric sports car concept based on the Europa, but unlike the Tesla it never made production. We still await our first test of the most recent Elise-based electric sports car, the…

Volkswagen is set to launch an affordable new entry-level electric vehicle as part of a modern-day ‘people’s car’ project. The compact five-seater is described as a crossover utility vehicle with raised ride height and exterior dimensions similar to the existing combustion-engined T-Roc. It will be part of Volkswagen’s upcoming line-up of ID battery-powered models that will kick off with the launch of the Neo hatchback in 2020. The company is aiming for the new ID model to go on sale in 2022 at a price chairman Herbert Diess indicates could be as low as €20,000, or just £17,500 in the UK. The keen pricing for what will be the fifth ID model after the Neo and production versions of the Crozz, Buzz and Vizzion concepts is a crucial component in…