New Lotus models are back in the US

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2015/06/lotus-resumes-us-operations-moves-us-hq-to-detroit-area/

Following up from this old thread:

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/no-more-us-street-legal-lotuses-after-this-year/91033/page1/

a proposed crossover

Dammit Lotus

Gotta pay the bills somehow

Apparently, they are also consolidating their US operations to Ann Arbor, too- http://www.mlive.com/auto/index.ssf/2015/06/lotus_consolidates_us_operatio.html

More reason for engineers to move here.

Maybe now Elise prices will stop going up.

ProDarwin wrote:

a proposed crossover

Dammit Lotus

If selling a crossover or two a la Porsche lets them continue to build fun and interesting sports cars, so be it.

The U.S. subsidiary of Lotus will relocate its headquarters to Ann Arbor, Mich. from Lawrenceville, Ga. by the end of July 2015, where it will share facilities with Lotus Engineering. The move would allow both divisions more ability to grow, and would improve efficiency of operations.

Reading between the lines: they're cutting expenses by shedding their Atlanta-based admin staff and real estate.

Ian F wrote: If selling a crossover or two a la Porsche lets them continue to build fun and interesting sports cars, so be it.

Except Porsche had the massive support of VW financial and technical resources underpinning their SUV projects. VW sells 10 million vehicles a year, and Porsche SUVs share core engineering costs with mass market stablemates like the Tuareg and Q5.

Lotus has the backing of Proton, a Malaysian automaker with annual sales of 150,000 enconomy cars and no SUVs. I'm not optimistic that a Lotus crossover could compete with a Macan.

Rusted_Busted_Spit wrote: Maybe now Elise prices will stop going up.

Damn I hope so, but doubt it. Until they have a next generation elise here there is no supply so demand is going creep prices up.

alfadriver wrote: Apparently, they are also consolidating their US operations to Ann Arbor, too- http://www.mlive.com/auto/index.ssf/2015/06/lotus_consolidates_us_operatio.html More reason for engineers to move here.

Hmmmm, probably need some Tech Writers.

ProDarwin wrote:

a proposed crossover

Dammit Lotus

No. This is good. They can actually sell some of these cars so they don't just go under.

I wonder how many engineers they have working in the USA currently and what sort of openings might come along because of the above activities.

mblommel wrote:

Rusted_Busted_Spit wrote: Maybe now Elise prices will stop going up.

Damn I hope so, but doubt it. Until they have a next generation elise here there is no supply so demand is going creep prices up.

I am probably 18 months out from being able to get one at today's prices so I have a feeling I will be SOL until a new one comes out.

pres589 wrote: I wonder how many engineers they have working in the USA currently and what sort of openings might come along because of the above activities.

I'm sure that some Ann Arbor jobs will pop up soon- http://careers.lotuscars.com/Lotus/vacancies/vacancymenu.asp