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There is little doubt about Lotus’ legacy of lightweight, simple, enthusiast-oriented sports cars is sunset. With the new owner via the Chinese Geely, major changes have come, including electrification and more complexity in the design. Now Lotus says it may make self-driving sports cars, a revelation that some say will make Colin Chapman spin in his grave.
Rezvani has unveiled an absolute beast of a supercar.
In a press release that has sent shockwaves through collector and enthusiast circles, Lotus celebrates the Eletre ‘hyper’ SUV successfully driving 190 kilometers without any driver intervention. There’s a lot to explain if you haven’t been paying much attention to the Lotus brand lately.
First off, yes, Lotus makes an SUV now, just like pretty much every other premium brand these days. Remember, even Ferrari has the Purosangue. Does it go against everything the Lotus philosophy has stood for? Yes, but what does that mean moving forward?
As far as Lotus is concerned, it is time to turn over new leaves and let the past remain in the rear-view mirror. The press release begins with the following text: “Lotus, historically known as the makers of handcrafted automotive masterpieces, and a brand synonymous with race tracks and adrenaline, should not be considered an expert in the field of autonomous driving. This assumption would be wrong.”
In other words: forget everything that made Lotus different and special. Under new leadership, the legendary British carmaker will produce heavier, more complex, advanced sports cars that you don’t even have to actually drive.
But what’s the point of a sports car that drives itself? Isn’t the whole idea of such a vehicle that the driver can enjoy the feeling of steering the vehicle through corners and pushing the limits? Historically, yes.
In the past, some have complained about Porsche 911s switching to water cooling, Corvettes and other models getting traction control, Ferraris with touchscreens, and so on. There are quite a few examples of people claiming that a technological development has permanently destroyed performance vehicles. We even know some purists who are convinced that having a tachometer in a manual transmission car is ‘cheating’.
But completely or almost completely ignoring the driver is admittedly a major departure from electronic aids that work in the background. After all, stability control does not mean that the driver sits back and does little to no work; rather, it is an improvement in driver input. What Lotus is talking about does the exact opposite.
Perhaps a telling aspect of Lotus’s newfound approach to drivers is briefly mentioned in the first sentence of the third paragraph of that jovial press release. There we see the car manufacturer that has been targeting people who like to drive for decades, referring to ‘human intervention’ in the operation of a vehicle.
The old Lotus is long gone. For many, this makes the cars of the past all the more valuable. But will self-driving sports cars become valuable collectibles for some over time? As with all advanced technologies, we will have to wait and see how it ages.
Images via Lotus Cars