Proton and Lotus In Trouble, Again

[Tornado]

Why not, they share parts as is, pretty important parts such as the engines. If your referring to the chassis then if anything nich cars within the umbrella will make use of the Lotus chassis rather than the Lotus being based on something else's, which again has happened before.

I think he was talking about VW buying Lotus instead of Toyota.

 

[ExigeEvan]

They already do... Depending on your budget you can buy the same basic car from Audi (expensivest), VW (expensive), Skoda (not as expensive) and SEAT (least expensiver).

I thought Skoda was below SEAT

 

[YSSMAN]

Ehh, Toyota's got a **** load of money more then VW...

Toyota has plenty of money, but they have no idea how to spend it, do they? They continue to develop products for people 40+ with no sense of excitement or passion, a far cry from the Toyota of the past. Why then would Lotus want to be a part of a company that builds everything in direct opposition to the ideals of itself?

Volkswagen has plenty of money to throw around, and the most important thing is that Wolfsburg recognises that each company has it's own identity, and thus lets the company decide how exactly it wishes to present itself. Of course the problem has been that Volkswagen has been requiring a lot more parts-sharing, but when you really cannot fault their products to begin with (particularly the engines and transmissions), why worry about it? Again, Lotus would be allowed to pretty much free-roam under the direction of Volkswagen, and Toyota certainly wouldn't allow that.

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In a perfect world, Lotus would operate by itself and not have money problems. It would allow them to create the products that they wish to be most important, ones that the consumers demand, and Lotus wouldn't have to answer to anyone...

 

[Dave A]

I think he was talking about VW buying Lotus instead of Toyota.

I was talking about any sharing of parts and engines, not with anyone specific, Lotus have and still do share components with other companies. What he said sounded a lot more like a blanket statement against Lotus sharing any componenets to me. If it wasn't fair enough, but I still don't see the big deal.

 

[TheCracker]

If Volkswagen buys Lotus, then a car company will be selling cars with a 0-60 of 10 seconds and 5 seconds as well. Weird.

VAG already owns a car company that build a car that hits 60 in 3.4 seconds, Lamborghini, and the LP640.

Not to mention the Veyron's 2.5 to 60!

- i'm suprised you forgot that one Dave.


Overall i think a VAG/Lotus link up would be hugely beneficial to both parties:

Lotus need money for R&D - VAG has plenty.

VAG needs some chassis and handling set-up knowledge - Lotus has plenty.

If there's one thing that reviewers slate about VAG cars it's the slightly dead feeling that's communicated through the steering wheel back to the driver. VAG do some great cars, but they are let down from being BMW (for example) beaters by some of their handling issues, with few exceptions. Lotus are the kings of communacative handling, their history and knowledge of this field is something that money can't buy - unless you buy Lotus.

Lotus need some funding and also a stable supply of engines and other quality parts-bin items. The VAG 2.0 turbo 4cyl engine - or even the 1.4 super/turbo charged unit would be good engines for next-gen Elise/Exiges. The Esprit replacement could use the 4.2 Audi V8 and a base model the 3.0 V6.

I think Lotus would fit in nicely below Lambo in the VAG family.