Not sure what Colin Chapman would make of this. Rather than sticking to the founding principles of Lotus - power through light weight - the new Elite is going after an altogether different market: the luxury 2+2 GT. It settles into Aston Martin DB9 territory, costing £115k and promising 612bhp and 531lb ft from its monstrous front-mounted V8. Yes, it'll handle, and a 0-60mph time of 3.5s is not to be sniffed at. But Lotus should expect purists to question whether they needed to develop such stratospheric power figures when they could have just made it lighter, as is the company way. After all, at 1650kg it pretty much weighs the same as two Elises.
But all of this is mere pedantry. They've built a very fast, very attractive car. This sort of behaviour should be encouraged.
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