Quote:
Originally Posted by elise24fps
1975, Colin didn't care about the GS Lotus Europa. By that that time, he didn't care about the Europa period. He had moved on to other projects.
The Elan was done, the Seven was given to Caterham. The Europa was at the end on its run, the Elite / Eclat were selling and the Esprit was about to be introduced. The Esprit was twice the price of a Europa.
And in F1, the 72 was history, the 76 a failure, the 77 a moving testbed. 1977, the ground effects Type 78 arrived in F1.
|
Not my point. Whether or not Chapman cared about the Europa, or other models in terms of product viability, he most certainly would've had an interest in the GS Lotus Europa from a protection of trademark/brand perspective.
As Miles Wilkins stated in his key note at a LOG years ago...Lotus didn't make money selling cars, it made money suing people for trademark infringement. He made the comment somewhat tongue in cheek, but the point was made.
My view is that if Chapman had a problem with the use of the Lotus Brand or name, in this case in the instance of the GS Europa, he'd have done something to stop it.
To your point about the Esprit being released around that time...remember, the S1 was on a stretched Europa chassis, and the GS Europa's entire front clip is reminiscent of the Esprit (or TVR, for that matter).