Exige S???

[Saketome]

When will the new Exige S arrive in U.S.? Any idea guys?



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[lotusforsale]

Originally Posted by Saketome

When will the new Exige S arrive in U.S.? Any idea guys?
Attachment 196230


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No street legal ones will be coming.

[keatre]

A track-only car for 100K... I love Lotus and all, but I can think of a few other track-only cars I'd buy for that money.

[Allan Gibbs]

It's track only because of the expiration of the smart air bag exemption and I think only 10 are coming to the States:

2012 Lotus Exige S To Arrive In U.S. As Track Only Model?

[robains]

Yeah this is a really bizarre move from Lotus ... why did they bother making the car if they can't sell it to the US street market? Does the Evora include "smart airbags" or does that car have an exemption also? Gotta hope it was more than just "smart airbags".

100K for a track only car is a hard sell, too many faster track only vehicles for 30-40K less.

[Vishus_1]

The history of the V6 Exige goes back to 2007 and the GT3 Geneva concept car, which was planned to be production bound and eventually the basis for the V6 Exige. Things got derailed when management changed and Dany put the brakes on the V6 Exige project. In fact a different direction in the redesign occured - hence the 2010 restyle.

A small project team continued to work on the V6 project and made a business case that was finally greenlighted. By this point though, Lotus was working under very different financial circumstances - however any funds allotted went to Bosche and the redesign of the GT3 body (which Coco hated). Dany made sure the $ went to design and not engineering. Because of that and designs lack of consideration for the US market - no $ was allocated for ensuring it was compliant for North America. Simply put, it was redesigned not to be sold as a street legal car here with no $ going to airbags, bumpers, crash testing, etc.

These threads keep coming up about the new Exige and some with unusual ideas of importing them, but the reality is unless Lotus gets a sudden infusion of cash, the only V6 Exiges that will ever come here will be track cars. Lotus has bigger problems than making it's niche car compliant with North American requirements when previously weren't volume sellers.

[Saketome]

This is a sad news.. Anyway, thank you very much for the info guys.


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[JonS]

Originally Posted by robains

Yeah this is a really bizarre move from Lotus ... why did they bother making the car if they can't sell it to the US street market?

Because the US does not equal the world!

While the US ranks as the second-largest market for cars, it still only accounts of <17% of the total worldwide sales and 12% of the luxury car market.

There are many cars that are successful but never make it to the US. No cars from PSA (Peugeot Citroen) are sold in the US, yet they have nearly sales volumes that are close to 40% of what GM (the largest car company) sells.


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[West oz loti]

The exige 'S' is based on the old Lotus/Exige platform therefore has the same problems meeting US law requirements. I believe the airbag is one and the other is no bumpers as such (same deal as why the Elise was stopped). The Evora complies.

[btotheje]

100K US?! Hate to see the price of them here in Aus.

Anyone who would buy a track-only car like that, over something like a Porsche Cup car would have rocks in their head, as nice as they are, IMO.

[JonS]

Originally Posted by btotheje

100K US?! Hate to see the price of them here in Aus.

Anyone who would buy a track-only car like that, over something like a Porsche Cup car would have rocks in their head, as nice as they are, IMO.

I think Evo magazine would disagree. They named it their car of the year, tied with the >$1M Pagani Huayra.


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[btotheje]

As a street car as well, however.

It's an astonishingly brilliant car. And I ache for one. But to limit it to an exclusively track weapon at that price, is both ambitious and optimistic IMO.

The 2014 GT3 line of cars is coming, and their predecessors only continue to drop. Nabbing yourself a 997 Cup or a GT3 Gallardo for smack on 100K or a little more is not even out of the question, soon enough. And at base point, the same thing. A track-only car. Without the restrictions of them having been built as a street car elsewhere. (Race interior, engine, wheels, tyres, sequential gearbox... no-holds-barred).

I mean, check this out.

Lamborghini LP520 GT3

Yeah, if you break it, you'd have to rob the monopoly man to fix it. But I still maintain that kind of money could be better spent given its true purpose.

[VisualEchos]

Who cares? It's ugly, heavy, and over-priced for the performance. To take a step forward in the performance world with such changes has taken Lotus a step backwards in the Sports Car world. Simple reason; they're broke.

Sad really.

[Saketome]

Evo Magazine "Car of the Year" 2012 (YouTube)

You Tube

You Tube

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[Thorburn]

For anyone who's interested, some information on the visit some people had to Hethel on Monday, and the work Lotus Racing have been doing on the Exige V6 race cars here: SELOC member tests latest Exige V6 developments from Lotus Racing | SELOC