Corporate BS at it’s finest. Why not just admit it will make them more money?
Our plan was to have Lotus walk us around its new Elise and old Elise and show us where weight was added, and how much had been required by safety rules. It was a great opportunity for them to get a message out that Lotus fans have not been forgotten — and that complexity was being added out of necessity, not desire. This time around, Bahar walked out and gave us a tongue-lashing, and completely rejected our premise on face. We caught a snippet of on video:
So, there’s your answer, Lotus fans. You heard it here. It’s not just regulations; Lotus believes cars have to get heavier because of the thinking that goes into them. That what happens when you spend less time building on Colin Chapman’s legacy and more time with the brothers Baldwin.
In any event, I’ve got some mixed views on this new regime…I think the cars look great, they certainly will have the power behind them, and I can only hope the handling traits, like all past Lotus cars, stays great…but added weight hurts performance…we’ll see…
Some awesome writing on this incident and info in the link below;
[quote]But with my journalist hat on I also have to say it wasn't right filming Dany Bahar in an interview situation without his knowledge and agreement – that's not justification or an explanation for his defensive response to your question – just a simple fact.
Are you fucking kidding me? The CEO of an automaker is handed off by a PR person to a journalist in public on their stand waiting for an interview during media days of an international auto show, asks what the question being asked is, acts like an asshole to them, at no point asks to go off the record — then expects to be granted some kind of carte blanche to say whatever he wants to say? Get real.[/quote]