Lotus Plans to Build V8 Engines

Lotus Plans to build engines for the Esprit


From Auto Car:
http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/254594/

 

And Lotus also wants to build its own engine for F1 which would be a 4 cylinder 1.6 turbo...

Owned by Proton, I can see why it might be important to create their "own" engine, but as much as I admire Lotus, they have not had good luck with their own engines. They created a 4 cylinder back in the 70's which they then siamized into a V8 later on. Neither version of the engine is rememebered fondly.

Lotus has many strengths, but engine design is not in their DNA. They should stick to what they do best and source their engines from someone who has the experience to do it right.

 

I agree source a proven mill from a company with the r&d funds to make it right.

 

Ideally yes - but who could you get engines from? They need smallish capacity, high performance engines. The only manufacturers of such who are not direct competitors are Honda (who won't supply other manufacturers with their engines) and Toyota (great engines, but not upmarket enough)... open to suggestions but anyone else is either going to be to niche (and therefore expensive) or a direct competitor (like Ferrari!).

 

Cosworth? They seem happy enough to supply an entire F1 grid if they could...might as well move back into road cars.

Edit: I just checked and Cosworth isn't going to supply Lotus w/ F1 engines next season. So unlikely for road cars?

 

I did think of Cosworth, who do (or did, not sure if still active) have an agreement with Lotus. But them building an engine for Lotus is not far off Lotus building their own as without other customers there is no economy of scale (there is of course the detail that Cosworth are an engine builder).

 

Lotus has many strengths, but engine design is not in their DNA. They should stick to what they do best and source their engines from someone who has the experience to do it right.[/QUOTE]



I disagree with that. The 60s and 70s twin cams are solid and famous...granted they started with a Ford block, but the performance part was all Lotus. The 907 had some teething issues but Jensen debugged all those, and they are solid, respected and great engines in the first Esprits, other than the oil leaks, but every British car had the leaking problem. The 910/912 engines as in the later Esprits are reliable, well built, and good for up to around 100K miles, which is great for an exotic, beating period Ferraris and Lambos for reliability, maintenance, and cost or repairs. The V8 had some teething issues also, but after 1998, they are also good for about 100K miles wil proper maintenance. Furthermore, Lotus has been engineering engines for other companies since the eighties. Even the Dodge Spirit turbo four was a Lotus design from the late eighties, and there have been many more since. I think lotus will be fine with its own engine, and it should, since the Esprit has had a Lotus engine since it started in 1975.

 

They could hire Cosworth to design the engine and also help them plan out the facilities to produce the engines at Lotus in mass production. The engine would be branded as "Lotus designed by Cosworth."

 

Cosworth designed the 1600 twin cam.

 

Two points - first, Lotus did design the four cam ZR-1 Corvette engine. So, they can (or at least used to be able to, given GM funding.)

But, second - (a big BUT) - aren't they reaching so far as to be almost void of credibility? Five new car models in the next 3 to 5 years, and now this???

 

No Lotus did. See the following from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus-Ford_Twin_Cam

Lotus required a low cost, compact, yet powerful engine for the 1962 Lotus Elan. Colin Chapman chose to use the 116E thin wall cast iron block first used by Ford in the Consul Classic, the Classic Capri and later to be used in the Cortina. While the basic engine design was relatively sound, being of 5 main bearing construction, it was by no means a performance engine. To achieve the power required, Chapman commissioned Harry Mundy, then technical editor for Autocar magazine, to design a double overhead camshaft conversion. This comprised an aluminium cylinder head and an aluminium front cover assembly containing the water pump and the chain driven camshaft drive.

 

IIRC,

The Elan had an Izuzu-Lotus engine, the Elise runs a Toyota Based mill and the ZR1 engine was designed by Lotus but manufactured and assembled by Mercury Marine...

 

That is correct. Which is why I doubt the credibility of this announcement, given the almost unbelievable hubris of their announcements of coming new car models.

 

You are correct. Cosworth built other engines based on that block that I believe became the basis for the Cosworth V-8 that dominated F-1 for years.

 

What surprises me most about the announcement is that the engine decision appears to be a knee jerk reaction to negative feelings that have arisen since the company announced its new lineup. So, this very small company has just announced several new vehicles that require massive investment, and they are able to add an engine program on the fly? How does that work? Danny Bahar is either going to become the crown prince of auto executives or he is going to go down in flames. I expect the latter, but I hope I'm wrong.

 

With all this puffery from Lotus I'm expecting they'll soon announce plans for flying a manned Lotus craft to the moon.

 

Lotus CEO Danny Bahar announced today that his company will introduce a personal manned spacecraft at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. "Supercars are passe," explained Bahar. "Manned flight is the future and we intend to lead the way. The Lotus Erotica will reach 60 mph in 0.0005 seconds while providing a large degree of comfort and luxury for its upscale owner and a friend." When asked where these upscale owners will go in their spacecraft Bahar announced another shocker, the establishment of Lotus Intergalactic, a resort and spa to be located on the moon. "Lotus Engineering has cracked the code for production of oxygen and water on previously unihabitable moons and planet," Bahar explained. "Let's see Ferrari and Lamborghini top this one."