IWC Schaffhausen

Never has a sense of history been more important than it is in today’s age of instant communication. History suggests continuity and security. It gives off a glow of familiarity, spreads warmth. “If Lotus didn’t have this whole amazing history, I wouldn’t have come here,” says Bahar. First, he ordered 300 copies of antiquarian automobile magazines. He wanted to form a mental picture of the brand’s presence during the very best of times. Bahar personally spoke to nearly 500 automobile fans about the image they associated with Lotus. Over and over the response was the same. Yes, the brand was well known. But few were able to associate it with any recent achievements. Based on these insights, Bahar set about to formulate his plans for a revived Lotus. First and foremost, he saw the need to reconnect with the history of the car. “In all the classic car tests,” he points out, “the Lotus Esprit was always compared with the Ferrari 328, with a Porsche and with an Aston Martin. These are the sort of cars we need to be compared to again.”

Bahar’s next task was to put together a team to turn his -vision into reality. His wish list contained 24 names. 23 of these are with him today. Men like Donato Coco who devised the 458 for Ferrari. Wolf Zimmermann, 17 years with AMG, responsible for the Mercedes SLS. Erik Ruge who, for Porsche, built the Cayenne factory in Leipzig. As Bahar rightly points out: “These are big boys. Heavyweights.” The fact that they all followed his call only helped to strengthen Bahar’s belief that his was a -realistic vision and that an opportunity to make history awaited them: “With a big manufacturer like Mercedes or Porsche, you can design a car from beginning to end – as soon as you’re done, the next designer will design the next car. Nobody outside the inner circle of car manufacturing will recognize your name. But if you come to join us here in Norfolk, and if we achieve the turn-around with this company, you can one day look back with pride and say: ‘I have built this!’ That’s what has been my own great spur to come here.”

If everything goes well, the reborn Lotus will return to the sports car elite with a second big bang. This will take place in October 2012 when the tigerish Elan will be the first of the new models to roll out of the Hethel works. 450 PS, 0 to 100 km/h in 3.5 seconds. Bahar is convinced that this, the most versatile sports car in his program, will be able to take on a Porsche 911 or an Aston Martin V8. One year later, the Esprit will throw down the gauntlet to the Ferrari 458. Another twelve months later, it will be the turn of the Elite to seduce fans of the Ferrari California. In 2015, the picture will be completed with the Elise as well as an entirely new Lotus experience, a car with four doors named Eterne. Additionally, the plans for an electric city car are well advanced. Last but not least, there is the T125, a Formula 1-style racing car for the rich enthusiast, super easy to run, service and maintain. Costing GBP 600,000, the T125 was launched last August at Pebble Beach. Seventeen orders arrived within four weeks. Bahar: “Our performance bench mark for each model is the top mark in its class. At the same time, our prices will be 30 to 40 percent cheaper.”

Dany Bahar’s dream of a new leaf in the life of Lotus has not quite become a reality yet. Much of it still only exists on a drawing board. The intrepid dreamer is under no illusions: “There are a hundred possible killers for this project,” he says. “If we don’t make it, well, we don’t make it. At least, we have risked something, and we have taken on this risk with a passion. If you don’t risk anything, you won’t achieve anything at all.”

It is not just the price that is lower with a Lotus. A Lotus also weighs considerably less than other, similar cars. Lightness of build has traditionally been a pillar of Lotus’s design credo. Bahar: “Each car we have presented will be at least 150 kg lighter than the nearest competitor. As a result, it will be lower in its fuel consumption. Therefore, the CO2 emissions will be 20 to 30 percent lower, too.” It is the perfect meeting point between Lotus tradition and today’s ecology-conscious Zeitgeist.