Why no carbon?

[John_Matrix]

The side intakes, lower body kit under the doors, rear cutouts (at the back of the car that let you see the tyres) and gloss plastic over the front intakes all beg to be replaced with CF.
Lotus could charge a fortune for it and people would buy it. Why no OEM option?

 

[Eagle7]

The side intakes, lower body kit under the doors, rear cutouts (at the back of the car that let you see the tyres) and gloss plastic over the front intakes all beg to be replaced with CF.
Lotus could charge a fortune for it and people would buy it. Why no OEM option?

I don't know that people would necessarily. The new price for the car as-is is £96,500. If they keep pushing it too far up in price, they'll go back to Evora sales numbers, which weren't enough to keep them in business. Chevy found out the hard way, that just because Camaro owners spent money on their car after they bought them, that didn't mean they wanted to spend it all at once up front if Chevy put all the things on it that customers were adding in pieces afterward. Sales fell from first to last place, behind Mustang and Dodge, and the Camaro got discontinued.

The initial purchase price permanently sets the ownership costs. The up-front costs need to be kept low for affordability, insurance costs, and licensing. If manufacturers want to sell upgrades as an aftermarket item, that works much better for the customer.

 

[Andy H]

Also, I wonder if the whole carbon craze has peaked. It's been all about carbon add-ons for the past 10 years but I actually prefer the Emira's gloss black. Plus, the weight savings were always negligible for a few strips here and there.

 

[Eagle7]

Also, I wonder if the whole carbon craze has peaked. It's been all about carbon add-ons for the past 10 years but I actually prefer the Emira's gloss black. Plus, the weight savings were always negligible for a few strips here and there.

The cost to weight savings advantage on a street car isn't really that good, unless you're replacing a large and heavy body panel. For the Emira, the one area I think would benefit the most from carbon fiber would be the rear hatch, although I don't know how heavy that piece of glass is. Replacing hoods, roofs, trunk/hatch lids offer the most benefit because you're removing weight that's high up on the car, and that can lower the car's center of gravity which is good for handling. Those large pieces cost a bundle though.

 

[weihnachts]

Also, I wonder if the whole carbon craze has peaked. It's been all about carbon add-ons for the past 10 years but I actually prefer the Emira's gloss black. Plus, the weight savings were always negligible for a few strips here and there.

i'm just as guilty as the next person for liking the look of relatively understand carbon bits and bobs here and there. but along these lines, i've also wondered if the carbon craze is going to seriously date cars, much like wood paneling on cars of the mid-20th century. in ten or fifteen years we'll look at cars with all the carbon bits and feel like it's starting to look a bit old.
of course, in twenty or thirty years, it might come around again and make cars 'retro-cool'.

 

[F1 SML8R]

The CF will come. It's simply being saved for the later (possibly last few) variants. Long-time Lotus fans (i.,e. you've followed the company since the Esprit/Elise) know this. For as much as we all like to gripe about Lotus and all the things they don't do, they are in fact one of the most predictable companies when it comes to product rollout.

As a recap, you start with a base car (usually in a "first edition" style roll-out), you then follow it up with new colors and silly wheel options every year along with a multitude of "limited run" special editions, but powertrains remain largely the same. Then at or near the end you start getting the hard core CF body paneled, mild horse bumped versions with after-market quality adjustable suspensions, titanium exhausts, etc.

Examples: Elise Sport (Yellow w/ Silver stripes), Exige S 260 Sport (CF galore and still highly prized if not wrecked), Exige 350 Sport, Exige 410 Sport, Exige 430 Sport, Evora GT (CF heavy), Evora 410 Sport, Evora GT430 (CF heavy), etc. Also, all of these had Ohlin/Nitron style/quality adjustable suspensions, lighter wheels, etc.

Longwinded way of saying the CF will come and you will like it. You just have to wait (or just buy the tons of Chinese made stuff available now!).

 

[John_Matrix]

There a lot of profit in it for manufacturers. They could offer it as an option pack then offer the same pieces to existing owners for even more money. I suspect take up would be high. Especially with OEM cachet!

 

[John_Matrix]

i'm just as guilty as the next person for liking the look of relatively understand carbon bits and bobs here and there. but along these lines, i've also wondered if the carbon craze is going to seriously date cars, much like wood paneling on cars of the mid-20th century. in ten or fifteen years we'll look at cars with all the carbon bits and feel like it's starting to look a bit old.
of course, in twenty or thirty years, it might come around again and make cars 'retro-cool'.

You can find 993’s with factory carbon specified from the late 90’s. If tastes were going to turn away from automotive use of CF it would have happened by now.
It’s effectively posh plastic. Doesn’t matter to most that the weight saving is minimal. It looks good. And expensive. They are leaving money on the table not offering it already. I’d envisage the aftermarket OEM tailgate costing £5k with a polycarbonate rear window and a 8kg weight saving. Wouldn’t be for me but they’d sell a lot of them.

 

[Six Speed Stephen]

I don't know that people would necessarily. The new price for the car as-is is £96,500. If they keep pushing it too far up in price, they'll go back to Evora sales numbers, which weren't enough to keep them in business. Chevy found out the hard way, that just because Camaro owners spent money on their car after they bought them, that didn't mean they wanted to spend it all at once up front if Chevy put all the things on it that customers were adding in pieces afterward. Sales fell from first to last place, behind Mustang and Dodge, and the Camaro got discontinued.

The initial purchase price permanently sets the ownership costs. The up-front costs need to be kept low for affordability, insurance costs, and licensing. If manufacturers want to sell upgrades as an aftermarket item, that works much better for the customer.

I disagree. Options are specific to the person, so it won't have the same affect as a higher base price would have.

You can option a GT4 higher than a GT3 and the company makes insane profit. It's an option, not a requirement.

I think it would be very crucial for them to allow hundreds of options so they can milk the revenue.

 

[F1 SML8R]

"It’s effectively posh plastic."

Quote of the day! BTW, let's not call it "CF" any more. Let's make "PP" happen people!

 

[Eagle7]

I disagree. Options are specific to the person, so it won't have the same affect as a higher base price would have.

You can option a GT4 higher than a GT3 and the company makes insane profit. It's an option, not a requirement.

I think it would be very crucial for them to allow hundreds of options so they can milk the revenue.

They are unless it's part of the base model being sold. A CF Emira is going to be expensive, which means more expensive licensing and insurance right up front. For those that can afford it great, but that's a much smaller segment of the marketplace than the Emira FE reached.

There's also the cost to Lotus to develop and inventory those options. If the take-up from customers isn't high enough, they aren't making money. Lotus isn't in a good place financially right now. They need to begin to be profitable. The aftermarket is a good place for all those options. We need a Lotus version of JDM which helped Japanese cars immensely to take hold in the marketplace. That's China right now, but the trade situation is making that difficult.

 

[PatrickJS]

theres no carbon so they can release carbon editions

 

[Eagle7]

theres no carbon so they can release carbon editions

Yes they can, but they'll be expensive which is fine for those who can afford it. Not every can.

 

[Six Speed Stephen]

They are unless it's part of the base model being sold. A CF Emira is going to be expensive, which means more expensive licensing and insurance right up front. For those that can afford it great, but that's a much smaller segment of the marketplace than the Emira FE reached.

There's also the cost to Lotus to develop and inventory those options. If the take-up from customers isn't high enough, they aren't making money. Lotus isn't in a good place financially right now. They need to begin to be profitable. The aftermarket is a good place for all those options. We need a Lotus version of JDM which helped Japanese cars immensely to take hold in the marketplace. That's China right now, but the trade situation is making that difficult.

It wouldn't be. Carbon Fiber is always an optional add on.