Why no carbon?

[MickOpalak]

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.

I've been over the aesthetic of carbon fiber for 20 years. Hell, it was only cool for a few years around 1995 when the McLaren F1 debuted.

 

[Eagle7]

It can look good in some instances, if it's the good looking stuff. I don't like the particle board look. The real benefit is its strength and weight for those applications where it's appropriate. It's just expensive, but if you have the budget...

 

[NorCalEmira]

As others have said, I think there's a good chance we'll see future editions with carbon, suspension and powertrain options. The good news is that you can build an Emira today with carbon seats, carbon trim, carbon aero, Ohlins suspension and a tune that will outperform an Evora GT430 if you have the budget and don't want to wait around.

 

[PatrickJS]

yeah the one thing I care about being OEM is the carbon roof

 

[Beachbum]

oooh Carbon roof. The one thing that nearly made me choose the Evora GT410 Sport, instead of an Emira
If the option for a Carbon roof and Tailgate was offered I would seriously consider it, price dependent.

 

[Orchardbike]

Carbon bonnet now available, but aftermarket, not Lotus

 

[Blackthought_]

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!).

True, but many of those models never made their way to the US so we’ve always been out of luck. I’d kill for an exige 430!

 

[F1 SML8R]

True, but many of those models never made their way to the US so we’ve always been out of luck. I’d kill for an exige 430!

The Evora GT was basically CF galore and identical to the 430. The main difference was the front bumper and that's on the US DOT, not Lotus. Trust me, the CF options will come given the predictability of the Lotus product life cycle.