The New York Times runs a half page "Automobiles" column every
Sunday, typically focusing on a single vehicle. This past
Sundday's was the Esprit V8 - "Nimble, Exotic and Out of Date".
What was really interesting about the column was the mention
of the Elise: it's Lotus' hottest selling product in the
last 20 years, and Lotus America is bummed that they don't have it
and probably won't for a while. They estimate
that it will cost $7.5 million to certify the car for
the US market - as much as it cost to develop the car originally.
There's a sidebar about the Elise, too. They really do want
to hear from the folks in the US about whether or not
they sould bring it. They have to develop a "business case"
to justify it, and expect the cost to be $35,000.
Lotus was expecting 800 sales a year when they introduced the
Elise. They've raised production to 3000/year and are falling
behind...
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