You have to admire the ambition of Dany Bahar and his team at Lotus, despite doubts over the scale and achievability of their New Era strategy, they’ve certainly raised the brand’s profile during the two months since their Paris Motorshow announcement.
Turning the small Norfolk car maker into a worthy Aston Martin, Ferrari and Porsche rival is on a par with Red Bull winning the F1 World Championship – an unlikely ambition and yet we’ve just witnessed the Austrian drinks company achieving just that. Stage one has been to create headroom for the brand, positioning Lotus within the rarefied segment of the sports car elite, stage two will be to deliver the product and ownership experience that lives up to such a promise – a far tougher challenge and one that we hope they’ll have the measure of in time.
Just days ahead of the LA Auto Show (Friday 12th November), Lotus took the City of Angels by a storm with a sensational party in the hills of Hollywood. Industry icons, movie stars, musicians and artists gathered at a private residence to celebrate the exclusive US unveiling of the new Lotus range and witness the handover of a Lotus Evora to the Baldwin Foundation.
A host of celebrities were on call including Alec Baldwin (30 Rock), Billy Baldwin (Parenthood), Chord Overstreet (Glee), Colleen Bell, Dani Janssen, Daniel Baldwin, Demi Moore, Grey Damon (True Blood), Ione Skye (Say Anything), Kyle Richards (The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills), Michelle Rodriguez (Avatar), Nicollette Sheridan (Desperate Housewives), Olivia Munn (Ironman 2), Perry Farrell (Musician), Peter Gallagher (Burlesque), Stephen Baldwin, Taryn Manning (Hawaii Five-0), Vanna White (Wheel of Fortune) and more…
Added into the already packed evening Lotus also showcased the evolution of the brand by revealing seven oversized prints, created by famed award-winning French photographer Gérard Rancinan, that chronicle Lotus’ metamorphosis. We’ll leave you with the seven Rancinan images (above) depicting each of the 5 new Lotus models, plus two montages that are worth a study all on their own.
Friday’s VIP event was the forum used to launch the new Lotus Magazine, featuring Kate Moss on the cover and packed full of lifestyle-driven content including a Great British Icons feature and a retrospective of Lotus “Moments,” such as the role of the brand in James Bond 007 movies. But true to recent form, that’s not all they launched – any self-respecting fashion brand these days needs a designer clothing collection, so Lotus unveiled not one, but three ranges for eager customers to choose from: Lotus Heritage, Lotus Originals and Lotus Performance.
You can view both the magazine and the private label clothing in a new ‘Lifestyle’ section in Lotus’ website, and you’ll also be able to purchase these items from the first of a series of brand concept stores beginning with a flagship store in London.
As you can see, there’s a lot going on at Lotus these days, so keep an eye out for more news during next week’s LA Auto Show.
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Sorry dude, but a few D-list celebrities are not the “Hollywood set.” And the only reason the Baldwins were there is because they’re chummy with the new Lotus executive (aka old Ferrari) regime — that, and they have been allowed to hijack Lotus press cars, which they don’t bother to return. I was at the party and most people there were completely douchey and had no idea what the cars were or any history relating to Lotus. Even Bob Lutz was rolling his eyes at all the superficiality and a**-kissing. Colin Chapman is rolling over in his grave.
Hey thanks for the perspective @Lotusfan1, I chose the title as a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ reference to the ‘few’ celebrities I recognised on the guest list – most of us know of Alec Baldwin and Demi Moore but I had to google the rest…
And I hardly recognised Demi Moore in the pictures – so I checked to ensure that wasn’t a typo – then I discovered a batch of pictures of Demi wearing the same outfit in numerous tabloid rags, so she was clearly out on a photo-call to raise her profile. There were a boat load of pictures I chose not to publish because they were better suited to HELLO magazine.
I’ve been critical of Lotus’ New Era plans already, hence I toned down my concern in this post, but Bahar seems to be living out a personal dream more so than developing a car company – I can’t imagine Chapman, Ferry Porsche or Enzo Ferrari looking on with any sense of pride.
I really hope I’m wrong about Lotus – it seems ironic that the Evora S is receiving rave reviews at the moment, whilst this New Era strategy is born – I’m an ex-owner myself (Exige S1) so am eagerly awaiting to see the ‘substance’ behind the ‘style’…
Here’s a couple of those Demi Moore pics that I restrained myself from initially publishing – do you recognise her?
https://transmission-one.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/LA-lotus_I5.jpg
https://transmission-one.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/LA-lotus_I6.jpg
Word!! Demi and Alec both…sorry but this was NOT a D-List party…I did a post on this too: http://bit.ly/8Xp43H
Demi and Alec are about as far from D-list as you can get…
Raha, thanks for stopping by and providing your insight, anyone who’s interested in learning more about this event should definitely read your LA Times article.
I hadn’t realised that the foundation had been set up in recognition of the Baldwins grandmother and therefore its more poignant charitable context, thats not how It came across via Lotus.
It will be interesting to hear about the auction of the donated Evora, so please let us know if you cover this in a later article.