Things aren’t looking good for Lotus back in Britain, but they’re going to be even more bleak in the USA next year if they don’t have any cars to sell.
According to Car&Driver, the Lotus Evora will be dropped after the last 2014s are sold. The Evora was already given a 12-month reprieve by the Feds because it’s not equipped with mandated smart airbags, the system that detects whether or not an occupant is buckled up and varies the force of the airbag in the event of a crash.
But the company didn’t make changes for 2015, and no further extensions are being granted.
Lotus will therefore be reduced to selling the Elise and Exige Cup versions in the U.S., which you can’t drive legally on the road.
It’s too bad Lotus didn’t have the funds to re-engineer the Evora, because it looked like its best chance to be considered as a viable alternative to a Porsche and other sports cars, rather than just a maker of rather expensive track-day cars. The fact the Evora came along at a time when Lotus had few resources didn’t help matters. Here’s to hoping they can stay afloat in the U.S. – somehow.
By Zac Estrada
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