Given the markets current fetish with efficiency, light weight, agile development to reduce costs I would have thought that Lotus would be doing well on the consultancy side with the cars being poster children for it. They have never had a good home with decent capitalisation sadly. Such a rich skills pool as well.
When Lotus announced their plans to go upmarket my heart sank. It nearly did for them in the seventies, and it did for TVR. Once you start getting into BMW M3 up to Porsche 911 territory, customers and critics start to become very unforgiving (witness some of the reviews of the new Plus 8); the car really has to tug at the heart strings to win your cash against such competition.
In truth I think the Elise the best Lotus in decades - certainly the one closest to the old Chapman philosophy of modest engine capacity, very light weight and fabulous handling. It's exactly the segment of the market that Lotus should be occupying, coupled with their famous engineering consultancy work - as you rightly observe, their engineering reputation is stellar.
