Lotus is looking for a partner with which to recreate the iconic Lotus Carlton. Mike Kimberley, Lotus Group CEO, has said that he would “like the company to build another car in the mould of the Lotus Carlton.” The Norfolk-based firm has a history of building highly modified performance versions of relatively mundane production cars.
The 377bhp Carlton and the 1979 Talbot Sunbeam Lotus, which was fitted with the company’s 150bhp 2.2 litre twin-cam motor, were both conceptual successors to the famous Lotus Cortina.
There has been no official word on what the firm’s ideal base for a new Lotus Carlton would be.
However, the Vauxhall Insignia is the Carlton’s modern equivalent and seems an ideal choice; its 2.8-litre turbocharged V6 could easily be modified.
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Re: Lotus Carlton could be reborn
A true successor would have to be a GM RWD saloon of about the same size, or a bit bigger to reflect the upward drift in car sizes and weights, so that means Holden Commodore or Cadillac CTS.
Re: Lotus Carlton could be reborn
[IMG]http://i28.tinypic.com/4rezjs.jpg[/IMG] The car that started it off was the Cortina, this morphed into the Sierra which is now the Mondeo, so how about Lotus Mondeo with Volvos I6 turbo engine in the nose tuned by Lotus with Lotus handling, this would put Vauxhalls Insignia VXR straight back in its box. Come on Ford you know you want to.
Re: Lotus Carlton could be reborn
I think that if Lotus is going to stay Vauxhall, then the only car they would look at is a souped up VXR8 or possibly the 4x4 version of the Insignia, which as Lotusfanboy writes is the closest thing to a Carlton on sale these days. The thing is, I don't see the need for it in the Vauxhall range. The VXR8 does the job of the Lotus Carlton in everything except badge.