Dany Bahar-Era Lotus Concepts, Ranked

The Ethos concept didn’t get nearly as much attention as the other cars that Lotus showed off, and for good reason. It was a small city car that was supposedly going to be sold by a brand known for its sports cars.

The Ethos was supposed to come with some neat engineering for 2010, including an electric powertrain with a range extender. But it really didn’t make sense as a Lotus, which is why it’s last on this list.

There are certainly worse ideas than a hybrid luxury sport sedan, and we’d argue the Eterne looked pretty good, too. But like the Ethos, it would have been a tough sell even though it looked better than the Porsche Panamera.

Maybe the Eterne would have actually been popular. Who knows? But even with a V8 under the hood making more than 600 hp, we’re just not sure we can get on board with such a big car wearing a Lotus badge.

The Elite might have actually had potential. The styling was on point, and we suspect there is a decent-sized group of people out there who like the idea of owning an Elise way more than they would like the reality of owning one.

But with its retractable hardtop and optional hybrid system, the Elite just felt too complicated and unnecessarily heavy to wear the Lotus badge. At least it wasn’t a crossover, though?

At the time, the Elise concept’s projected weight of more than 2,400 lbs sounded outrageous. You can’t make an Elise that heavy! And yet more than a decade later, the Elise would have been pretty light compared to a lot of other cars on the road.

The Elise also gets points for staying relatively small despite Bahar’s plans to basically abandon Lotus’s commitment to lightness. There’s just something a little off with the design that’s keeping it from being ranked higher.

While the Elan concept was way heavier than the original Elan, it still would have been lighter than the 997-era Porsche 911. We imagine it probably would have sold pretty well, at least as far as Lotuses go. And it would have sold for a more attainable price than the Elite.

Lotus purists may have hated it, but there are what, a few hundred of them left? The new Elan may not have been the greatest Lotus ever built, but there’s a little part of us that’s disappointed it never made it to production.

If you’re going to go big, you might as well build a supercar. And that’s exactly what the Esprit would have been. It was supposed to get a Toyota-sourced V8 that made 612 hp and 531 lb-ft of torque. Who’s going to complain about one more mid-engined supercar?

Allegedly, the Esprit was also going to be relatively affordable, at least when compared to the Ferrari 458. Oh, and it was going to be lighter than the Ferrari, too. If Lotus had ever actually delivered it as described, it would have been great. Maybe.