All language subtitles for Lotus.A.New.Dawn.2021.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

You've probably heard of Lotus.

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It made championship
winning racing cars.

ARCHIVE VOICEOVER: Jim Clark
crosses the finish line to win

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the 500 with a comfortable
lead of more than...

It made iconic lightweight
sports cars.

Last year the company increased
its car production by 48%

- the Lotus has become a
success story for Britain.

They even made cars for the stars.

Orders are already pouring in
from America for the same colour

scheme as Bond's car.

It's still around today,

even though the one thing it's never
been good at in recent years

is making money.

There's been money issues.

Lots of changes of management.

Things have got to change...

Phwoff! It's been a baptism of fire.

I've slept better in Afghanistan
than I have working here.

Lotus has to become a proper,
profitable carmaker

or admit defeat and shut up shop.

It's a commercial business
and we can't just produce one,

we've got to produce thousands.

To give it one last shot,
there's a new boss...

I don't want to just keep it going.

I want to lay the foundation so that
Lotus is going to be secure.

..and soon their first new
car in over a decade.

This car is make or break
for Lotus, basically.

They can't afford to get this wrong.

This is step one of the Lotus
revival plan -

an all-new all-electric
200mph hyper car

called the Evija.

And its power comes
from four electric motors

making a total of 2,000 horse power.

As a result, this is nothing less
than the most powerful

production car in the world.

It costs £2 million.

The second step of the revival plan
is another model -

the Emira.

This is the more affordable sports
car on which Lotus' future rests.

Senior engineer John Sharp
is part of the crack team

responsible for getting this vital
new car into production.

So, here we have one of the most
confidential places on site.

We're completely locked down.

We don't want anything to do
with this getting out.

Until we reveal to the world
exactly what we're doing,

we need to keep this under wraps.

These cars look like a current Lotus
model but they're not.

Under the familiar skin, it has been
remodelled to fit a brand-new

chassis and engine.

Sometimes on forums you, you might
see a picture of one of these cars

and lots of speculation as to
what's going on and you can

just chuckle away to yourself as to
what everybody's speculating about.

One way to make a new sports car
exciting is with the sound.

LOW HUM

It sounds really good.

It sounds a bit jet fighter,
to be honest.

To power its first new car in ten
years, Lotus has done a deal

with German engine wizards AMG

so that it goes as well
as it sounds.

Old Lotuses were
bought by hard-core enthusiasts.

This new one needs to lure people
away

from other luxury car manufacturers.

To do that,
Lotus has to get the car right,

but it also has to remind
people of its rich history.

Colin Chapman, ex RAF,
ex aircraft engineer

and racing driver
turned car designer.

The company was founded in 1947
by Colin Chapman,

an engineer and innovator every bit
as brilliant as Enzo Ferrari

or Ferdinand Porsche.

One car usually sold as a kit of
parts can be noted here - the Lotus.

Chapman's racing cars
soon started winning

and led the way to British
dominance in F1.

Today, many of these machines
live at the heritage centre

just across the road
from the main factory...

ANSWERS PHONE: Classic Team Lotus.

..cared for by Colin Chapman's
son Clive.

I could look at this all day.

It's just the most fantastic car.

It's the only 72 with its original
specification.

The chassis is all original.

Emmerson won five Grand
Prix in this car.

The black and gold winning
the British Grand Prix,

and my dad throwing his hat
in the air whenever it won a race.

Emerson Fittipaldi wins!

Colin Chapman's cap is in the air.

The list of Lotus' F1 innovations
was endless.

The first monocoque chassis ever...

Engines that were part
of the chassis...

Lightweight cars that painted
themselves to the road,

and active suspension.

And Emmerson's was no different.

The type 72 revolutionised F1 by
putting the radiators on each side

of the driver,
allowing it to be a wedge.

So, the 72 is a wedge shape which,
it's obvious to everybody

is gonna reduce the drag
and improve the airflow.

In particular, it's gonna improve
the airflow to the rear wing

so you're gonna get more
down force.

Recently voted the greatest ever
Formula 1 car

and we're not gonna argue with
that!

Chapman's streamlined racers had
a profound effect on another member

of the Lotus team, the appropriately
named chief designer Russell Carr.

This is a really
important car for me,

because when I was a kid

the type 72 was the racing car.

The famous black and gold colours.

I had no interest in things
like football and other sports.

Formula 1 was my thing.

And this amazing looking car
that was just wedge shaped

and looked so modern.

Of the 40 plus cars that Russell
has worked on,

this one was his first big hit.

This was a very early sketch I did
as part of the Elise programme.

These are just
like little gull wing panels

so it's like getting into
a light aircraft.

So, a combination between a racing
car and a light aircraft.

Russell always knew
he wanted to design cars

but getting there wasn't easy.

I was probably 16 years old.

I went to the careers officer
at school and then they said,

"There's no such job
as a car designer.

"Cars are designed by engineers

"and you're not clever enough
to be an engineer.

"But have you thought about working
at the local water treatment plant?"

Russell bypassed a career in sewage
and for the last 26 years

he's built an impressive career
designing sports cars.

We'll probably make the lower
edge of the car quite dark

just so that it lightens
the vehicle as well.

This line running through
the car's really important

and this line rises and it mimics
the way the air flows into the car.

The all new Emira
is Russell's latest work.

I think it makes a connection
with the Evija hyper car,

so anybody buying this is getting
a little bit of that action

from that car, as well.

Starting with a simple sketch
in Russell's notebook,

the new car's design was then
finessed and refined in 3D.

So, this is part
of the design process.

This blue car isn't a car at all.

It's carefully painted clay.

Clay modellers are incredibly
skilled craftsmen

and they have to have
an artisan skill

to model the surfaces
with extreme accuracy.

And this is what we use
to get the theme approved.

They need to interpret what the
designer wants and turn it into 3D.

When it's heated, it goes soft,
we can spread it onto the model,

and then when it cools
we can work it.

And we use that because it allows us
to adapt the model as things change

so it's a very flexible tool.

The curves and sinews of the new
car's skin try to reflect

the DNA of Colin Chapman's
racing cars.

There's a very well known phrase
in aviation,

"If it looks right, it flies right,"

and certainly we think the same
with sports car design.

Creating a brand-new car
is a complicated business

and once the design is signed off

then you've got another challenge -
how to make it.

There's no soulless
mass production here.

Each Lotus is built by hand

and always has been.

That's it, all done.
Looks good. Yeah.

The customer will be really,
really happy.

Lovely, thank you.

Team leader Tracy Cushing
makes the seats.

In a year, we do 1,200, 1,300 cars,

so that's twice as many seats,
but, yeah,

super proud of what
we make in the trim.

This is all handmade.

The seat is probably
the hardest thing to learn.

It's a fantastic product that the
team make day in, day out.

A lot of them have been here
a long, long time.

So, I'll start off with the arms.

These are the bits that run
down the side of the seat

where you actually
have your seat belt fixing.

The Norfolk-born seamstress
is entering her third decade

for the company.

When I was 16, left school,
got offered a job in a factory

that made jackets and suits,

so it was all the big heavy woollen
fabrics, materials.

And now, sewing leather,
making seats for sports cars,

it's the total opposite.

It's really calming,

it's kind of like my happy place

where I don't have to worry about
anything, I can just sit and sew,

and just enjoy.

Long serving employees like Tracy
have seen a lot of ups

and downs for the company.

There's been money issues.

Lotus do have a bit of a reputation

of having lots
of different management,

lots of changes of management
and it does prove unsettling.

Lotus wants to treble the number
of cars it makes which means

a major rethink for every
single department,

but Tracy remains upbeat.

The company who are looking after us

have poured a lot of investment
into the business.

Staff are really excited
about the future and, yeah,

everybody's really,
really positive again, you know.

Amid the fields of rural Norfolk

lies an enclave of
engineering ingenuity

and cutting-edge technology.

Max Ryan is the prototype
vehicle workshop manager

for the car company's
new flagship, the Evija.

As you can see, it's quite a beast.

This is our halo car, in terms
of the design, the technology,

the power outputs, everything.

This is Britain's first
pure electric hyper car.

Its body is made entirely
from carbon fibre

and it houses the most potent
car battery in the world.

This allows us to run at a maximum
capacity of 2,000 horse power.

We have a lot of the latest
technology inside this battery cell.

I'm not gonna dive into it because
we don't wanna give too much away.

But the Evija isn't going into full
production until later this year

and for new MD Matt Windle, his
focus is on the all-petrol Emira.

So this is my uh,
soon to be man shed.

We've recently moved in so I'm just
starting to, as you can see,

get sorted out with the stuff
we have here.

Having worked at Lotus
for over 20 years,

he was appointed MD just last year.

To be MD of Lotus is,
uh, incredible, really.

I feel responsible for the people
and the history that's gone before.

Matt's rise to the top
has been far from easy.

I came from a single parent family.

Unusually, I grew up with my dad

so that was where my passion of cars
came from because we used to spend

hours and hours and hours going up
to my grandparents in Hartlepool

and all the way up there, I was,
I was quizzing my dad about cars

and I could tell any make of car
by its headlight or its tail light.

And that was just from the amount
of time we spent on the A1

driving up and down in the dark.

I didn't do very well at school and,
yeah, I've just worked hard.

My dad instilled that into me.

Like many at Lotus,
Matt has worked his way up.

He began his career as an apprentice
coach builder.

This is where it all started for me.

So these were
public service vehicles.

So, as you can see,

they're drawn 10th scale.

Drawn by myself in,

in July 1993, so I was 22!

It's been a really difficult
time for Lotus.

Digby, get off my draw...

Ah, no!

I've carried that round
for 30 years,

it's now got dog prints on it.

Over the last couple of decades,
it's been a really difficult time.

Some of the staff have been
there a long time

and have shown real loyalty to the
company and we need to repay that

now by looking after them
and developing the facilities.

The company's first new car in
12 years will more than treble

production from 1,500
to over 5,000 cars a year.

This production hall is brand-new.

This is where we can build
the new Emira.

The all new assembly hall is the
size of 1.5 football pitches.

But for Matt, it's the little
things that count.

I don't have OCD.

But uh, I've asked
the production director how,

how they're gonna align
the cars down here

and he's promised they'll be
within three millimetres

so when we look down you'll see
a nice clean line of cars

going down there.

Hi, Phil, how's it going?

Yeah, not too bad. Yeah, come and
show us where we're at.

Although mass production hasn't
begun,

several prototypes are being
worked on

to finesse the production process.

So, this might look
like a strange car

but these here are literally
the first parts that we've received

for Emira, so we're getting them
all checked through this queue.

What that allows us to do is cycle
panels through very quickly.

If we've got a quality issue,
we can see where the problem is,

we'll know if they're good enough to
go to the production line.

So you can see here,
the left-hand fender.

As first-off parts, these look
very good, very, very good.

We talk about the step up in quality
that we want to make.

This is the investment
we're making

to get that quality we want
on vehicles going forward

so that we get a precision car that
goes together right every time.

But quality isn't the only thing
on Matt's mind.

In four weeks' time, the Emira
will be announced to the world at

legendary motor sport event
the Goodwood Festival Of Speed.

To ensure survival, Lotus is
sticking to Chapman's mantra -

add only lightness and simplicity.

Nothing seems to damage this
amazing material.

You can hammer it, you can
let the kids jump on it,

and it still keeps its shape.

In pursuit of this, Chapman
pioneered the use of the composite

materials that have now become
the norm.

We think that it's only
a matter of time before the vast

majority of cars are built
out of plastic rather than steel,

and therefore this is vital
to our business.

The type 12 chassis frame
weighs just 17kg.

You can pick it up with one hand.

Um, this is the original car,
the prototype,

the very first one,
and we couldn't believe it

when we stripped it down and,
and found it was that light.

A real mantra of this Lotus
and Lotuses after then.

"Never mind the hat," says Graham
Hill,

"I can only just wear the car!"

I think the 12 really captures
the ethos of Lotus today

because it's brave
and it's bold.

Exactly what you want
as the foundations of a race car or

a brand-new road car.

Five miles from the main Hethel
plant,

they're building another factory.

My name's Claire Moxon,
I'm the manufacturing supervisor

here at Lotus Advanced Structures,
and I have a team of 34 general

operatives where we are training
them to build the new Emira model.

So, this is our chassis
assembly area.

As Lotus embarks on a plan
to build more cars, it's had to

bring in more people.

I've been steadily recruiting
personnel and training them up

to build cars. A lot of them
have never built a chassis before.

Even supervisor Claire is new.

I am very new
to the automotive industry.

Um, I was in the RAF as an aircraft
technician prior to that

for 22 years. I left the RAF
last July and came to Lotus.

It's been a baptism of fire.

I've slept better in Afghanistan
than I have working for Lotus!

Robots are used to bond
the outer subframe together.

But the more intricate parts
of the chassis are built by hand.

How's it going, guys?
Temperature all right for the glue?

Yeah. Yeah.

So a lot of people don't realise
that we actually glue these

cars - it's lighter than welding,

and actually the adhesive is even
stronger than a welded join.

This strength is achieved by baking
the glue at a high temperature.

OK, guys,
let's get the car in the oven.

When the factory is complete,
the process of putting the chassis

in the oven will be automated, but
for now it will be done manually.

Claire's 20 years of military
experience is clearly paying off.

Does that one need to come in
a little bit there?

It looks as if it's going off
to the right there.

What my training
from the military gives me

is a hard stance on certain things.

Whoa.

But also that we have to nurture
people and we have be supportive.

Like the Incredible Hulk
going in there.

I don't think people realise
how difficult it is to assemble

a car, and the length of time it
takes to train the people to

be able to build that car.

Now the Emira is in the oven cycle,

so we're going to put
that on to 180 degrees

for an hour and a half,
much like a chicken.

With everyone focused on ironing out
any problems to get the new

model onto the production line...

As you can see, there's
a bit of work to be done on this.

..MD Matt Windle has come to inspect
another one of three prototypes.

This is just the body shell.

We use the time now to prepare us
when we're at volume.

Because if you hit an issue
when you're trying to build

at volume, you've got major issues
on your hands.

But even before production flaws
are ironed out, Lotus is

planning on announcing
the car to the world.

In just three weeks' time,
this Emira will

make its debut at Britain's most
famous celebration of motor sport.

It's really important for us
that we're at Goodwood

and we will hit those dates.

The problem we've got here
at the moment is we're still

building our current range, so it's
a bit of a jigsaw puzzle to try

and build a new factory
around our current production.

If you think about everything
that we got to achieve, it'd send

you slightly mad.

When it comes to selling high-end
sports cars, it's not just

looks that will persuade customers
to part with their cash.

They also have to be sold
on the sound.

Noise and vibration engineer
Kirsty Aaron is using an older

model as a benchmark
for the new car.

So this room is a vehicle
semi-anechoic chamber

for noise measurement.

Basically the cones on the walls
stop the noises that we're measuring

being reflected back, which makes
for a more accurate measurement.

People judge the car on what it
looks like to begin with, and

then obviously what it sounds like -
and it's the same

with people, right? You judge
someone and as soon as you see them.

If they're wearing something like
bright or colourful, you're like,

"Oh, they look a bit funky!" and the
same with your sound as well.

But today it's not the engine noise
that Kirsty's measuring -

it's the indicators.

This is one of the things that
we want to focus on to show that

we're improving on quality.

I'm going to take
a few different measurements

so that we can take an average,
and then we use the objective

and subjective data
to decide where we want

to place our product in terms
of perceived quality.

So Kirsty picks the best sounds
and gets the engineers to copy them.

We basically have a rating
scale of like how we subjectively

assess vehicles,

and it goes from sort of being
like - no-one's going to pick it up

to, like, SOME people might,

REALLY fussy people will,
EVERYONE will, kind of thing.

This one, I'd say is quite a
pleasant noise for an indicator.

But equally, you've got to make it
loud enough that people know

that it's there, just in case
they have to click it off again.

However you don't want it to be
too loud so that it's offensive.

We've got to up our game
from a quality standard.

If we want to sell cars,
we've got to

be, like, going for the big guns.

To do that, Lotus needs to broaden
it's appeal.

We've been making road cars
in the last 25 years.

But most people associate them
with being very enthusiast-driven,

very track-focused.

Lotus has never been known
for luxurious interiors,

but it's hoping the new car will
change all that.

So this is really a car that,
you know, you can use every day.

We have some really strong
competitors in this market

and so this car is a car without
apologies, without compromise.

It's the most complete Lotus
ever made, I think.

The huge new investment in Lotus'
bid to improve output

from 1,500 to over 5,000 cars a year

is not without consequence.

As the firm aims to treble the
number of cars it builds,

some of the in-house ways of making
things can't keep pace.

So the work will be outsourced and
those departments shut down.

Hello. Hi, Trace, how are you?
I'm good, thank you.

So we'll go up and have a look
in the engine build first.

OK lovely, thank you.

One of those departments is the
trim shop,

which means workers like
Tracy Cushing will need to find

new roles within the company.

For me personally it is an end
of an era, quite sad.

But for engine supervisor
Mike Antoniades...

OK, if you can run those
volts in please, Tracy.

..this could be the perfect
opportunity to recruit from within.

Is there a set order to do these or,
is it?

No, you can do them in any order
because we're not tightening

them up at the moment.

Mike's got lots of new roles to fill

and staff from other departments
bring transferrable skills.

It's a ratchet spanner,
which I know you're familiar with

from working in trim.

And just do them up hand tight
please. What, like a torque?

Yeah, that's what you're doing,
exactly.

Are you sure?
Yeah.

Really?
Yeah.

Yep, that's it, cool.

Tracy has spent 20 years
in the trim shop

but, like many, she will
have to adapt

if the company is to move forward.

Yep, that's good.

I bet it could be more fun than
the sewing machine.

It could be my new love, eh?!

That's it, well done.

What do you think of all that, then?

Well, I'll be looking for a job
in here, it's good fun.

It's really good fun.
Good.

So, it's important to do this to
show others in the teams

the challenges that we've all
got in front of us

and the opportunities
we can all take.

And it's not such a scary
world out there

after we finish in the interiors.

We can all do new things,
we can all learn new things.

Carefully prepared engines in
lightweight chassis

have always allowed Lotus cars to
punch above their weight.

And that was especially
true on the track.

By 1967, Lotus had two F1 world
titles to its name

and was poised to make another
leap into the future...

COMMENTATOR: A shout of victory from
Colin Chapman.

..as the car company's founder
unleashed the Lotus 49.

My father knew how to identify the
people who could build good engines

and he was always on the lookout
for the best source of power.

The Lotus 49 realised the biggest
ever step in performance

year on year in Formula One and
it's never been beaten.

The 49 was designed in conjunction
with the Ford Cosworth DFV

engine, which would go on
to dominate F1

for the next 15 years.

Today, the long term plan for Lotus
is to become an all-electric

carmaker, which means the new
Emira will be the last

internal combustion engine car
they ever make.

In the new factory, another
milestone is approaching.

There you go mate hold on. Ten?

No, it's a nine, we haven't got a
ten at the moment.

30 year Lotus veteran Simon King
will be mating the 400 horsepower

Emira engine to its chassis on the
shop floor for the first time.

Exciting but nervous,
you never know,

but, yeah, fingers crossed
it's going to go in.

Helping Simon will be Andy,
arguably the best man for the job.

Yeah, yeah best friends, yeah.

Best...best man at his wed...at my
wedding.

Take your T-bar off Andy.
Yeah.

Yeah, we've been working together
20 years so, yeah,

good fun, good fun.

It demands a pair of highly
experienced technicians

to go through this delicate fitting
of engine to chassis.

So, down, Si.
Down a little bit? Yep.

Little bit more. So, what, go down a
little bit more, Andy?

Hang on, one sec.

Need to go towards you a bit.

OK, hold on, mate.
How we looking?

Eventually, this fiddly task will
take under 20 minutes.

There you go, Andy, I'm loose now.

Are you in, Andy?

It went in but it ain't coming out!

But for the moment, it's a steep
learning curve.

It's quite a fiddly job and cos it's
so much weight,

it's a lot to jiggle about and, uh,

just to get the bolts in
straight away.

But we'll get there.
We'll get there.

How we doing under there?

Ah, this is a bugger.

There's just no clearance at all.

This trial run will help iron
out the kinks...

Here we go.

..before the factory is at full
chat, making 5,000 cars every year.

Green is good.

Where's me hat?

Today, it took two and a half hours.

Good, gents?
Yeah, all good thank you.

Lovely, thank you very much.

So, yeah, first one, very happy with
and let's move onto the second.

Do you want me to take this wheel
off. Simon?

Yeah, do you want to jack,
just jack her up? Yeah.

But for many at Lotus,
like Kevin and Simon,

the last combustion engine car is
met with mixed feelings.

Don't know where the string lines
are, do you know where they are?

Um, on the top of my tool box.
Ah, that's all right.

This is, unfortunately, the last
combustion engine car

that we're going to develop
here at Lotus

and it's a shame, really,
cos we're all, uh,

petrol heads through and through
here.

Go right, I've got that zero
point there Simon.

Bang on 600.

It's the same as the other car,
so... Excellent.

So, we're spot on with that.

It is the future and you
have to go with it.

It's going to be pretty sad when the
last petrol engine car

comes off the line.

I'll probably be here for the last
of the petrol cars and then

I can slide into retirement and
play with my own petrol cars.

The Emira will be shown off to the
world in just two weeks' time

and everyone at Lotus is beginning
to feel the pressure.

Commercially, for the company this
is such an important product.

So there is a certain trepidation
that you just don't

know how the car's going to be
judged.

For Russell Carr, who led the
Emira's design,

revealing the car at Goodwood has an
added personal resonance.

So, this is the picture at
Goodwood in 1960.

In the picture here you got Jack
Brabham,

who was then the reigning
Formula One world champion.

Donald Campbell.

Uh, Donald Campbell's wife Tonya
in the background

and there's...there's my father.

So, he worked with Donald Campbell,
who's a very successful

water speed record holder.

And then in 1960, he decided
he was going to go for

the land speed record at
Bonneville Salt Flats.

Russell's father was the project
manager for Campbell's Bluebird -

a land speed record breaking car
that was first shown off

in 1960 at Goodwood.

In front of the car, you can
see Campbell and my father again,

with the famous stand behind there.

I guess a little bit like
we're going to be doing

with Emira fairly shortly.

Vehicles, for both of us, were
important

and I was surrounded by that sort
of passion for vehicles

and thought they were important.

Yeah, it was quite sort of touching,
my dad was quite proud, I think so.

With the assembly line kinks
ironed out,

this new facility will now produce
more cars than ever -

creating hundreds of new jobs.

It's a bit mad, really.

Ten years, this structure's stood
here waiting for this

production facility to be built.

This is our future here.

But for the moment, all hands
are on prototype number one,

as Lotus prepare to reveal their new
car to the world's press.

ENGINE REVS

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

But it won't be the journalists
who will determine

if this car is a success or not...

And it's absolutely beautiful.

..it'll be their fans...

I really like it, actually.

It's something a little bit
different from Lotus.

..at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The legendary motor sport
event has arrived.

First stand you see coming to
Goodwood is Lotus.

Big presence and we got a big crowd
here as well.

For Russell, it's almost 61 years
to the day

that his father revealed Bluebird
for the first time.

I think he would be proud that I'm
doing something that I'm passionate

about and he was a Lotus fan
as well,

so I'm sure he'd be
really excited.

For years, Lotus have struggled
to make money

but they hope this car
marks a change.

I've had Lotuses for years and
it just looks like

the next generation should do.

And it's not just the die-hard fans
who are impressed.

Ooh, oh, oh!

It just holds the road so well.

We're taking orders as we speak.

It's a fantastic piece of kit.

For Matt Windle and the team,

Goodwood could not have gone
any better.

Brimming order books
and renewed confidence.

It's where we are as a business,
it shows our progress.

It's the last combustion engine car
we're doing,

so we wanted to make it
best in breed.

It's the most accomplished Lotus
that's ever come out

the gates of the factory.

Buy whether this new car marks
the bright new beginning

everyone craves,
only time will tell.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media