DARK VERDANT!?

[TomE]

He looks more like the ambassador’s bodyguard

 

[NicolasB]

Yes that’s the one!

Interesting, because that's a 4 banger

 

[JXJ]

Well spotted, yes it does look like a 4 pot

 

[Gibbo205]

Interesting, because that's a 4 banger

I’ve seen a cosmos black 4 banger today so seems they are starting to build AMG cars now too for testing.

Makes sense for Top Gear, air the V6 on TV, review it, lap it, sing it praises and then in the studio have the AMG car so they can say also coming soon you can get an AMG powered version too.

 

[TomE]

When I toured the factory in January over half the cars on the line were i4s. They’ve done a good job keeping them out of view during development and validation.

 

[TXEMIRA]

iPhone 13 in DV!

#ForTheMatchyMatchy

 

[Porter]

Man, I really wish the color on this Elise Sport 220 displayed at the Thailand International Motor Expo 2021 was what they had used as "Dark Verdant". It would have been a winner on every conceivable level.

Here are some bigger images of the same car, with more detail but different color balance:

• https://carvariety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LOTUS-ELISE-SPORT-220-2.jpg
• https://th.carro.co/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Lotus-Elise-220-Sport.jpg
• https://autolifethailand.tv/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Lotus-Elise_2.jpg

And here's a shot of the rear and hood on Lotus Thailand's Instagram which I think might be the best photos of it. Incredible dark metallic green.

I would have spec'd DV for my own car if Lotus had simply showed this car and said it was DV. Is it the color? Who knows!! The guesswork of paint disc samples so far have indicated it's a near-black color with only a tiny hint of green, and the online configurator shows a different, very dark near-black forest green, which is nothing like the paint discs from the roadshow (which are ultra dark blue-green) and also nothing like this Elise. Yet the DV car photographed going to Top Gear looks more like this Elise! In other words, very clearly green - a complex dark green color, but not ultra-dark black-green. It's crazy.

As it is, nobody with a deposit down knows what DV looks like at this point, in April of 2022, unless you've physically been to the factory and been granted special access. And then you can't take pictures, you can only describe it to other people subjectively. It's infuriating.

Does anyone at Lotus understand how this intentional obfuscation translates at the customer level? Or do they simply not care?

 

[dgrace]

As it is, nobody with a deposit down knows what DV looks like at this point, in April of 2022, unless you've physically been to the factory and been granted special access. And then you can't take pictures, you can only describe it to other people subjectively. It's infuriating.

Does anyone at Lotus understand how this intentional obfuscation translates at the customer level? Or do they simply not care?

If anyone has access to someone high up at Lotus, please forward Porter's entire post. Absolutely maddening that they're now producing customer cars but refuse to release a photo of the actual paint colors. It's really not that hard! Lotus please put your Instagram account to some good use here.

 

[Porter]

Here's the Emira DV paint sample disc that was displayed at the same Thai auto show in their Emira configurator room, photographed under the same lights in the same location on the same day, as compared to this unusual dark green Elise 220 Sport. Somebody tell me if I'm crazy, here.

 

[dgrace]

This is about as close as I can get to it I think.

 

[TXEMIRA]

I’m going for it and if I don’t like it I’ll sell it.

#ForTheLove
OR
#ForTheFlip
Either way…
#ForTheStory

 

[TomE]

Man, I really wish the color on this Elise Sport 220 displayed at the Thailand International Motor Expo 2021 was what they had used as "Dark Verdant". It would have been a winner on every conceivable level.
View attachment 4314

Here are some bigger images of the same car, with more detail but different color balance:

• https://carvariety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LOTUS-ELISE-SPORT-220-2.jpg
• https://th.carro.co/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Lotus-Elise-220-Sport.jpg
• https://autolifethailand.tv/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Lotus-Elise_2.jpg

And here's a shot of the rear and hood on Lotus Thailand's Instagram which I think might be the best photos of it. Incredible dark metallic green.

I would have spec'd DV for my own car if Lotus had simply showed this car and said it was DV. Is it the color? Who knows!! The guesswork of paint disc samples so far have indicated it's a near-black color with only a tiny hint of green, and the online configurator shows a different, very dark near-black forest green, which is nothing like the paint discs from the roadshow (which are ultra dark blue-green) and also nothing like this Elise. Yet the DV car photographed going to Top Gear looks more like this Elise! In other words, very clearly green - a complex dark green color, but not ultra-dark black-green. It's crazy.

As it is, nobody with a deposit down knows what DV looks like at this point, in April of 2022, unless you've physically been to the factory and been granted special access. And then you can't take pictures, you can only describe it to other people subjectively. It's infuriating.

Does anyone at Lotus understand how this intentional obfuscation translates at the customer level? Or do they simply not care?

I agree and have said this multiple times to Scott and Matt. The Lotus response is always “we’ll publish photos soon” (said every few weeks since October) and “the configurator is a good representation of the colours”.

Can I suggest you send the content of your post to Tammy McKenzie and ask Lotus to commit to a date for photo publication and then stick to it.

With daily tours of the factory now, it’s completely unreasonable to consider info like this as secret or embargoed.

 

[Eagle7]

The new paints they're using have a much deeper, richer color tone to them than the old paints. I think few if any have spent as much time as I have looking at paint samples, trying to come to grips with these colors. Because of the way they play with light, they're VERY hard to reproduce in a render. I believe the images below are the best momentary examples of how this color is going to look as an overall average. I believe their new configurator has it pretty darned close.

Notice the amount of metal flake that's in this paint, and how quickly it transitions from bright to dark.

Outside shot of the planform:

Inside shot of the planform:

Lotus configurator; look at the area above the bottom of the door, and compare that to the planforms.

Dark Verdant is a very deep, rich color that's constantly going to be 'talking' to you as it moves, whether outside in sunlight or under street lights and night lighting. The super-high gloss reflectivity is also going to make the shape seem alive as it's moving. Magma and Nimbus both have this same effect.

I've never really seen anything quite like this out in the wild, so this will be a new experience. Show cars always look great at expos under multiple halogen lights, but outside is always a different story. Prior to these new technology paints, in the real world paint depth tended to flatten out compared to what you would see inside at an expo, unless you had a very expensive multi-layer paint job. These new paints look multi-layer, and not cheesy or cheap either.

Of the 6 FE paints, Hethel Yellow is probably the least techie paint, and the pictures from the Eletre reveal show the yellow Emira looking great. The few photos of Magma on Emiras in the production facility, which were under probably the worst lighting for showing off a paint color, looked just as rich as DV.

Lotus providing the actual reviewers (we'll see these reviews this month supposedly) with a white Emira so as (as they explained it) to not unduly influence anyone towards any one color (baloney lol), tells me they know they've got something special in these paints, and they're holding these aces 'til the last minute.

I find this all very interesting. A new last of the breed Lotus, with a new paint technology, and a new audio system.

I'm all-in for DV.

 

[VL3X]

The new paints they're using have a much deeper, richer color tone to them than the old paints. I think few if any have spent as much time as I have looking at paint samples, trying to come to grips with these colors. Because of the way they play with light, they're VERY hard to reproduce in a render. I believe the images below are the best momentary examples of how this color is going to look as an overall average. I believe their new configurator has it pretty darned close.

Notice the amount of metal flake that's in this paint, and how quickly it transitions from bright to dark.

Outside shot of the planform:
View attachment 4319

Inside shot of the planform:
View attachment 4318

Lotus configurator; look at the area above the bottom of the door, and compare that to the planforms.
View attachment 4320

Dark Verdant is a very deep, rich color that's constantly going to be 'talking' to you as it moves, whether outside in sunlight or under street lights and night lighting. The super-high gloss reflectivity is also going to make the shape seem alive as it's moving. Magma and Nimbus both have this same effect.

I've never really seen anything quite like this out in the wild, so this will be a new experience. Show cars always look great at expos under multiple halogen lights, but outside is always a different story. Prior to these new technology paints, in the real world paint depth tended to flatten out compared to what you would see inside at an expo, unless you had a very expensive multi-layer paint job. These new paints look multi-layer, and not cheesy or cheap either.

Of the 6 FE paints, Hethel Yellow is probably the least techie paint, and the pictures from the Eletre reveal show the yellow Emira looking great. The few photos of Magma on Emiras in the production facility, which were under probably the worst lighting for showing off a paint color, looked just as rich as DV.

Lotus providing the actual reviewers (we'll see these reviews this month supposedly) with a white Emira so as (as they explained it) to not unduly influence anyone towards any one color (baloney lol), tells me they know they've got something special in these paints, and they're holding these aces 'til the last minute.

I find this all very interesting. A new last of the breed Lotus, with a new paint technology, and a new audio system.

I'm all-in for DV.

I'm sure they will all look fantastic. Everyone's least favorite was Shadow Grey until seeing it at the roadshow stops. That is such a cool color in person with the subtle blue hints when the light hits it just right.

I'm sticking with Seneca. I've strongly considered every single color at some point during these last 7-8 months and finally came back to Seneca. It's not my favorite color, but it'll do until I can order my bespoke Verde Ithaca.

 

[eclat2emira]

The new paints they're using have a much deeper, richer color tone to them than the old paints. I think few if any have spent as much time as I have looking at paint samples, trying to come to grips with these colors. Because of the way they play with light, they're VERY hard to reproduce in a render. I believe the images below are the best momentary examples of how this color is going to look as an overall average. I believe their new configurator has it pretty darned close.

Notice the amount of metal flake that's in this paint, and how quickly it transitions from bright to dark.

Outside shot of the planform:
View attachment 4319

Inside shot of the planform:
View attachment 4318

Lotus configurator; look at the area above the bottom of the door, and compare that to the planforms.
View attachment 4320

Dark Verdant is a very deep, rich color that's constantly going to be 'talking' to you as it moves, whether outside in sunlight or under street lights and night lighting. The super-high gloss reflectivity is also going to make the shape seem alive as it's moving. Magma and Nimbus both have this same effect.

I've never really seen anything quite like this out in the wild, so this will be a new experience. Show cars always look great at expos under multiple halogen lights, but outside is always a different story. Prior to these new technology paints, in the real world paint depth tended to flatten out compared to what you would see inside at an expo, unless you had a very expensive multi-layer paint job. These new paints look multi-layer, and not cheesy or cheap either.

Of the 6 FE paints, Hethel Yellow is probably the least techie paint, and the pictures from the Eletre reveal show the yellow Emira looking great. The few photos of Magma on Emiras in the production facility, which were under probably the worst lighting for showing off a paint color, looked just as rich as DV.

Lotus providing the actual reviewers (we'll see these reviews this month supposedly) with a white Emira so as (as they explained it) to not unduly influence anyone towards any one color (baloney lol), tells me they know they've got something special in these paints, and they're holding these aces 'til the last minute.

I find this all very interesting. A new last of the breed Lotus, with a new paint technology, and a new audio system.

I'm all-in for DV.

That's a really useful analysis and great to see those plan-forms in those light conditions. Like you, I'm even more DV than ever now!

 

[TomE]

The new paints they're using have a much deeper, richer color tone to them than the old paints. I think few if any have spent as much time as I have looking at paint samples, trying to come to grips with these colors. Because of the way they play with light, they're VERY hard to reproduce in a render. I believe the images below are the best momentary examples of how this color is going to look as an overall average. I believe their new configurator has it pretty darned close.

Notice the amount of metal flake that's in this paint, and how quickly it transitions from bright to dark.

Outside shot of the planform:
View attachment 4319

Inside shot of the planform:
View attachment 4318

Lotus configurator; look at the area above the bottom of the door, and compare that to the planforms.
View attachment 4320

Dark Verdant is a very deep, rich color that's constantly going to be 'talking' to you as it moves, whether outside in sunlight or under street lights and night lighting. The super-high gloss reflectivity is also going to make the shape seem alive as it's moving. Magma and Nimbus both have this same effect.

I've never really seen anything quite like this out in the wild, so this will be a new experience. Show cars always look great at expos under multiple halogen lights, but outside is always a different story. Prior to these new technology paints, in the real world paint depth tended to flatten out compared to what you would see inside at an expo, unless you had a very expensive multi-layer paint job. These new paints look multi-layer, and not cheesy or cheap either.

This is spot on. The planforms in exterior and interior lighting do a decent job of capturing the complexity of DV. Because of the numerous curves on the Emira you get very few places where you can see a large block of uniform colour. DV changes very rapidly with viewing angle and lighting, so you can get these transitions from bright green with obvious metallic fleck to almost black across a short distance on one panel. The scoops and vents really accentuate this with all of the colours, but particularly with DV because it transitions to nearly black.

The configurator is very close in terms of how the colour of DV behaves across the surfaces and this transition from green to black. Where it doesn't quite give a true representation is the effect of the metallic fleck, how that changes the sparkle of the paint on well-lit areas and how the sparkle changes with angle and lighting. The planform photos show this much better.

It's a very complex and classy colour.

 

[Porter]

Until Lotus releases an actual photo of a painted car, I still say this is the only thing I have that's tangible that I feel like I can go on. I took this photo, I held the disc in my hand, and it looked nearly black to me from every angle as I held it in my hand, even under overhead lights and with daylight coming in from a giant plate glass window next to me. My confidence that Lotus will suddenly release an actually green car is still hovering somewhere in single digit percentages.

I emailed Lotus on 3 different email accounts earlier this week to see if they could confirm similarity to the Elise I posted earlier, or if they had ANY snap of a painted DV car panel they could share. You know what their response was? They literally referred me to the Lotus FB page to find images, and told me that the only "photos" they had available they could share were some attached ones on the email... which I opened and they were screen snaps from the online configurator. I genuinely felt like they were taking the piss, albeit unintentionally due to some misguided management policy, and it left me so irritated that I haven't posted about it until now.

The "photos"... are not a photo.

 

[TomE]

Having seen a DV car, I think your picture of the sample disk is some way off.

This is the sample I saw, outside in bright September UK midday sun and it has a much more visible metallic fleck:

And the planform is a good representation of the behaviour in daylight:

 

[NicolasB]

I just wanna slap wheels on that planform and drive it

When I asked my dealer if he had samples he says he wasn't getting them due to limited availability. When I mentioned I will wait for pictures from Lotus, his response struck me as odd...he said:

"What is out there on the internet is all there will be."

 

[dgrace]

Maybe by "dark" they mean "shrouded in secrecy". e.g. "Secret Verdant"

Ok now I'm arguing semantics on the internet. Obviously a cry for help.