Exclusive Porsche manufacture. Bentley Mulliner. Q By Aston Martin. And now, custom Lotus Chapman. What do they have in common? If you’re an affluent car buyer with very specific tastes, these factory services will build a custom vehicle tailored to your desires, whatever they may be.
Lotus has officially joined the bespoke party with Lotus Chapman Bespoke, named after company founders Colin and Hazel Chapman. As with other custom services from premium automakers, buyers who aren’t satisfied with standard paint or trim choices can work with Lotus to create something unique. This process can be as simple as looking at a predetermined color palette and combining them, or coming up with your own ideas and asking the company to make them happen.
Specifically, there are three levels of Lotus Chapman Bespoke. Bespoke involves the aforementioned palette, giving buyers an expanded choice of colors and designs to choose from. Lotus further claims that bespoke choices can be complemented with some “exclusive personal touches” to make it even more special. The collection is the next level, consisting of limited edition models. Lotus explains that these could be created by various artists or through partnerships with other brands. The big tamale is One-off, where buyers tell Lotus what they want. It can be colors, trims, materials, special badges – pretty much anything your heart desires.
“Many of our customers are looking for a tailor-made experience; whether it’s color, texture, fabric, details,” said Ben Payne, Lotus vice president of design. “And we’re excited to see their individuality printed on our cars around the world.”
For the time being, this customization is limited to China. Lotus Chapman Bespoke will be deployed there first, starting April 25. The company will then expand the service to other markets in the coming months.
“The story of Lotus is the story of a tailor-made car manufacturer,” said Qingfeng Feng, CEO of Lotus. “The first cars were designed and built by hand by Colin Chapman, and that spirit lives on with us today.”
Lotus does not offer a pricing structure for the various custom services, which is not surprising given that we are talking about custom work. Other brands with in-house customization teams rarely mention pricing, although we’ve seen Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur custom paint options in online configurators costing up to $30,000.
