Realistically, they will not succeed in selling the 50 cars. Lotus has been in the market since late last year, and they have literally sold only a handful of Elises and Evoras.

Furthermore, the Evora is available with an automatic, which is why Lotus managed to sell whatever little they have so far. These Ginetta’s are 6-speed manual only, which is like kryptonite for the rich Chinese buyers in the market, who want to put as little effort/ input as possible into driving their sportscars, and instead want maximum ‘image/status’ to show wealth (hence all Porsches, Audi TTs/S5s/ R8s, GTIs and Golf Rs are only available with automatic-transmissions here).

Take a look at the BMW 1M – 200 allocated for China, with the marketing really emphasizing this exclusiveness and limited availability which Chinese consumers really love and buy into. Nonetheless, less than 25% of this allocation has been sold so far because of the manual-tranmission only, actually requires driver involvement to drive well (such as a sportscar should), and the fact that its not flashy enough to show wealth in China!