It\u2019s called APX, which stands for Aluminium Performance Crossover. But at Lotus, where the concept car was designed and prepared for the Geneva Show, they talk quietly about a \u201cJekyll and Hyde\u201d car. With no brand name to identify it as a Lotus, it really takes the split personality concept to extremes. It doesn\u2019t matter which is Jekyll and which Hyde, which is good and which evil; Russell Carr, head of design, speaks simply of \u201ccoup\u00e9 type styling and Mpv practicality\u201d.<\/p>\n
The APX is a sportwagon with four drive wheels, a powerful V6 3 litre engine developed by Lotus that delivers 300 bhp, has highly modern, muscular forms with protruding wheels and wings as the fashion of the moment requires, and an interior configuration of five seats plus two. \u201cThat third row,\u201d explains Carr, \u201cmeans that the roof line is rather high, so we have had to resort to expedients with the lines of the side panel to make the car look low and sporty\u201d.<\/p>\n
A great deal of attention went into the design of the interior so that the resulting structure would be logical for the driver. The main instrumentation collects the greatest possible amount of information in a blend of digital and analogical that comprises satellite navigation and audio functions. \u201cCars,\u201d as Carr explains, \u201care becoming more and more complicated. Those looking for a fast drive have to know where everything is\u201d.<\/p>\n
And everything\u2019s got to be pretty: after trying out various colour schemes, Lotus went for steel colour for the externals, and black glossy plastic and grey leather for the interior. \u201cThese are colours,\u201d Carr insists, \u201cthat best reflect the spirit of the car: sporty and dynamic outside, very comfortable and luxurious inside\u201d<\/p>\n
The article continues in Auto & Design no. 159<\/strong><\/small><\/p>\n<\/div>[images picture_size=”fixed” hover_type=”none” autoplay=”no” columns=”5″ column_spacing=”13″ scroll_items=”” show_nav=”yes” mouse_scroll=”no” border=”yes” lightbox=”yes” class=”” id=””][image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”http:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/1810200601_Lotus_APX-300×167.jpg” alt=””][image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”http:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/1810200602_Lotus_APX-300×167.jpg” alt=””][image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”http:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/1810200603_Lotus_APX-300×167.jpg” alt=””][\/images]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [images picture_size=”fixed” hover_type=”none” autoplay=”no” columns=”5″ column_spacing=”13″ scroll_items=”” show_nav=”yes” mouse_scroll=”no” border=”yes” lightbox=”yes” class=”” id=””][image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”http:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/1810200601_Lotus_APX-300×167.jpg” alt=””][image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”http:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/1810200602_Lotus_APX-300×167.jpg” alt=””][image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”http:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/1810200603_Lotus_APX-300×167.jpg” alt=””][\/images]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-design-story-en"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-23 23:46:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3995\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}