A few months ago Lotus cars appointed Swizz Beatz - hip hop artist, producer, fashion designer, painter and Alica Keys' husband - to its board of executives with some sort of made up title like Vice President of Creative Design and Global Marketing or something. The news was not particularly well received in the motoring world and we had assumed that the PR stunt had backfired and we would hear no more about it.
It appears though that not only is Lotus serious about the appointment but it is also taking the VP of Creative Design title seriously as the appearance of the Lotus Evora GTE Swizz Beatz Edition proves. Unveiled at a star-studded event in Manhattan the car designed by Mr Beatz is actually remarkably restrained with not a hint of diamond studded 28-inch spinners in sight.
In fact, bar the chromed, ruby red paint job, everything else is as you would expect from a Evora GTE with liberal smatterings of carbon fibre, a modified rear wing, cooling vents galore and, most importantly, a 438bhp 3.5-litre V6 engine.
Maybe Lotus is onto something and artist tie ups are the way forward. Range Rover recently asked Victoria Beckham to turn her hand to the Evoque so can we expect to see a Funkmaster Flex edition of the Ford Focus or a Grandmaster Flash Lexus GS? Watch this space...
Paul Healy - 15 Dec 2011