Prior to its public debut at Goodwood last weekend Lotus unveiled to the media and trade at its (very wet) Hethel home what will be its last petrol-engined car, the Emira.
It is of course in some ways a bit of a gamble with production not starting until March 2022 and new petrol driven cars supposed to be banned by 2030.
Hethel is already working on a battery-powered sports car and a second factory in China – in a place called Wuhan!
Lotus was never down, but is now very much on the up and owned by the Chinese company Greely, who also turned around another besieged European manufacturer – Volvo.
“The Emira is a game-changer for us,” said Managing Director Matt Windle. “It is a highly significant milestone on our path to becoming a truly global performance car brand.”
The Emira has been developed on a new lightweight bonded aluminium chassis, technology pioneered by Lotus and which remains an intrinsic part of the company’s sports car DNA.
Powering the Emira are two engines: a 3.5-litre V6 and a new turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder ‘i4’, created in collaboration with the Mercedes performance arm AMG. Power outputs are expected to be between 360 and 400bhp, while the Emira promises to do 62mph in less than 4.5sec and it boasts a top speed of up to 180mph. With prices starting at £59k it comes in beneath Porsche Cayman, Toyota Supra, BMW Z4 and Jaguar F-Type.
What would Lotus founder Colin Chapman make of it? He loved innovation.
www.lotuscars.com/en-GB/model/emira
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Jim James, London
Lotus do come up with some weird names these days. Nothing wrong with Elan, even if the second coming was not that successful.