Category: Lotus

More details of the future Lotus Esprit have emerged on the Internet.

In February, Petrol-Head reported the latest information about the future Esprit that Lotus will likely unveil at the end of 2009. The car will reinforce the carmaker’s lineup and will boost is brand image required to sell more smaller models. The future supercar will be built on the company’s Variable vehicle Architecture which is also used by the Elise. However, the main concept behind this platform is its flexibility. The next Esprit won’t be a clone like the Europa will be, but a true new car.

As announced earlier, the new Esprit will be powered by a 4.4-litre V8 outsourced form BMW which will get a power boost to deliver 500bhp. Performance promises to be outstanding. The Esprit is expected to coast around £65,000.

Lotus has announced the creation of Lotus Lightweight Structures, following its acquisition of Holden Lightweight Structures. This acquisition will help the company to fully integrate the Lotus models production.

Until now, the Lotus Elise, Exige and Europa aluminum chassis were assembled at the Holden Lightweight Structures Limited site in Worcester. By integrating the chassis’ production, Lotus will lead the market in lightweight vehicle research, development and production.

Mike Kimberley, Chief Executive of Group Lotus plc, said, “Weight reduction is one of the most attainable ways to lowering CO2 emissions in vehicles today, as well as improving fuel economy and performance, and we have a duty to share our technology with the world’s car makers for everyone’s long term benefit.”

Mike Kimberley adds "Lotus Lightweight Structures provides additional facilities, capabilities and expertise to the Lotus Manufacturing portfolio. We are now just ten weeks from the unveiling of the next all new Lotus, code named Project Eagle at the British Motorshow, and we are working hard to bring this fabulous 2+2 to the market in the Spring of 2009. The Project Eagle chassis structure will be the first product from our new Lotus Lightweight Structures facility."

The Lotus Lightweight Structures employs 120 engineers, technicians and sales staff.

Lotus will celebrate its 60th anniversary at the next London Motor Show by unveiling an all-new model. Secrecy surrounds this all-new car although some observers believe that the carmaker will launch the Eagle.

The eagerly awaited model has been spotted several times by spy photographers but details remain scarce. It is rumoured that the car will be powered by a 300bhp V6 engine sourced from Toyota. The engine will be hooked to a semi automatic gearbox with paddle-shift on the wheels, a first on a Lotus model. The Eagle would be a 2+2 coupé which might change name on some markets to adopt the Ethos moniker. Due to go on sale from early 2009, the Eagle will be sold at a price close to that of the Cayman S.

After the launch of the Eagle coupé, Lotus engineers will focus on developing the future Esprit expected to be powered by a BMW V8 engine delivering around 400bhp.

Lotus has taken the wraps off its latest iteration of the Lotus Exige, but this time this is a concept car that will appear at Geneva which is carbon neutral claims the carmaker.

What’s interesting about the Lotus Exige is its engine able to run on a mixture of gasoline, bioethanol and methanol. By using methanol which is a combination of CO2 and hydrogen, the carmaker hopes to make the Lotus Exige carbon neutral. If the car rejects CO2, Lotus engineers claims that by using the CO2 in the manufacturing process of methanol, the car is carbon neutral. However, the company doesn’t talk about the energy required to produce hydrogen. Nice try!

The Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel is powered by a 1.8-litre supecharged engine which has a power output of 270bhp and a torque of 144 lb ft at 5,500rpm. This Exige concept car is theoretically the most powerful Exige by 5bhp. The light sportscar can shuttle the 0-60mph in just 3.9 seconds and reach a top speed of 158mph.

Lotus Engineering has announced that it has set up a research and development division dedicated to hybrid and electric vehicles.

The new Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Group has already developed a lower-emissions Vauxhall Astra which sees its CO2 emissions decreasing by 15%. The company collaborated with Continental Division Powertrain on this project.

The news doesn’t come as a surprise. Indeed, the carmaker has helped Tesla to build the famous electric roadster and gained a recognized expertise in the area of green technologies. With this new division, the British carmaker, owned by Proton, shows its commitment and observers are expecting the company to launch an electric sports car in the future. Mike Kimberley, Chief Executive Officer for Group Lotus remained silent when being asked and said: "over the next five years, Lotus will further reinforce its position as a world leader in green transport engineering."

The eagerly-awaited next-generation Lotus Esprit has been spotted during winter testing in Sweden.

This time, no covered prototypes but a an old Lotus Esprit body disguise which was likely featuring powertrain and platform of the next-generation Esprit.

Secrecy surrounds the powertrain of the future coupé although company sources suggest the next Esprit will be powered by the BMW’s V8 that made its debut in the X6 model. With a displacement of 4.4-litre, this new V8 has an ouput of 420bhp in the X6. Under the Esprit bonnet, the V8 would likely be boosted up to 500bhp in order to take on the Lamborghini Gallardo and Nissan GT-R.

The last Esprit in 2004 was powered by an in-house V8. Like the BMW’s V8, it was twin-turbocharged and offered 350bhp. The Esprit was able to shuttle from 0 to 62mph in less than 5 seconds.

Source: Autocar and Leftlanenews

The British marque has unveiled the Exige Sport Cup 260, a new ultimate Lotus to drive for the future lucky owner.

The 260 refers to the PS power figure (257bhp) which is 5 more bhp than the last year’s car. The engine is the Toyota 1,8-litre unit on which Lotus added a Roots-type Eaton M62 supercharger. On top of that, Lotus has featured special aerodynamic upgrades, variable traction and launch control, a special instrument pack and a number of performance upgrades. Hauling it all in is a braking system that comes with four-piston AP Racing calipers up front clamping 282 mm cross-drilled rotors. The car sits on a set of Yokohama A048R tires.

This Exige gets FIA-compliant six-point roll cage and FIA-approved Recaro seats. Like any Lotus model, the Exige only weighs 2046 lb which produces a power-to weight ratio of 271bhp per tonne.The Exige Sport Cup 260 will shuttle from 0 to 62mph in just 4.1 seconds and Lotus quotes a top speed of 147mph.

The price of the Exige Sport Cup 260 is set at £56,034 and it’s available now in Europe.

A new Chinese car maker has appeared at the Changsha Motor Show located in the Hunan province. Used to build coaches, Jinhua had launched the Youngman Europestar Lotus RCR model which is a re-badged Proton Gen-2.

Indeed, Proton has signed an agreement with Jinhua to provide Gen-2 model’s parts which will be assembled in Jinhua’s factories with the help of Lotus engineers. Unfortunately, events postponed the process and the first models will be directly imported from Malaysia which will likely compromise the sales as all imported cars are over-taxed at a 25%. At CNY100,000 RMB/£6,700 the car is far from being cheap on the Chinese market. Like the Proton model, it is powered by a 112bhp 1.6-litre petrol engine.

Source: Autohome

Lotus has unveiled a limited edition of the Elise S to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Elise model. The car is bases on the entry-level Elise S on which Lotus added some unique trimmings. it comes with a Burnt Orange paint, and matching hardtop, rear diffuser, center console, air intakes and brake callipers. The Elise S 40th Anniversary also come with black wheels. On the inside, the seats upholstery receives orange contrasting stitching while the dashboard gets some orange-coloured trimmings.

Only available in Europe, this commemorative Elise will be built at 50 units. 15 of them will go to Germany, 10 to Switzerland, 6 to Italy, 5 to France and Belgium, and the remaining 9 units elsewhere in Europe. Each country will get its flag stuck on the front fenders, but oddly the UK won’t get the Elise S 40th Anniversary model.