Lotus Exige S returns

Lotus had to withdraw the previous Exige from Europe, the United States and Canada because of emissions from (and ultimately availability of) its four-cylinder Toyota engine.



That move left a glaring gap in the firm’s model range, one which would have gone unfilled until the new generation of Lotus models started to arrive in 2013.



So, understandably, Lotus has resurrected the Exige, but in a rather surprising way.



Instead of trying to find another suitable four-cylinder motor, the chassis has been reworked to accommodate the 3.5 litre supercharged V6 from the Evora S. It pumps out 345 bhp (257 kW / 350 PS) and, although no performance figures have been released, the 1,080 kg (2,380 lbs) weight of the new generation Exige S means it will be very quick.

Lotus DPM (Dynamic Performance Management) comes as standard, and offers ‘Sport’, ‘Touring’ and ‘DPM Off’ driving modes. Buyers who go for the optional Race Pack will be able to enjoy a fourth ‘Race’ DPM setting, plus Launch Control and track-orientated suspension.



Both the front and rear of the car have been totally redesigned, while a new front splitter and rear spoiler both should help to enhance aerodynamic grip. The interior has also been refreshed, and two option packs are available: Premium concentrates on comfort, while Premium Sport is more driver-focused.



Dany Bahar, Group Lotus Chief Executive Officer, said: “Anyone who has ever driven an Exige will tell you that it’s not for the faint-hearted. The new Exige S skips a few rungs on the ladder to give the driver the ultimate Lotus experience. Quite simply you can’t get more Lotus than the Exige S.”



Related posts:
Elise, Exige Final Editions
Five new Lotus sports cars
Lotus Evora S announced
End of Exige in Europe?

Lotus Evora GTE Concept

Tonight will see the unveiling of the Lotus Evora GTE Road Car Concept at the McCall’s Motorworks Revival, which is being held at the Monterey Jet Center in California. Later on in the week, the car will form part of the Lotus display at the Pebble Beach Concours event.

The Road Car Concept has been developed as a street-legal version of the Evora GTE race car. Claimed power is over 420 bhp (313 kW / 425 PS), and drive to the rear wheels is via an AMT sequential racing gearbox. There’s also a suitably stripey paintjob, centre-lock ultra-light alloy wheels and a rather odd-looking rear spoiler.



Lotus has yet to confirm whether the Evora GTE Road Car will enter series production. That decision will probably be strongly influenced by what sort of reaction the concept gets.



Related post:

Lotus Evora S announced

Elise, Exige Final Editions

Lotus is withdrawing the Elise and Exige from the United States and Canada. The reason being given is a lack of availability of the Toyota 2ZZ 1.8 litre engine that powers the North American-spec cars, although it had been rumoured a few months ago that an absence of active airbags would’ve been enough to stop sales anyway.



To mark the occasion, Lotus has launched three Final Edition models which will be available in very limited quantities.



Elise SC Final Edition



Only fifteen examples of the Elise SC Final Edition will be produced. It’ll be available in Carbon Grey, Ardent Red, Chrome Orange or Aspen White paintwork with a unique matte black finish for the rear transom panel, hardtop, door mirror housings and roll hoop covers.

Specification includes creature comforts such as air conditioning, audio system, a cup holder and remote central locking. Also featured as standard is the Touring Pack, which comprises extra leather trim, a limited slip differential, traction control, carpet mats, iPod connectivity and noise insulation material.



The Elise SC Final Edition is priced at $57,500 in the United States and $66,500 in Canada.



Exige S260 Final Edition



For this exclusive Exige, Lotus seems to have ticked almost every box on the options list.



As well as the Touring Pack, it also comes with the Sports Pack which consists of traction control, ProBax sports seats, an adjustable front anti-roll bar and a steel roll-over hoop and struts. The Track Pack is included too, which means adjustable dampers and an adjustable ride height.

Buyers of the thirty Exige S260 Final Editions that are going to be made can choose from any Lotus flat or metallic paint shade, although Lifestyle and Limited colours will cost extra.



Prices have been confirmed at $67,500 for the United States and $78,100 for Canada.



Exige Matte Black Final Edition



As expected given its name, the second special Exige is painted matte black, with black Alcantara sports seats and black five-spoke alloy wheels continuing the dark theme.

Costing $69,900 in the United States and $80,800 in Canada, it too gets the Track, Sport and Touring Packs as standard. Twenty-five units of the Exige Matte Black Final Edition will be built.



Related posts:

2015 Lotus Elise

End of Exige in Europe?

Lotus Elise Club Racer

Lotus has introduced a slightly lighter, slightly cheaper version of its Elise.



Aimed directly at track day enthusiasts, the Elise Club Racer sheds 24 kg (52 lbs) thanks mainly to the loss of sound insulation and the fitment of a special motorsport-derived battery. Tipping the scales at 852 kg (1,878 lb), it certainly follows the traditional Lotus ethos of minimising weight to maximise performance.

The Club Racer is based on the 134 bhp (100 kW / 136 PS) 1.6 Elise, meaning it enjoys CO2 emissions of just 149 g/km. In line with its circuit-orientated role, changes to the chassis include retuned suspension settings and an adjustable front anti-roll bar.



Additionally, the Dynamic Performance Management system - which, among other things, controls the electronic differential, cornering brake control and traction control - comes with a Sport setting, and it can also be turned off completely.



Lotus has priced the Elise Club Racer at £27,500 in the UK and €34,450 in the Eurozone (depending on local taxes). Buyers will be able to choose from Matt Black, Sky Blue, Carbon Grey, Ardent Red, Aspen White or Saffron Yellow paint finishes.



Related post:

Lotus Elise facelift

Team Lotus reveals T128

Team Lotus - not to be confused with the Lotus Renault GP Team - has unveiled its 2011 Formula 1 car.

Even if that naming clash is still to be dragged through the courts, thankfully the team has decided not to swap last season’s green and yellow colour scheme for a gold and black one. At least that means spectators will be able to tell the numerous Lotuses apart.



The big changes are under the paintjob, though. Gone are 2010’s Cosworth engines, replaced by motors from Renault which have been combined with gearboxes and hydraulics systems courtesy of Red Bull Technologies.

Together with more aggressive aerodynamics and revised suspension, the Norfolk-based team seems confident that the improved package will be good enough to let drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli score some points in 2011.



Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer, said: ‘I think that basically this car looks like a front-running car in every area. We said very clearly that we want to start challenging the established teams and I think that's very achievable.’ Fighting talk indeed.



Related post:

Two Lotus teams in F1?

Two Lotus teams in F1?

The 2011 Formula 1 season could see the bizarre sight of two Lotus-branded teams on the grid.



Group Lotus - the Proton-owned manufacturer of Lotus road cars - has just bought a stake in the former Renault F1 Team, also becoming title sponsor in the process. The move coincides with Renault selling its share in the outfit, although the French firm will continue to supply engines to the newly renamed Lotus Renault GP Team.

Lotus Renault GP Team - 2011 Livery

A black and gold livery has been revealed too, which harks back to the cigarette-sponsored Lotus F1 cars of the 1970s and 1980s. It might look striking, but why the team would want to give free subliminal advertising to a tobacco company is anyone’s guess.



Confusingly Lotus Racing, which competed for the first time during 2010 but is nothing to do with Group Lotus, has already announced a couple of significant changes for next season: not only will it be switching from Cosworth to Renault power, but it will also be painting its cars black and gold. What a coincidence.



To make matters even more complicated Lotus Racing has, according to the official FIA 2011 Formula 1 entry list, now rebranded itself as Team Lotus and intends to race under the Lotus Renault name.



However, Group Lotus is claiming that Lotus Racing / Team Lotus / Lotus Renault (take your pick) was only using the Lotus moniker under licence this year, but that licence has now been revoked.



Consequently Team Lotus and Group Lotus are now involved in an escalating battle for the right to continue using the name. But with neither side looking likely to back down, the dispute will probably end up being resolved by the UK High Court sometime in the new year.

2015 Lotus Eterne

Of the five sports cars that Lotus displayed at the Paris Motor Show, the Eterne represents the biggest departure.

Setting aside collaborative projects such as the Lotus Carlton / Omega from the early 1990s, it’ll be the first four-door saloon that Lotus has produced. Nevertheless, the firm is convinced that there’s a market for it.



It’s also saying the Eterne is ‘… not an evolution of an existing two-door model, it's a deliberate and considered stand-alone creation’, although it looks suspiciously like a four-door version of the 2014 Lotus Elite. Both cars certainly use the same engine, a 5.0 litre V8 that will first appear in the 2013 Esprit.

At an estimated £120,000, the Eterne will undercut competitors such as the Aston Martin Rapide, but it will cost more than cars such as the Porsche Panamera and Maserati Quattroporte.

2015 Lotus Eterne Concept Specification
Layout	4 seats, front-engined
Engine	Petrol, 5.0 litre V8
Hybrid technology	Optional, incl. KERS
Power	611 bhp / 456 kW / 620 PS
Torque	720 Nm
0-62 mph (0-100 km/h)	4.0 seconds
Top speed	195 mph (315 km/h)
Weight	1,800 kg
Transmission	Full hybrid
Drive	Rear-wheel drive, optional all-wheel drive
Production starts	Early 2015
On sale	Spring 2015
Price	Around £120,000

Related posts:

Five new Lotus sports cars

2013 Lotus Esprit

2013 Lotus Elan

2014 Lotus Elite

2015 Lotus Elise

2015 Lotus Elise

By the time the 2015 Elise arrives in the showrooms the current car will be nineteen years old, and so arguably overdue for replacement.

The next generation model revealed at the Paris Motor Show gains a bit of weight, but it also gets extra power to compensate. That comes courtesy of a four-cylinder 2.0 litre engine, which will be available with an optional start-stop system to improve fuel economy and cut down on emissions.

The styling is said to be ‘young, strong, confident [and] verging on ruthless’, but Lotus is also emphasising that the 2015 Elise will be more practical and much easier to get in and out of. Of course 2015 is a long way off, and so some of the design details included on the Paris concept are bound to change.



An estimated price of £35,000 puts it on a par with the top end of today’s Elise range. However, that’s still quite a jump from today’s entry-level 1.6, which in basic form costs nearer to £27,000. Clear evidence of the Lotus desire to shift upmarket then, but it could alienate some existing customers.

2015 Lotus Elise Concept Specification
Layout	2 seats, mid-engined
Engine	Petrol, 2.0 litre I4
Hybrid technology	Optional stop-start
Power	315 bhp / 235 kW / 320 PS
Torque	330 Nm
0-62 mph (0-100 km/h)	4.3 seconds
Top speed	167 mph (270 km/h)
Weight	1,095 kg
Transmission	6 Speed manual, optional DCT
Drive	Rear-wheel drive
Production starts	Early 2015
On sale	Spring 2015
Price	Around £35,000

Related posts:

Five new Lotus sports cars

2013 Lotus Esprit

2013 Lotus Elan

2014 Lotus Elite

2015 Lotus Eterne

2014 Lotus Elite

The third new Lotus to arrive will be the Elite, in Spring 2014.

Like the two previous incarnations that wore the Elite badge, this version will also be front engined and have rear-wheel drive. But that’s just about where the similarities end.



Power will come from the same engine that the 2013 Esprit will be using, a 5.0 litre V8. Hybrid technology, including a gearbox with integrated electric motors and a Formula 1 style Kinetic Energy Recovery System, will be optional.

From a styling perspective, the Elite is perhaps the best looking of the sports car quintet that Lotus unveiled at Paris. A retractable roof is a key feature of the compact design which, at 4.60 metres in length, is about the same as a BMW 3 Series Coupe.



With a projected price of close to £115,000 though, the 3 Series won’t be the Elite’s competition. That job will go to more rarefied contenders, such as the Aston Martin DB9 and Bentley Continental GT Coupe.

2014 Lotus Elite Concept Specification
Layout	2+2 seats, front-engined
Engine	Petrol, 5.0 litre V8
Hybrid technology	Optional, incl. KERS
Power	611 bhp / 456 kW / 620 PS
Torque	720 Nm
0-62 mph (0-100 km/h)	3.5 to 3.7 seconds
Top speed	195 mph (315 km/h)
Weight	1,650 kg
Transmission	Full hybrid
Drive	Rear-wheel drive
Production starts	Early 2014
On sale	Spring 2014
Price	Around £115,000

Related posts:

Five new Lotus sports cars

2013 Lotus Esprit

2013 Lotus Elan

2015 Lotus Elise

2015 Lotus Eterne

2013 Lotus Elan

The next new Lotus to arrive after the Esprit will be the Elan, which is scheduled to enter the market during the Autumn of 2013.

Power will come from a mid-mounted 4.0 litre V6 and, despite the packaging issues that such a layout presents, there will be a 2+2 seating configuration available.

With a price tag in the region of £75,000, there’s really only one car that the Elan will measured against: the Porsche 911.

2013 Lotus Elan Concept Specification
Layout	2 or 2+2 seats, mid-engined
Engine	Petrol, 4.0 litre V6
Hybrid technology	Optional, incl. KERS
Power	443 bhp / 330 kW / 450 PS
Torque	465 Nm
0-62 mph (0-100 km/h)	3.5 seconds
Top speed	192 mph (310 km/h)
Weight	1,295 kg
Transmission	7 Speed DCT
Drive	Rear-wheel drive
Production starts	Summer 2013
On sale	Autumn 2013
Price	Around £75,000

Related posts:

Five new Lotus sports cars

2013 Lotus Esprit

2014 Lotus Elite

2015 Lotus Elise

2015 Lotus Eterne

2013 Lotus Esprit

Rumours have been circulating for a while about a replacement for the iconic mid-engined Esprit, and now it’s here, unveiled in concept form at the Paris Motor Show.

Promising to keep the core Lotus characteristic of lightness, the 2013 Esprit will be powered by a 5.0 litre V8 borrowed from the company’s preferred engine supplier, Toyota. However, for use in the Lotus it will be ‘pressure charged’ (which presumably means that either a turbo or supercharger will feature), allowing it to produce 611 bhp.

The styling is described as giving the car an ‘intense’ look and, as will be seen, it heralds a new design language that is used on all of the other new cars too. Generally it works well, although from some angles the kink in the roof line looks a bit odd.



With a projected price of circa £110,000, the Esprit will comfortably undercut supercar rivals such as the Ferrari 458 Italia and Lamborghini Gallardo. Its projected on-sale date is Spring 2013.

2013 Lotus Esprit Concept Specification
Layout	2 seats, mid-engined
Engine	Petrol, 5.0 litre V8
Hybrid technology	Optional, incl. KERS
Power	611 bhp / 456 kW / 620 PS
Torque	720 Nm
0-62 mph (0-100 km/h)	3.4 seconds
Top speed	205 mph (330 km/h)
Weight	1,450 kg
Transmission	7 Speed DCT
Drive	Rear-wheel drive
Production starts	End of 2012
On sale	Spring 2013
Price	Around £110,000

Related posts:

Five new Lotus sports cars

2013 Lotus Elan

2014 Lotus Elite

2015 Lotus Elise

2015 Lotus Eterne

Five new Lotus sports cars

Lotus had promised it was going to unveil a few new models at the Paris Motor Show, and it didn’t disappoint. Along with a city car, five new sports car concepts were on display: Esprit, Elan, Elite, Elise and Eterne.



This product offensive is key to the Lotus strategy of moving upmarket. With Proton’s money and a new CEO, ex-Ferrari man Dany Bahar, the intention is to transform the company into a manufacturer of premium vehicles to compete with the likes of Porsche and Ferrari.



Ambitious, but in some respects the plan smacks of déjà vu. That’s because something similar was attempted in the past, with a range of models that included the previous generation Elite and Esprit. It didn’t work then, and consequently Lotus reverted to its traditional heartland - a family of small, lightweight sports cars that started with the original Elise.



Both public and press alike reacted well to those models (seemingly with the exception of the Europa, which was quietly dropped from the line-up earlier this year). However, financially they haven’t been too successful, with Lotus failing to be profitable for many years now.



Hence yet another change in direction, which will kick off with the new Esprit.



For more details of the Paris concepts, please see these posts:



2013 Lotus Esprit

2013 Lotus Elan

2014 Lotus Elite

2015 Lotus Elise

2015 Lotus Eterne

Lotus Elise Prices

The base prices since January 2008 for the three European models; the 134 bhp (100 kW; 136 PS) Elise S, 189 bhp (141 kW; 192 PS) Elise R and 218 bhp (163 kW; 221 PS) Elise SC were 23,550; 28,550 and 32,550 GBP respectively.

The MSRP for American Elise models are $47,250 for the base model and $54,990 for the Elise SC, which are the only two models currently available in the US market as of 2009.


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2009 Lotus Elise price and video

The MSRP for American Elise models are $47,250 for the base model and $54,990 for the Elise SC, which are the only two models currently available in the US market as of 2009.



Lotus Elise 2009


Lotus Elise 2009


Lotus Elise 2009


Lotus Elise 2009





Lotus Elise 2009


Lotus Elise 2009


Lotus Elise 2009


Lotus Elise 2009


Lotus Elise 2009


Lotus Elise 2009


Lotus Elise 2009


Lotus Elise 2009


Lotus Elise 2009


Lotus Elise 2009