It’s been more than a decade, but it looks like we can finally get a new one Lotus before 2021 comes out. The company puts the finishing touches on it the next and last motorized sports car, which is scheduled to debut in the summer, before production increases in 2022. Indeed, interesting times.
On the other hand, every Lotus currently on sale will be discontinued this year. Say goodbye to Elise, Exige and Evora – a trio that carried the British producer far more than they expected or deserved. The news was confirmed in a press release today.
Evora went into production in 2009 and is especially the only current Lotus model that you can legally purchase in the US. Elise, of course, existed much longer. “Series 3” Elise – the latest – appeared in 2010. Although under the slightly facelift skin, the Series 3 is really only the second generation Elise that returns in 2001. Hell, it even appeared some Opel and Vauxhall variants I’ve totally forgotten so far.
Beware, Lotus’s inability to get past Elise, Exige and Evora did not result from a lack of effort. At that time, the car manufacturer presented itself at the 2010 Paris Motor Show with five proposals for new performance cars, and a very non-Lotus supermini nicknamed Ethos (or “City Car” if you look at the license plate).
At that time, Lotus was under the leadership of Proton and no part of that vision of the brand’s future was realized. After that, CEO Dany Bahar was fired two years later due to the misuse of the company’s funds, and Proton was swallowed by the Malaysian production conglomerate DRB-Hicom.
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Nothing really started to change until 2017, when Geely acquired a majority stake in Lotus. The 2,000-horsepower Evija hypercar was the first Lotus-era product to cover the lid – you can see it on the right, in the dark photo above – and these three covered cars will replace the ones that they will leave this year. According to the press release:
To recognize the future family of high-performance cars, Lotus has released an image that suggests the new generation of products that will follow Elise, Exige and Evora, which entered the final year of production in 2021.
Under one of these covers is supposed to be the new pure internal combustion model, which is supposed to start at about $ 75,000. Lotus CEO Phil Popham argued that the vehicle would have a “real focus on use” and was designed so that owners “could live with it every day.”
Then there is the car mentioned in this version, codenamed Type 131. It appears to be different from the $ 75,000 Lotus mentioned above; Coach he seems to believe that Type 131 is the spiritual successor to the Esprit, which will be powered by a V6 hybrid engine and will start at a “price set in the low six digits”, placing it above Evora in the order of the knock. Don’t forget the much-rumored SUV, which was not included in this family photo.
Geely has grown Lotus substantially over the past four years to meet these challenges. The British carmaker reports that 670 employees have joined the ranks since it became the property of a new company and plans to add another 250 people in the coming years. If there was ever a time for Lotus to change, it is right now.