Lotus has revealed a date for the unveiling of its groundbreaking all-new electric hypercar – the Type 130. The most ambitious car in the firm’s history will be shown at “an exclusive event” in Central London on 16 July, barely a few months after Autocar first revealed the project. Lotus has also confirmed for the first time exactly how many examples will be produced. 130 are planned to be made available to own, up from previous estimates after “several hundred potential owners came forward to express their interest in the new car”. It will be built in Norfolk alongside the rest of the maker’s range. The Type 130 will be Lotus’s first all-new production car since 2008. Lotus also claims it will be the first fully electric hypercar built and to go on sale from a British manufacturer. A preview image has been released showing a side profile of the new car, and Autocar was recently given an exclusive walk-around of a full-size clay model at the firm’s Hethel base. The name is a reference to a number of innovative models that have appeared throughout the Norfolk brand’s 71-year history, beginning with the Type 14 Elite in 1957 – claimed to be the world’s first composite monocoque production car. The most recent, the Type 111 (the world’s first aluminium and bonded extrusion construction road car) became the Elise. As the official picture suggests, the 130 is low and wide. Lotus design director Russell Carr, who showed the model to Autocar, says it is a similar length to the existing Evora – which is 4.4 metres long – but will sit closer to the ground and be nearly two metres wide. It uses a carbonfibre structure and will be built in Hethel away from the company’s main production line. The cabin is tightly proportioned and adopts the teardrop form familiar from hypercars like the Ford GT40, to better allow airflow to pass around it. The most impressive feature is one that isn’t hinted at by the official rendering – two substantial air tunnels in the rear bodywork which have the tail light elements integrated around their exists. It’s a detail that Carr says has been inspired by the venturi tunnels of LMP sports prototype racing cars. The battery pack will be positioned entirely behind the passenger compartment, with drive sent to all four wheels. No other details are forthcoming at the moment, beyond the fact – as previously reported – that the powertrain is being developed by Williams Advanced Engineering, making this a collaboration between two of the most famous names in Formula 1 history. Lotus boss Phil Popham promises an “entirely appropriate” level of performance for the 130’s target market and what will be a seven figure pricetag. The total system output is tipped to exceed 1000bhp. It is also set to offer a range of more than 250 miles. Both the battery pack and the pushrod-operated rear suspension will be visible beneath a transparent cover, with Carr saying the plan is for the huge aero tunnels to also incorporate lighting elements. The rear licence plate surround will be removable to help improve performance when the car is used on track. Downforce will be generated from a substantial underbody diffuser and there will also be moveable wing elements and a drag-reducing DRS system. Inside the cabin will feature plenty of carbonfibre and a digital instrument pack, but will also have conventional switchgear rather than a touchscreen interface. “You want to be able to find things without taking your eyes off the road in a car like this,” Carr said. Carr also claimed there will be more room and shoulder space than in a Ford GT or Aston Martin Valkyrie, with moveable seats rather than moveable pedals. “We’re trying to get the balance between prestige and luxury right,” Carr said, “but also to make clear that it’s a very high performance car. We don’t want people to think it’s a stripped-out track day monster, it will be much more practical than that. But equally we don’t want to make a Bugatti either, it has to be a Lotus.” Other neat details include a camera rear view system which will use deployable pods that motor out of the scissor-opening doors, and which relay images onto display screens. It’s a very similar system to the one the forthcoming McLaren Speedtail will have. “We were frustrated when we saw those,” Carr admits, “we’d been working on them for some
Origin: Lotus Type 130 electric hypercar will be unveiled on 16 July
Lotus
Lotus considering GT, saloon, crossover and SUV projects
Lotus could build GTs, sports saloons, crossovers or SUVs in future, according to new boss Phil Popham – but only after it has re-established its credentials as a sports car firm. Earlier this year, Lotus revealed plans for an electric hypercar, codenamed Type 130, as well as indicating it was preparing to launch a new sports car ahead of renewing the Elise, Exige and Evora. The renewal of the sports car line is part of a five-year programme kick-started by Popham’s arrival following the company’s acquisition by Chinese giant Geely. However, Popham has also indicated the brand will expand outside its traditional models in time. “There’s a lot of talk about an SUV, but we haven’t confirmed that,” said Popham, speaking at the FT Future of the Car Summit. “We are rebuilding the business around sports cars and that’s the priority but we do believe that once that is done, this brand has the DNA and heritage to go further. “That could mean GTs, crossovers, SUVs, sporting saloons – or just about anything else. The plans are open and we’ll look at every potential area in a very detailed way, considering all areas.” Lotus has long been assessing its SUV plans, with Autocar previously revealing that the firm’s previous management started a project that would use elements of the SPA structure used by Geely and Volvo. Popham also outlined his view that electrification, connectivity and autonomy can be an opportunity for Lotus, despite its focus on driving dynamics. “In terms of autonomy, I see our cars having the capability, and our owners using that in the city before hitting the ‘Lotus’ button on a country road or track and taking control – perhaps assisted by that same technology to reach the absolute limits,” he said. “Electrification brings challenges and opportunities. In time, I don’t think people will notice the loss of the engine noise – for us, it’s about the car’s dynamics. Electric cars offer a low centre of gravity, because of where the batteries are placed, and the aerodynamics aren’t constrained by the mechanical parts.” Describing Lotus as a “70-year-old start-up”, Popham highlighted that despite its current investment – estimated to be in excess of £1.5 billion – and recruitment drive, it remained agile compared with rivals. He declined to declare projects for sales to justify the investment, but conceded Geely had targeted a long-term strategy. “Today we are a 1700 sales a year firm, and it’s clear we can’t be funded for the future by those sales,” he said. “We have to take a leap – we have to grow exponentially. Part of that will come from China, and Geely’s ownership can help with that, but we are looking to America and Europe with just as much
Origin: Lotus considering GT, saloon, crossover and SUV projects
New Porsche 911 vs Audi R8 V10 vs Lotus Evora GT410
My, my, the Lotus Evora has changed. The latest version of this now decade-old sports car (there is only one Evora derivative on sale at the moment) is the GT410 Sport – and it’s feisty. It’s got one of those motorway rides. You know the type: with that collusive, delicious high-speed fidget that can only be made by a short, firm coil spring working in tandem with an expensive, belligerent Bilstein damper – and which gently insists you divert immediately from your intended errand-to-wherever to some proper driving roads. It has a supercharged V6 powertrain that demands you time your manual gearchanges well, with the proper footwork, and that picks up from 4500rpm with raw, unfiltered ferocity. It steers with the weight and feel – and kickback – of a competition racer. It really grips – once the Cup tyres are switched on. Lordy, this car has put on some muscle. In many ways, it could even compare to a Porsche 911 GT3: for immersive control feedback, track-ready purpose and potential for driver reward. And that means it ought to be a pretty stern test for the latest, all-new ‘992’-generation Carrera 4S, right? If only the sports car market was so easy to make sense of. Compared with both Evoras I remember driving three, five and nearly 10 years ago now, and with the latest Porsche 911 Carrera, however, the GT410 Sport is certainly different. And difference is your best friend when the opportunity presents to lay a challenge for a car as complete and accomplished as the new 992. Difference is what you need to crack open the lid on this new Porsche’s character and make-up – to find out what it’s gained and given up, how it’s developed and diverged. We could have looked for less difference among the line-up for this group test – and, for a while, we did. To tell you the truth, the Jaguar F-Type R was indisposed on the dates of our Porsche 911 welcoming party, and the Aston Martin Vantage was washing its hair. I understand the reticence. A ‘991’ Carrera GTS gave the current Vantage a thorough dusting in a group test I wrote only last year, as well as a McLaren 540C. And the differences between that GTS’s partly optional mechanical specification (Carrera 4 ‘widebody’, 444bhp 3.0-litre turbo flat six, lowered PASM suspension, PTV active rear diff, four-wheel steering) and the one about which you’re about to read? Well, you might say they’re incremental. So the decision was partly made for us. But however it happened, it became clear that picking starkly different opponents for the 992 might be our best route towards learning something meaningful about the new Porsche. If this is the latest version of the sports car that changed the landscape of its segment, decades ago, with its sheer breadth of dynamic talents and its unmatched usability, why not test the outer limits of its range rather than pounding away pointlessly at its He-Man-like core? Why not give it a really uncompromising, irresistibly simple driver’s car to measure up with on poise, agility, grip, engagement, excitement and reward, I thought; and also a really desirable, exotic, expensively engineered heavyweight German to contend with on material class, usability and everyday ownership appeal? Enter the Lotus Evora GT410 Sport and facelifted Audi R8 V10. Before we get cracking, a quick review of what’s new and different about this Porsche for those in need of one. There’s quite a lot: more aluminium-intensive construction, a longer front overhang, wider wings and axle tracks (the old Carrera 2 narrow body, which wouldn’t have featured on a Carrera 4S anyway, has been discontinued), mixed-width wheels, retuned suspension, new dampers, quicker steering, electro-mechanically assisted brakes, new stiffer engine mountings, bigger new engine induction and fuel injection systems… the list goes on. If you want one any time soon, you can only have a 444bhp Carrera S with an eight-speed twin-clutch automatic gearbox, but you can choose between rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive (the latter works via a new hang-on clutch, incidentally), or between fixed-roof coupé and convertible bodystyles. You get a torque vectoring electronic rear differential lock and PASM adaptive dampers as standard; lowered suspension’s an option. And, because this is 2019, even for million-selling, 56-year-old iconic sports cars, you can add four-wheel steering, active anti-roll bars or carbon-ceramic brakes at extra cost, should you want to (our Carrera 4S test car had all three, plus PASM Sport springs). It’s a mechanical recipe that the Audi R8 struggles to better in some ways, in spite of its higher price tag, more exotic spaceframe construction and behemoth Hungarian-built atmo V10. Weighing 1660kg at the kerb, the Audi’s nearly 100kg heavier than the Porsche; and while it beats it comfortably for power-to-weight ratio, it narrowly loses out to its compatriot on torque-to-weight ratio. The Audi matches the Porsche for driven wheels, but
Origin: New Porsche 911 vs Audi R8 V10 vs Lotus Evora GT410
Lotus, aiming for comeback, announces the U.K.’s first all-electric hypercar
A teaser image of the electric Lotus Type 130Lotus On Tuesday in Shanghai, Lotus announced a concept for the first fully electric British hypercar, the Type 130. Unveiled on the morning of the first day of this year’s Shanghai International Auto Show, the Type 130 would be the first all-new car from the Hethel, England-based automaker in 11 years. The news arrived after word that Lotus parent company Geely would begin manufacturing cars in China, working from a new, US$1.3-billion factory in Wuhan. A spokesman from Lotus declined to say when the factory would open but said the new vehicle would not be built there, but at company factories in England. But having come through a sporadic sales history in North America and an ownership change in 2017 to the privately held Chinese automotive giant Geely, Lotus executives say the new electric vehicle marks a turning point for the 71-year-old brand. If all goes as planned, the million-dollar Type 130 will serve as the halo car for a new generation of Lotus motor cars. “It’s a statement of intent: Electric is part of the strategy going forward,” said Phil Popham, chief executive officer of Lotus. “For Lotus, it has to be all about the driving experience—and electric will drive the value of every car we make.” Despite releasing scant details of the new car, and only a vague rendering at the Chinese show, Lotus said the Type 130 is in “advanced stages of development.” A physical representation of the car will be revealed along with full specifications later this year in London, Popham said. Production numbers are expected to be very low, though the CEO said he has already received letters of intent from several eager buyers. The news of the Type 130 came with the additional announcement of the Lotus Evora GT4 Concept, a track-only racer with a lightweight carbon-fibre body, a 450-horsepower V6 engine, and a top speed of 273 km/h. Both cars are examples of a renewed push at Lotus – after a roughly £1.5 billion (US$1.97 billion) investment from Geely – to gain relevance in the key U.S. and Chinese automotive markets. “Awareness is high for us in the U.S., but familiarity is low,” Popham said. “We consider ourselves a 71-year-old startup.” Last year, Lotus sold just 1,630 vehicles globally; 228 of those were in the U.S. But there is indeed plenty of history to leverage. During the 1970s and ’80s, the brand was known for its racing success and association with the jet set—not the least of whom was James Bond himself. In 1978, Mario Andretti won America’s last Formula 1 World Championship as the driver for Lotus. Lotus cars such as the Esprit were beloved for their supercool style—élan strong enough to make owners overlook their famously quirky mechanics, tight interiors, and sometimes lackluster build quality. Popham said in time, there will also be a Lotus SUV and other sports cars built on new platforms. He also mentioned Lotus would consider opening a classics department where versions of fan favorites – the Eclat, Esprit, and Europa, say – could be restored with dead stock or modern components. Aston Martin, Jaguar, and Land Rover have successful programs doing the same. When asked if Lotus would ever bring back the ’70s-cool wedge-shaped Esprit in particular – this was the one that became a submarine in The Spy Who Loved Me – Popham eagerly if noncommittally nodded: “At some point, we’d love to have a car called Esprit
Origin: Lotus, aiming for comeback, announces the U.K.’s first all-electric hypercar
Lotus celebrates motorsport success with Evora GT4 concept
Lotus has unveiled a GT4-spec race variant of its Evora GT430 hardcore sports car at the Shanghai motor show. Developed and built at Lotus’ headquarters in Hethel, Norfolk, the track-prepped Evora GT4 concept is finished in a distinctive two-flag livery that celebrates its British heritage and Chinese launch location. The 1200kg model’s 3.5-litre petrol V6 has been tuned to produce 444bhp and 376lb ft at 4000rpm, resulting in a power-to-weight ratio of 370bhp per tonne and a claimed top speed of 170mph. Sitting on race-spec centre-lock wheels shod with slick tyres, the Evora GT4 sports an adjustable rear wing, a roof-mounted carbonfibre air intake and aerodynamics-enhancing louvres on the front wings. The carbonfibre front bumper has been adapted to feature removable canards and brake cooling vents, while a four-vein diffuser and large ducts at the rear enhance downforce and aerodynamic efficiency. Further weight-saving measures include plexiglass for the side windows, a carbonfibre bootlid and 12-spoke aluminium wheels. In line with motorsport regulations, driver safety features include an eight-point roll cage, a six-point race harnesses, an emergency engine kill switch and a fire extinguisher. Speaking at the concept’s unveiling in Shanghai, Lotus CEO Phil Popham said: “All of our cars retain motorsport within their DNA, and almost every road car in the company’s history has raced successfully at some point. “It’s the philosophy that Colin Chapman founded Lotus on and that we proudly continue to this day.” Also announced at Shanghai was the launch of Lotus’s new Chinese driving academy, where newly appointed factory race drivers Cui Yue and Gaoxiang Fan will host track training days and hot lap sessions. The Evora GT4’s unveiling comes on the same day as confirmation that Lotus will reveal the Type 130 electric hypercar, its first all-new model since 2008, in London later this year. The 1000bhp-plus rival to the Pininfarina Battista is set to have a range of more than 250 miles. Fewer than 50 examples will be
Origin: Lotus celebrates motorsport success with Evora GT4 concept
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