 |
| Lotus Elite Concept |
In an astonishingly audacious move, Lotus intends to burst out of its Spartan quasi-racer niche. It has announced the Elite, a car to challenge the high-profile luxury GT supercars -- Ferrari California, Aston Martin DB9, AMG SL, Corvette ZR1.
The Elite will be shown at the Paris salon, and is intended for production in spring 2014. Lotus is showing it this early because it obviously needs to make a whole new audience aware of the brand.
Power comes from a Lotus-developed version of the Lexus IS-F's five-liter V8. It makes 550 horsepower in 'base' trim, and 620 in R trim. Lotus says the R version will hit 62mph from rest in less than 3.5 seconds.
It's a super-high-tech engine. Supercharging gives it torque, and it uses direct gas injection at low load for better emissions, but switches to port injection higher up to get the punch. Scavenge oil pumps in the heads mean it can sustain high cornering g safely, and titanium valves allow it to rev to 8000 rpm.
Lotus Elite Concept Rear
The mid-front-mounted motor will drive the rear wheels through a seven-speed sequential transmission. Optionally, all four wheels will be driven via a version of the Lexus LS600h full-hybrid system, which cuts consumption on the Euro cycle by 40 percent. Oh, and there's a "boost button" on the steering wheel to call up every last electrical ampere for a burst of max acceleration.
Lotus already enjoys a successful relationship with Toyota, using its four-cylinder in the Elise and Exige, and its V6 in the Evora. So the adaptation of the V8 and hybrid drive is a continuation rather than an all-new cooperation. As Akio Toyoda said last week, when picking up the keys to his new Elise, "A Toyota engine in a Lotus car creates a completely unique feeling -- a special blend featuring the best of Lotus and Toyota that we hope many car lovers continue to enjoy."
The Elite to be shown at Paris has a glazed folding hardtop. It's also got what aircraft designers call a glass cockpit -- all-graphical driver-configurable virtual LCD instrumentation rather than hardware dials. Many controls are on the steering
Lotus says lightness and efficiency remain important. So the Elite, which is 181 inches long, is supposed to weigh under 3750 pounds dry in non-hybrid form, meaning less than 4000 pounds when juiced up. To that end, the structure remains the company's patent system of extruded and folded aluminum parts, joined with glue and rivets.
However, in a departure for Lotus, the body panels will also be aluminum rather than the glass fiber used previously. Engineers say aluminum panels aren't any lighter, but they can be made more accurately, giving neater panel gaps and better surface finish. In the $150k market this car is aimed at, finish is vital.
The Elite has been designed by a team under Lotus' design director, Donato Coco. Coco, like Lotus CEO Dany Bahar, worked until last year at Ferrari. He says that the front-end graphic was inspired by Lotus's Formula One cars new and old. (Remember, this crowd won seven F1 constructors' world championships and hosted drivers such as Rindt, Andretti, Clark, Graham Hill, Senna, and Fittipaldi.)
Lotus Elite Concept Front Three Quarter
The aim of the sculpture of the fuselage is to make the car have "dignity and authority" Coco says, while still retaining Lotus's lightweight look. The outlet air vents for the arrow-shaped hood conceal its shut line.
Coco is not the only big name Bahar has engaged. He has recruited a total of 23 A-listers -- production people, vehicle engineers, marketers, quality specialists -- from Porsche, AMG, Aston Martin, and Ferrari.
The plan of which the Elite is a part represents a huge shift in ambition for Lotus. The company was, as recently as the 1990s, an international heavy-hitter. It had cars at the front of the formula one grid and, in the Esprit, a competitor for the Porsche 911 and the Ferrari 348.
Lotus wants to get itself back into the big league. Designing a swoopy-looking car, and specifying fancy tech, is just the start. It must now deliver, and at the Paris auto show it promises to tell us more about how that will happen.
Lotus Elite Concept
Lotus Elite Concept
Lotus Elite Concept
