Lotus Emira is a bold slice of old-school engineering magic

It can be been a lengthy time because we very last took a challenging look at a Lotus. This is the company’s most recent model, the Lotus Emira, a two-seater, mid-motor sports automobile that retains the difference of staying the previous ever combustion-engine design to leave the famed Norwich, United kingdom-primarily based producer.

It is the stop of a lengthy and storied legacy, one particular that stretches all the way back again to 1948 and takes in some of the ideal and most thriving road and race cars of all time. Lotus has persistently punched higher than its pounds, parlaying the practical experience it received on the keep track of into superbly honed autos for the street, in addition to sharing that know-how with the broader entire world through a valuable consultancy organization.

The Emira is both equally a whole cease and a sign of items to arrive. As a little company, Lotus typically required a larger partner to sustain it by way of financial highs and lows, and for the better element of the 21st century, it was the vast majority owned by Malaysian car manufacturer Proton, in advance of which it experienced been owned by Basic Motors. In 2017, Chinese producer Geely stepped in to get a sizeable chunk of the corporation, including it to a portfolio that features Volvo, Polestar and Lynk & Co.

Geely has grand plans for the brand. Previewed final year, the forthcoming Lotus Eletre electrical SUV promises to be the most radical auto in the company’s record, breaking with custom in every conceivable way probable to accelerate sales and international recognition of the Lotus title. The Eletre will be built in China, when foreseeable future sports activities cars and trucks will keep on to be created in Norwich. 

The Emira’s origins go back to the end of the past century. The first Lotus of the modern day period was the 1996 Elise, a wise, stripped-down two-seater designed about a modular aluminium chassis. This basic overall flexibility enabled Lotus’ athletics car or truck system to accommodate distinctive entire body variations, engine configurations and suspension established-ups, enabling the Elise to undertake ongoing evolution all over its extended everyday living. Light, nimble, and an participating and demanding generate, the design eventually completed generation in 2021.

The new Emira has a direct DNA url to the Elise, but it’s additional of a spiritual successor to Lotus’ extra GT-centric cars, typified by the Excel and Eclat back in the 1970s and 1980s, and in additional current decades by the Europa SE, which debuted in 2008. The final was yet another refinement of the evergreen Elise and Exige designs, swapping Lotus founder Colin Chapman’s famed fetish for featherweight engineering for a little bit more insulation, thicker seats and factors like cupholders. These refinements were even much more in evidence in the 2010 Evora, which experienced lots of character but fell far limited of what luxurious sports vehicle prospective buyers experienced appear to assume.