The lightweight English sports car maker Lotus has just announced pricing for the U.S. market version of their latest creation, the 2010 Evora, a mid engine, V6 powered, 2+2 that is set to go on sale sometime in the first quarter of 2010. New Lotus Evoras will start at $73,500 for the four seater Lotus. The piston pumper is a 3.5 Liter unit sourced from Toyota that makes an adequate 276 HP and 258 lb-ft of thrust. Aside from the brand new lines, owners will enjoy going from 0 to 60 MPH in 4.9 seconds and hitting a top speed of 162 MPH while getting a very green 30+ miles per gallon while doing it. Judging from what we saw at the Miami Auto Show they will also look very good while doing it.
Equipment list and prices after the jump.
> More
After months of "to be or not to be" it’s finally official: the Lotus Esprit will indeed have a successor. Lotus seven year product plan key reveal that the new Esprit will be revealed in 2012, but will carry a different name.
The company is aiming at a power-to-weight ratio of between 275bhp and 325bhp per tonne, meaning that the future Esprit will can easily compete with most of the German sports cars.
According to a Lotus insider the next Esprit will be "the ultimate expression of the brand." It will be a third model tier with the four-cylinder Elise/ Exige and Europa as the first tier and the Evora V6 as the second tier.
Also the same insider reveal that the Evora’s Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA) can be adapted to create almost any type of vehicle, from a sports car to an SUV.
Remember when Hertz announced that it was adding the Lotus Elise and the Lotus Exige to their fleet of rental cars? Well, now we know just how much it’s going to cost us to sit behind one of these bad boys for a day.
The rental car agency announced that the two Lotus models can be rented out for the princely sum of €458.54 per day in Italy and around $600 per day in the US. Unfortunately, that price doesn’t include insurance packages, which you’ll probably need if you do rent out one an Elise or an Exige.
It’s a lot more expensive than any of us previously thought, but then again, the thinking goes that if you can afford to pay that amount for a chance to blast off into the sunset with an Elise or an Exige, then it should be well worth every penny.
In addition to announcing the rental price for the two Lotuses, Hertz also announced that they are now offering a rental BMW Z4 sDrive 23i and a Fiat 500 Barbie edition. The Z4 will be available in selected dealerships in Spain with prices starting at €121 per day, while the Fiat 500 Roso will be available in The Netherlands for just €35 a day.
The lightweight English sports car manufacturer Lotus had two very special models on display at the 2009 Miami Auto Show. Sitting front and center is the all new
Evora model that combines a carbon fiber closed cockpit two seater configuration with a transversely mounted 3.5 Liter
Toyota VVT-i V6 that makes about 270 HP and is more than enough to give the new Lotus plenty of get up and go accelerating from 0 to 60 MPH in under 5 seconds. The other Lotus in the Collection’s booth is of the open air variety, the 60th anniversary
Elise model comes complete with a pair of stripes running down the middle that match the color accented interior complete with 60th Anniversary embroidery
.
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
The English sports car manufacturer Lotus has just unveiled the Exige S ABA-1117 at the 41st Tokyo Motor Show. This Exige is also known as the Scura, Lotus is evoking owners to ’indulge their dark side’ with this sinister hard top sports car. Priced at around $75,000 the Exige Scura features a trio of Phantom Black stripes to break up the large panels of matte black paint, however the carbon fiber bits and suede wrapped racing buckets go a bit further towards showing off the Scura’s true purpose of being an all out competition vehicle. Only now instead of laughing at bright orange bodywork, other drivers will stay out of this Lotus’ way. Like all Exige models the Scura is powered by a supercharged four cylinder engine that delivers a maximum output of 257 HP 174 lb-ft of torque, while it can sprint from 0 to 60 MPH in only 4 seconds and reach a top speed of 152 MPH. The Lotus Exige S ABA-1117 is a serious looking car and enhancements to performance and a reduction in weight from the production level Exige S means that it demands to be driven by a serious driver. Open air motorists will enjoy the Lotus Elise ABA-1119, a lightweight sports car that uses the English automaker’s world-renowned bonded aluminium chassis to provide a driving experience akin to no other sports car.
While a majority of automakers are bailing out of the Tokyo Motor Show, it is nice to see that there will indeed be a few new models to look at when it comes to be show time. One such vehicle will be a special edition sports car from he light weight English race car builders at Lotus. While the boffins from across the pond have already engineered every unnecessary ounce out of the Exige in the hopes of creating a hard core driving experience, this particularly dark model focuses on making the little Lotus as sinister looking as it is lethal. The special edition Tokyo Motor Show Lotus Exige is named the Scura, which is the Italian word for dark, due to its dramatic black bodywork and a GT3 inspired rear end.
Priced at around $75,000 the Exige Scura features a trio of Phantom Black stripes to break up the large panels of matte black paint, however the carbon fiber bits and suede wrapped racing buckets go a bit further towards showing off the Scura’s true purpose of being an all out competition vehicle. Only now instead of laughing at bright orange bodywork, other drivers will stay out of this Lotus’ way. Like all Exige models the Scura is powered by a supercharged four cylinder engine that delivers a maximum output of 257 HP 174 lb-ft of torque, while it can sprint from 0 to 60 MPH in only 4 seconds and reach a top speed of 152 MPH.
Stay tuned for the high res images!
Press release after the jump.
> More
.
Back in 2008 the lightweight English sports car manufacturers from Lotus released a very fast version of their fixed roof Elise roadster, the Exige Sport 240. The special edition Exige offered owners a very street able sports car while on track the 240 was capable of some incredible things. For 2010, the Exige S240 has received a slightly restyled front end, a new rear wing and the same combination of exceptional performance and usability, all starting at $65,690.
The S240’s front bumper gets a larger set of air intakes in the front bumper as well as larger vents in the hood in order to flow more air across the sports car’s cooling elements like the twin oil coolers ahead of the front wheels. This reduces the operating temperature of the high revving Toyota sourced four cylinder engine and further enhances the engine’s efficiency. This aerodynamically improved small super car is exactly what you will need to be able to run lap after lap at your local racetrack whenever you decide to take your new toy out to stretch its legs.
Under the rear decklid of the mid engine Lotus Exige S240 is an intercooled and supercharged 1.8 Liter Toyota 2ZZ-GE with the automaker’s Variable Valve Timing with Inteligence and tuned by Lotus to produce a maximum output of 240 HP at a screaming 8,000 RPM and 170 lb-ft of torque from 5,500 RPM. Tipping the scales at just over 2,000 pounds, the Exige Sport 240 is able to sprint from 0 to 60 mph in a blistering 4.1 seconds and reach the 100 MPH mark just 10 seconds after takeoff. The S240 can reach a top speed of 150 MPH and thanks to the drag reducing front end is able to get an EPA estimated 20 MPG around town and as much as 26 MPG on the highway.
Press release after the jump.
> More
Like almost all Lotus built vehicles, the new Evora is going racing. From their initial design stages, the lightweight English automaker intended for the Evora to be competitive on the track as well as a road going super car, so when Lotus released the Evora 124 endurance race car it was only the next logical step for Colin Chapman’s car company. The Endurance racing Evora maintains the same lines and body panels as the road car with the addition of a ground effects kit that gets the Evora to stick to the racing surface.
In order to make the Evora even more competitive, the mid mounted Toyota V6 has been upgraded from the standard 280 HP to a tire shredding 400 HP in unrestricted trim, while the meticulous design team has managed to shed another 400 pounds from the already lightweight sports car. Lotus has also found room for a six speed sequential gearbox for lightning fast shifts, a full roll cage for safety as well as the obligatory fuel cell and fire extinguisher system. Of course what race car would be complete with a GT spec rear wing made from carbon fiber to compliment the ground effects kit made up of the rear diffuser and front splitter.
Keeping the car on track is a set of 18 inch rims wrapped in Pirelli racing slicks and a set of AP Racing 6 piston calipers underneath, while the suspension has been redesigned for increased adjustability. According to Luke Bennett, Director of Lotus Cars Limited, “Motorsport has been in our blood ever since our founder, Colin Chapman, built the first Lotus back in 1948. We are proud of our motorsport history, which includes victories in Formula One, Le Mans, saloon car, rally car and sportscar racing around the world; more recently, we won the British GT3 Championship in 2006 with the Lotus Exige. The Lotus Evora Type 124 Endurance Racecar is from the same unique stable and we expect it to be a competitive racecar when we enter various endurance races next year.” You can expect to see the new Lotus Evora 124 competing at 24 hour endurance races at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, Silverstone and even in Dubai.
Press release after the jump. > More
With a plethora of new cars set to make their debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Lotus is taking a different route by bringing with them their newly-developed engine designed for future hybrid-drive vehicles.
The new engine, which comes in a revolutionary aluminum encasing that integrates the cylinder block, cylinder head, and exhaust manifold into one solid casting, which results in the car being extremely lightweight – weighing no more than 56 kilos – while also improving emissions and engine durability.
Likewise, the engine also comes with a 1.2 Liter, 3 cylinder Range Extender that, as Lotus claims, is the first of its kind built to cater specifically to the hybrid market. The new Lotus engine also features a two-valve port fuel injection system that can release a maximum output of 15kQ from 1,500 RPM to 3,500 RPM.
The new Lotus engine, which was developed as part of a project by the U.K. Technology Strategy Board, is a revolutionary achievement by Lotus in producing hybrid engines that are both highly-efficient and affordable.
Continued after the jump.
> More
Fresh off the heels of delivering their first truly all new car in years, the Evora, and the release of a hard core track tuned Lotus Exige Cup, the lightweight English sports car builder has just revealed another version of their compact thrill machine. The Lotus Elise Club Racer is a very simple and straightforward sports car that borrows a few shades of paint from Colin Chapman’s personal pallet from the 1960s, colors like Elite Yellow, Carbon Grey, Sky Blue and Old English White.
According to the Director of Lotus Cars, Luke Bennett, "Special Editions of the award winning Elise have always proved popular with our customers around the world, and I expect the Elise Club Racer to be no different. We have taken colour schemes from our past, used on the Elite and Elan in the 1960s and cleverly brought them up to date with a modern feel to the interior. The whole design package is modern with a classic twist, which of course matches the peerless ride and handling of a Lotus and the convertible experience of the Elise perfectly."
Called the Elise Club Racer, the new lightweight English sports car is based on the 134 HP version of the Lotus Elise S and is scheduled to arrive in showrooms on September 15th and go on sale for around $40,000. The car makes use of silver and black highlights in the interior as well as an anthracite anodized gear knob and handbrake with the Club Racer "CR" logo embroidered everywhere. The Lotus engineers even saw fit to incorporate a smaller diameter steering wheel and a set of lightweight six spoke alloys for that extra sporty look and feel.
Press release after the jump.
> More
Pages: 
1 comment
Picture Gallery
RSS -
Webmaster free news |