Skip advert
Advertisement

New Lotus Elite revealed

The dawn of the new Lotus era, as British sports car firm reveals new 612bhp Elite supercar

Lotus has revealed its reborn Elite, the first product of the British sports car maker’s new era. Traditionally a purveyor of focused, lightweight cars, Lotus is now turning its attention to more luxurious offerings – the Elite is a 2+2 folding hard top GT set to battle the Aston Martin DB9 and will be priced at around £115,000. It weighs 1650kg – a figure not far short of two Lotus Elises. Helpfully, it has a pretty potent engine up front to help counteract its size – its a supercharged 5.0-litre V8 derived from the Lexus IS-F supersaloon, and is set to boast up to 612bhp and 531lb ft. It revs up to a heady 8500rpm and will apparently hustle the Elite to 62mph in a supercar-spec 3.5sec. The engine will also incorporate hybrid technology and a KERS energy recovery system. Front-mid engined and rear-wheel drive, the Elite boasts a classic GT layout and will also come with a Ferrari California-like folding hard top. It aims to better its rivals for cleanliness, with a quoted CO2 emissions figure of 215g/km – the equivalent of current hot hatchbacks, and enough to keep it out of the highest tax brackets.

Advertisement - Article continues below

Find used Lotus Elite's for sale on the Classic and Performance Car site here. The styling is likely to spark as much debate as Lotus’s change in direction. To our eyes there’s a lot of Japanese influence, with hints of Lexus LFA and Honda S2000 among others. While a nice bit of symmetry to the car’s power source, it may jar with Lotus traditionalists. We’ll make our mind up for sure when Lotuse reveales the Elite – among other things – at the 2010 Paris motor show, which kicks off next week. We’ll reporting live from the show floor, and you can view all the latest news, videos and picture galleries here.

Lotus Evora v Nissan GT-R road test

Read about life with evo’s long-term Lexus IS-F  Join evo's Twitter, Facebook and YouTube pages

Skip advert
Advertisement
Skip advert
Advertisement

Most Popular

The £2m McLaren W1 is a 1257bhp successor to the P1
McLaren W1
News

The £2m McLaren W1 is a 1257bhp successor to the P1

First F1, then P1… and now W1. The next chapter in McLaren’s Ultimate Series has arrived to challenge Ferrari’s forthcoming new hypercar
6 Oct 2024
Audi TT RS Fast Fleet test – 13,000 miles in Ingolstadt's extinct sports car
Audi TT RS fast fleet front
Long term tests

Audi TT RS Fast Fleet test – 13,000 miles in Ingolstadt's extinct sports car

After more than a year and 13,000 miles, our TT RS has departed. Will we miss it and the TT as a whole?
5 Oct 2024
Peugeot 206 GTi 180 – the car world's greatest misses
Peugeot 206 GTi 180
Features

Peugeot 206 GTi 180 – the car world's greatest misses

Late to the party and betraying its heritage, the GTi 180 marked the end of Peugeot’s hot hatch highs
3 Oct 2024