The subsequent-generation Lotus Esprit will use a V8 being developed by Horse, the powertrain company jointly owned by Geely and Renault.
In a rare interview, Lotus CEO Feng Qingfeng told Automotive News the corporate will move away from sourcing petrol engines from other automakers. Currently the Emira uses a four-cylinder petrol engine from Mercedes-AMG and a V6 from Toyota.
He confirmed the upcoming mid-engined Lotus supercar, codenamed Type 135, will use a V8 from Horse. Mr Feng says since the V8 is being developed from scratch, Lotus “will make a whole lot of effort to enhance the amount and weight of the engine”.
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Speculation has been rife the supercar will revive the Esprit name, which was retired in 2004. While Mr Feng would not confirm the nameplate’s return, he said it was a “logical legacy connection” and a automotive that “remains to be within the hearts of minds of a lot of our customers”.
Along with the Esprit, he claims the brand new V8 will probably be utilized by other brands inside the Geely empire, including “some off-road SUVs”, but only Lotus will employ the V8 in a sports automotive.
The Emira was originally conceived because the last Lotus ever with a petroleum engine, but with the corporate’s EVs failing to fulfill their lofty sales targets and sports automotive buyers preferring internal combustion, its substitute will once more be petrol-powered.
Powering the Emira substitute will probably be a V6 hybrid drivetrain from Horse. This setup is more likely to be related to the three.0-litre twin-turbo V6 that Horse is developing for Geely’s plug-in hybrid 4×4 ute.
In response to the Lotus boss, there will probably be no follow as much as the AMG four-cylinder because the Emira substitute will probably be a six-cylinder only automotive as “people prefer the V6”.
An earlier report from AutoExpress claims the hybrid V6 Emira could surface as early as 2027.
Each the brand new Emira and Type 135 supercar are a part of the corporate’s recent Focus 2030 plan, which incorporates Lotus setting itself a more realistic sales goal of 30,000 cars per 12 months. In 2025, the corporate made just 6520 vehicles and is nowhere near meeting the 150,000 sales goal specified by its Vision 18 strategy.
On the turn of the last decade Lotus, like many other automakers, planned to go all-electric by 2030, with the Emira being the corporate’s last ever petrol-powered automotive. Now Mr Feng admits the corporate “did act too fast”, and that “is why we made a change and decided to go hybrid”.
This Article First Appeared At www.carexpert.com.au
