Lotus has released an official image of the supercar's rear – and Autocar has imagined what the rest of the car will look likeNew ICE supercar will be built alongside Emira at Hethel and offer choice of powertrains
Lotus will also offer a V6 version of the new Esprit supercar, along with the already-confirmed hybrid V8, as part of a pledge to keep to the lightweight ethos of the brand, the company’s CEO has said.
Lotus has set a target weight of 1.5 tonnes for the V8 version of the car, which is codenamed Type 135 and planned for launch in 2028, Lotus CEO Feng Qingfeng told investors on the company’s second quarter earnings call August 27.
The hybrid drivetrain will allow the company to conform to global emissions regulations “while preserving essential Lotus DNA of lightweight engineering and extreme track focus driving dynamics” Feng said.
Lotus has previously the replacement for Emira sports car will use a V6 hybrid, but this is the first confirmation that the drivetrain will also go into the ‘Esprit’ flagship, creating a lighter weight model with a more accessible entry price.
Both the V6 and V8 engines are being developed by Horse, which is jointly owned between Lotus parent Geely and Renault.
Feng acknowledged the challenge off keeping the weight low in a complicated electrified drivetrain. “Achieving that target with an 800-volt architecture, a hybrid system, a V8 engine and electric motor in just is not easy,” he said.
One solution will be an ultra-lightweight electric motor. “A typical 150-kilowatt (201bhp) motor weighs between 75 and 95kg. We have leveraged Formula 1 technology to bring it down to just 20kg,” Feng said.
Maximum horsepower will exceed 1000bhp, Lotus has said.
The car will be engineered with an eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox “designed to handle high torque while keeping weight to a minimum”, Feng said.
The car will be a flagship model linking Lotus’s electric expertise with its strategic reversal back into combustion engines, which begins with the Eletre X plug-in hybrid version of the electric SUV due in the UK next year.
“The Type 135 will fill the gap between the Emira and Evija, preserving the emotional connection Emira owners have with the Lotus mechanical handling, while leveraging V8 hybrid technology to approach the technical benchmark set by the Evija,” Feng said.
The new supercar will be built alongside the Lotus Emira sports car at Hethel, in a boost for Lotus’s historical base in Norfolk.
This is part of a wider plan to put ICE sports cars back at the heart of Lotus’s future after the company abandoned a plan to go all-electric by 2028.
The new Esprit takes inspiration from 2024's Theory 1 electric supercar concept. A teaser shot of the rear of the production car released by Lotus (below) shows the striking similarity with the concept, with the addition of two massive exhaust pipes.
Lotus has been collaborating with Horse in the development of the turbocharged V8, which is expected to set a new benchmark in power-to-weight ratios.
“Since we will be starting from scratch with this engine, we will make a lot of effort to improve the volume and also the weight of the engine,” Lotus CEO Feng Qingfeng said in a statement.
The engine will also be used by another, as-yet-unknown Geely brand for a V8-powered off-roader, improving the economies of scale, Feng said.
The new supercar will be a hybrid rather than a plug-in hybrid in order to save weight, bucking the recent trend to shift to PHEV drivetrains for supercars in cars such as the Aston Martin Valhalla, Lamborghini Temerario and Ferrari 296 GTB. Removing the need to plug in to charge allows Lotus to reduce the size of the battery and not fit charging-related componentry.
Lotus head of design Ben Payne told Autocar that the new supercar will be influenced by the Theory 1, saying: “You make concepts as an exercise to gauge reaction and give a future direction of travel, and [the Theory 1] was very positively received.”
The Esprit name hasn’t been confirmed but is a strong option, Payne confirmed.
“When the Esprit went out of production [in 2004], it had a V8 engine, and it’s something people have asked to come back ever since," he said. "It’s still in the hearts of minds of many of our customers."
The production model could feature the same McLaren F1-style three-seat arrangement as the Theory 1.
“That could be an option," Feng said, "because in the past you needed to develop left-hand drive and right-hand drive, but if you put the driver in the middle, then there is no need.”
The 4490mm-long Theory 1 was designed to be an approachable supercar, rather than a hypercar, like the wild 2011bhp electric Lotus Evija. For example, weight was reduced by using a carbonfibre tub.
At the time, Lotus said 85% of the technology displayed in the model was ready for production.
The news of the supercar is part of a wider shift within Lotus towards a mixed powertrain strategy after the company abandoned its plan to go all-electric by 2028.
Feng said that, based on current trends in the global market, there should not be "a single solution when it comes to power; the power solution should be diversified".
How Autocar imagines the new Lotus supercar could look
Parent company Geely’s original plan for Lotus was to pivot to EVs only by 2028, but the plan was abandoned in 2024 after it proved harder than expected to convince customers to make the switch.
"In the luxury segment, customers simply enjoy the thrill of driving a car with powerful big engines,” Feng said. “They somehow just don't like the smoothness of the EVs.”
The new supercar has the internal model name Type 135, which was previously reserved from the since cancelled electric sports car due to replace the Emira.
The ICE Emira will now continue, first with a chunky update next year that is promised to produce “the most powerful and lightest Emira built”, and then, Lotus confirmed, it will be overhauled further and adopt the Horse V6 engine; this model is likely to arrive before the end of the decade.
Under Lotus's new plan, sports cars will account for a third of its targeted 30,000 sales per year, up from 6520 sales last year.
With the Evija still being made at Hethel at a rate of around eight to 10 units a year, the 'Esprit' will take over as the ICE halo model.
No price has been revealed, but Feng singled out the 849 Testarossa as its main rival, suggesting a figure close to the Ferrari’s entry price of £407,617.