I, like many enthusiasts, had given up on Lotus. Once a bastion for car people looking for no-compromise driving machines that put feel and excitement above all else, the company now sells just one actual internal-combustion sports car, the Emira. Its other normal production cars, the Eletre crossover and the Emeya sedan, are heavy EVs and hybrids that don’t exactly match up with the “simplify and add lightness” ethos.
The only other sports car Lotus builds, the Evija, is a multi-million dollar, all-electric supercar that, despite entering production three years ago and being limited to 130 units, still isn’t sold out. Its next car, internally named the Type 135, was supposed to be a cheaper EV meant to be sold alongside the Emira.
Seeing the lack of popularity for electric cars (and specifically, electric sports cars), Lotus has decided to pivot back to gas power for its next sports car. The company just unveiled its “Focus 2030” business strategy for the rest of the decade, and it includes shoehorning a V8 hybrid powertrain into the Type 135. That’s more like it, Lotus.
The Lotus I Know And Love
Recognizing that EV powertrain adoption isn’t happening as quickly as expected in some regions of the world, Lotus says it’s shifted its approach, and now expects its products to be 60% hybrid and 40% fully electric, with an eventual “customer-led” transition to full electrification, whenever that may be.
The company has already started to pivot. Back in 2024, it introduced an “X-Hybrid” powertrain into the Eletre that pairs a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four to a 70-kWh battery and two electric motors, for a total output of 939 horsepower, and a range of 683 miles.
Now, it’s introducing a different hybrid setup to the Type 135. That car, long-rumored to be a full EV, will now get a hybrid powertrain with a V8 making “over 1,000 PS” (over 986 horsepower) combined. Aside from confirming it’ll be built in Europe and arrive in 2028, there aren’t any other details just yet. But Lotus says it’ll release more info later this year.
While a heavy hybrid powertrain isn’t exactly the lightest solution to making a sports car quicker, I’m not mad. Previously, I assumed Lotus would churn out more EVs and eventually retire the Emira altogether before the end of the decade, leaving it as a brand that had fully given up on its identity. But it sounds like Geely, Lotus’s Chinese parent company, is investing time and money into making sure the British-based sports car maker isn’t left in the dust.
There’s Emira News, Too
Lotus isn’t going to let the Emira languish through the end of the decade, thankfully. The company is planning to give the mid-engine sports car a serious-sounding refresh. From the release:
Emira continuity is confirmed, reflecting both Lotus’ commitment to manufacturing in the UK and sustained consumer demand for its combustion-engine sportscars. The company will unveil an update in the coming weeks, designed to be the most powerful and lightest Emira built.
So long as it keeps the manual transmission, I’ll be happy.
The Businessy Stuff
Lotus sold just 6,520 cars last year, a near 50% drop from 2024. The company’s pivot to hybrid power is part of its strategy to eventually reach 30,000 units annually and achieve “sustained profitability,” according to its Focus 2030 strategy.
To that end, Lotus has identified where in the world it thinks it can achieve the most growth: China. The company says this market is where it can “leverage strong demand for premium new energy vehicles (NEV).” Europe, meanwhile, will be its second-most important battleground, where it intends to lean on its heritage to drive sales of its hybrid and gas-powered cars.
What about North America? Well, our tariffs mean that importing cars like the Eletre and Emeya, which are built in China, are a non-starter. So Lotus plans on focusing on sports car sales. That means more of the Emira and, hopefully, the Type 135. Seeing as how people know Lotus has a sports car brand, I’m totally okay with that.
Top graphic image: Lotus
What annoys me here is thanks to AI, when I saw a top shot featuring a dramatic rear view with large exhausts and fat tires, I immediately thought “fake.”
Hoorayyyy, rich people! May this newest purchase provide the happiness you are all so desperately searching for…
We definitely need more hybrid supercars for the 1% to get into dick measuring contests with….there definitely aren’t already 8,000 completely indistinguishable ones on the market already!
Ah the Dany Bahar dream returns to Lotus
In the 1950s, Lotus made lightweight, no-nonsense racing machines that could be driven in the street, and which were attainable(even if only barely) by ordinary working people.
They need to go back to that. Nothing in their current lineup matches that description. It doesn’t matter whether it’s an EV, a V8, a 4-cylinder, whatever, it’s the platform that mostly determines what kind of car it is and whether it follows Colin Chapman’s ethos of “simplify, and add lightness”.
None of the platforms Lotus has been making after the Elise/Exige are simple or light. They have lost their way, and another 3,500+ lb $250,000+ supercar with heated/cooled-leather massage seats, infotainment, 200+ lbs of sound deadening, and all of this other extraneous crap is never going to bring them back to their roots nor distinguish themselves from any of the other automakers with a unique value proposition.
You know what will? A modern take on the Lotus 11. Regardless of whether EV or ICE, the curb weight in lbs should have a 2 or even a 1 in front of it. It should be tiny, narrow, low, and aerodynamically streamlined.
I was seriously considering an Elise a few years ago. Someone from GRM forum that lived near me let me drive his to see if it was worth the effort to find one.
I decided against it. Pedals were too close to each other for my comfort. Getting in and out was too much gymnastics for this 50something (can’t use the windshield pillar, not weight bearing).
But damn was it fun to drive. Lightweight, responsive, I almost overlooked everything else but decided to be an adult.
A serious case of sunk cost fallacy on Geely’s part. Sell the brand or give it someone who actually cares before all that remains of brand cachet has been lost or destroyed.
A 1,000bhp heavy hybrid supercar isn’t very Lotus…
Lotus has never and presumably can never succeed by doing what everyone else is doing, because they can’t do it better.
Hybrid sports cars are everywhere, and big players are building them.
Something that no one is building is a modern Elise. Perhaps that would be something that Lotus should consider when making product plans.
I’d take a modern Esprit.
I’m not holding my breath.
Isn’t it what this is supposed to be.
On the other hand they could cram a Yaris Hybrid drivetrain into an Elise-like car. That could be an interesting new age sportscar.
There’s significant bet hedging going on. All the automakers who went all-in on electric got badly burnt, and don’t want to go all in on ICE again when there’s a fairly decent chance that a Democrat might get in the White House in a few years and flip everything on its head again. Developing a new platform for a car that might only have a few years of life in it would be a bad move for Lotus.
I’m sympathetic to that idea for a new 7 liter gas guzzler or something, but if there’s no place in that theoretical world for a 50+ mpg pure ICE lightweight sports car then what are we even doing here?
Pure ICE sportscars don’t do +50mpg.
My A110 GT, which has most of the ingredients for good fuel economy (low weight, small 4 cylinder engine, good CdA and 7 speed gearbox) got 33mpg at its best. And that is strictly complying with speed limits and with a gentle foot.
My average in all conditions, including spirited driving, was 28mpg.