The Emira is a strong performer for Lotus, accounting for more than 5,000 of the brand’s 12,000 sales in 2024. The firm has just announced the V6 Turbo SE with a revised manual gearbox to boost precision, suspension adjustments to improve ride and handling, and a tweaked cooling system that trims weight, plus Racing Line editions with yellow pinstripes and high gloss black wheels.
But with Lotus slowing down plans for an all-electric, mid-engined sports car, the firm is investigating how to electrify its existing two-seater. “Everything’s possible; we could squeeze [a hybrid] in,” Lotus Europe CEO Matt Windle told Auto Express.
The Lotus electric car rebirth is struggling, but will new hyper-hybrids save the day?
Expect a very different approach from the ‘hyper hybrid’ system bound for the Eletre SUV and Emeya saloon, which packs a 2.0-litre turbo engine with high-power standalone electric motors on the front and rear axle.
Given the packaging constraints of the 4,412mm-long Lotus where every millimetre counts, the Emira is more likely to mirror the Ferrari 296 GTB and McLaren Artura by shoehorning an electric motor generator between the engine and transmission, boosting power and harvesting some energy for a modest battery.
There’s no word yet on which of the Mercedes-AMG-sourced turbocharged 2.0-litre or Toyota-supplied 3.5-litre V6 could get the hybrid treatment. The very different characters of the four-pot and V6 make for the key customer choice at the moment, because both SE models pack 400bhp. Why, we asked Matt Windle?
