Tag Archives: Lotus

News

Lotus Emira to Go Plug-in Hybrid: The Last Stand of the Petrol-Blooded Lotus?

Well then, the rumours are true. Lotus – that stubborn bastion of lightness, steering feel and Norfolk mud – has confirmed that the Emira, its last “proper” sports car, is getting a plug-in hybrid heart transplant. Yes, the car that was meant to be a swansong to petrol purity is about to sprout cables.

CEO Feng Qingfeng broke the news on the company’s results call – the sort of meeting where accountants try to make $313 million in losses sound like a minor hiccup. Among the spreadsheet misery, one fact popped out like a V6 howl in a Tesla car park: the Emira facelift will bring “Hyper Hybrid” tech, nicked from the upcoming Eletre SUV.

Goodbye AMG Four-Pot, Hello Batteries

What does this mean in practice? Well, the Mercedes-AMG four-cylinder turbo looks like it’s heading for the recycling bin. The Toyota-derived V6 – the one that sounds like God gargling gravel – can’t pass Euro 7 either, so it’s getting “upgraded” (read: electrified). Lotus has been here before, of course – remember the Evora 414E plug-in mule with its three-cylinder generator and 35 miles of electric range? Nobody bought one because it never made production, but the idea clearly stuck.

This time, though, it’s serious. The Emira PHEV will effectively become a rolling test bed for Lotus’s new tech, showing off the company’s pivot from pure EVs (which aren’t selling like they hoped) to hybrids with just enough green credentials to dodge European regulators and Californian guilt trips.

Hethel Still Matters (for Now)

All this hybrid talk comes against a backdrop of factory drama. In late August, Lotus announced it would lop 40% of its UK workforce – about 550 jobs – before quickly insisting it still loves Hethel. “We have ambitious goals for Lotus Cars in the future,” said Feng, while quietly consolidating UK sports-car ops with its China-based Lotus Technology division. The message: Hethel’s still the spiritual home, but the real brains (and batteries) are coming from the Far East.

Sales Slump, Tariffs Bite

And the numbers? Grim. First-half sales almost halved, to 2,813, with Emira deliveries down 64% to just 891. The culprit? A nasty US import tariff hike that made Norfolk’s finest about as affordable as a gold-plated Bugatti bonnet badge. The good news is the UK government managed to haggle the tariff down from 27.5% to 15%, and exports resumed in July. Cue cautious sighs of relief in Norfolk.

Why It Matters

The Emira was meant to be the last petrol-powered hurrah before Lotus went full EV. But with the Eletre SUV and Emeya saloon both missing their sales targets, Lotus has had to get pragmatic. Pure EV isn’t shifting, so the Emira Hybrid becomes both a lifeline and a laboratory. It keeps the Hethel plant busy, keeps purists interested, and keeps regulators off Lotus’s back until 2027.

And honestly? If Lotus can marry that chassis magic to a properly sorted hybrid system, it could be brilliant. Imagine silent electric creep through town, then a wall of V6 noise and e-motor shove when the road opens up. That’s not compromise. That’s progress – Lotus-style.

So yes, the Emira may end up with a charging port. But if that means the spirit of Hethel lives on a little longer, we’ll happily bring the extension lead.

Source: Autocar

News

50 Years On: Celebrating the Lotus Esprit, the Ferrari-Fighter from Hethel

When we think of junior supercars, the Porsche 911 usually takes centre stage — enduring, versatile, and ever-evolving. But from 1976 to 2004, there was another contender in the wings: the Lotus Esprit. Over a 28-year run and more than 10,000 units sold, it carved out its own legend — sharp-edged, lightweight, and unmistakably British.

This year marks a major milestone: half a century since the Esprit made its debut at the 1975 Paris Motor Show. That show revealed for the first time Giorgetto Giugiaro’s radical, wedge-shaped vision in production form — a car that looked like it had driven straight out of the future. Under the stewardship of Lotus founder Colin Chapman and his small but fiercely focused team in Hethel, the Esprit became the company’s first serious tilt at Ferrari territory.

Though it launched with a relatively modest four-cylinder engine, the Esprit compensated with a featherweight sub-900kg curb weight, a brilliantly balanced mid-engine layout, and the kind of handling purity that Lotus had already become famous for. In that sense, it wasn’t just a Ferrari fighter — it was a statement of intent.

So it’s only fitting that the Esprit’s golden jubilee was celebrated with appropriate reverence at the Classic Team Lotus Garden Party, hosted at East Carleton Manor. The location, once home to Colin and Hazel Chapman, lies just a stone’s throw from Lotus HQ and was transformed into a lush stage for this tribute.

Fifty Esprits were gathered on the manicured lawns — one for every year since its debut — with just a handful of original S1s among them. These are the purest incarnations of the original concept, all angular aggression and concept-car boldness. Sitting not far from one of them was Giugiaro himself, who answered a question about working with Chapman with a smile: “Drawing was our common language.”

It was a poignant moment — one that was quickly complemented by the roar of Lotus’s racing heritage coming to life. Out front, a selection of 1960s Lotus single-seaters — including Jim Clark’s Type 18, Type 32B, and Type 35 — were brought to life and driven onto the manor’s driveway, a reminder of the motorsport DNA that underpinned the Esprit’s ethos.

Clive Chapman, Colin’s son and guardian of the Classic Team Lotus legacy, reflected on the model’s place in Lotus folklore. “Dad was always looking forward,” he said. “We had gone from the Elan to the Esprit, but this extraordinary car still had the Elan’s handling characteristics… so you had your foot in both camps.”

Walking among the assembled cars gave a clear sense of just how much Lotus evolved — and maximized — the Esprit over nearly three decades. By one count, there were 22 distinct derivatives, from the early S1s through to the Peter Stevens-designed X180, Julian Thomson’s S4, and the V8-powered final iterations by Russell Carr. Special editions were well represented too: the iconic black-and-gold Esprit JPS and the Essex liveries in red, blue, and silver — all nods to Lotus’s Formula 1 pedigree.

And yes, no Esprit celebration would be complete without a cinematic cameo. By the manor’s pool sat not one, but two Bond Esprits: the half-scale submersible ‘Wet Nellie’ from The Spy Who Loved Me and the full-size Turbo Esprit from For Your Eyes Only. If ever a car bridged the gap between road and silver screen legend, it was the Esprit.

As the event drew to a close, Giugiaro could be seen seated in an S1 Esprit, parked next to Lotus’s 2024 Theory 1 concept — the company’s boldest statement of design and intent in the electric era. Whether it will prove as pivotal to Lotus’s future as the Esprit was to its past remains to be seen.

But as history shows, bold design, lightweight performance, and Chapman’s pursuit of driving purity never go out of style.

Source: Autocar

News

Lotus Could Leave UK After Nearly 60 Years

The future of Lotus’s historic home in Hethel hangs in the balance as the company’s Chinese owners consider a major shift in strategy that could see production move to the United States, in a bid to navigate escalating trade tensions and stem mounting financial losses.

Sources close to the matter revealed to Autocar that a directive to wind down production at Hethel has come from top-level management in China, with a temporary halt already in effect for the factory’s sole model, the Emira, since mid-May. The decision comes amid increasing tariffs imposed by the US on Chinese-built electric vehicles (EVs), a market Lotus has identified as crucial for its future growth.

However, the closure is not yet final. Reports indicate the UK government is actively working behind the scenes to offer a support package aimed at retaining production on British soil. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds is reportedly scheduled to meet Lotus executives on Sunday, June 28, in a bid to preserve jobs and safeguard one of Britain’s most iconic automotive brands.

In a carefully worded statement posted on social media, Lotus sought to reassure stakeholders, stating: “Lotus Cars is continuing normal operations. There are no plans to close any factory.” The statement went on to emphasize the UK’s central role in the company’s operations, housing its sports car manufacturing, global design centre, motorsport activities, and engineering hub. Nonetheless, it also acknowledged that Lotus is “actively exploring strategic options to enhance efficiency and ensure global competitiveness.”

The strategic pivot comes at a turbulent time for Lotus. Since its acquisition by Chinese automotive giant Geely in 2017, the brand has undergone a sweeping transformation—one that has yet to pay off financially. Despite a £2 billion investment and the rollout of new electric models like the Eletre SUV and Emeya sedan, Lotus posted a $183 million loss in Q1 2025, with debt ballooning to $3.3 billion. Vehicle deliveries fell 42% in the same period.

Tariffs have hit hard. The Eletre, Lotus’s flagship electric SUV, has been pulled from the US market due to the country’s new 100% import tariff on China-made EVs. Sales in Europe and China have also stumbled, with deliveries of both the Eletre and Emeya down 31% year-over-year.

In response, Lotus is doubling down on “localization” strategies, with CEO Feng Qingfeng confirming that discussions are underway to relocate some production to the United States. One likely destination is Volvo’s under-utilized plant in South Carolina—another Geely-owned facility—where even the Emira could eventually be built.

Adding to the company’s troubles, recent cost-cutting measures have seen 270 workers laid off at Hethel, the closure of its newly established Clerkenwell headquarters, and the handover of its Park Lane showroom to dealership group HR Owen. The company has also postponed its planned electric sports car, citing tepid market enthusiasm.

“Is the market ready for an electric sports car? I don’t really know the answer to that yet,” Lotus Europe CEO Matt Windle told Autocar last month. Windle has reportedly been pushing for more models to be built in Hethel, which produced just over 5,000 Emiras last year, despite a theoretical capacity of 10,000.

Looking ahead, Lotus is repositioning its lineup to focus on hybrid performance. The company’s first plug-in hybrid—the Eletre Hyper Hybrid—is set to launch in China in early 2026, with future Lotus sports cars expected to follow the electrified path.

Despite Geely’s £100 million investment into Hethel’s modernization, including a state-of-the-art sports car facility opened in 2022, the site’s future remains uncertain. Critics within the company are not mincing words. One former senior executive described the potential closure as “a disgrace.”

For Britain’s automotive sector, losing Lotus would be more than symbolic. While small in output compared to JLR or Nissan, Lotus has been a mainstay of British engineering since Colin Chapman bought the Hethel airfield in 1966. Its loss would be a blow to the UK’s ambitions to scale car production to 1.3 million units by 2035—an ambition laid out just this week as part of a new industrial strategy.

With government negotiations ongoing and geopolitical pressures mounting, the fate of Hethel—and perhaps the soul of Lotus—now hangs in the balance.

Source: Autocar