1988 Lotus Esprit on 2040-cars

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Lotus Emira V6 First Edition finally being delivered to customers

In July 2021, Lotus revealed the Emira, its final ICE-powered sports car before flipping to an all-electric lineup. By the time we got to drive it in December 2023, our Zac Palmer wrote, "you can’t spend $105,900 on a single car that would be more fun than the V6 First Edition I drove. There just isnÂ’t another option out there that drives like the Emira, putting it in a class of its own for the enthusiast who wants the most unfiltered experience possible." The problem for Emira buyers reading that — the ones sitting on reservations more than two years old — was that none of them had their cars. Last March, Gator Motorsports' franchise Indy Lotus in Indianapolis sent a letter to reservation holders explaining the holdup as U.S. certification, specifically certification by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). At the same time, CarBuzz reported that Emira V6 First Edition units destined for the U.S. would land here last summer but wouldn't be released to customers until between mid-October and mid-December. Except Lotus dealers then had to explain to buyers in January of this year that cars here were getting a software update, likely for certification purposes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had given the Emira its blessing, but Lotus didn't want to deliver units that couldn't be registered in the 14 states that adhere to CARB mandates, so it held all of them (and perhaps prevented some car-flipping). At the end of last month, the Californians approved of what Lotus had done with its engine programming, freeing the Emira to head to good homes. At one point, Lotus planned to have cars here in time to get into the 2022 model year, now it's a 2024. On the Emira Forum, in a thread about USA and Canadian delivery that's grown to more than 500 pages, someone posted the CARB approval on March 2, page 461 of the thread. The first response from a forum member in Stage 4 of the Five Stages of Grief — mentioned just four posts earlier — was, "Is this legit? This isn't something you did as a joke on the forum?" It's no joke, other forum posters are reporting that they are receiving their cars. Nay, twas not a joke. What's also serious is a higher price for the eventual entry-level trim, the Emira First Edition powered by an AMG-sourced turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine.

James Bond Lotus submarine sells in London for $966,560

With the $966,560 sale ($863,000 plus a 12-percent buyer's premium) of the white 1977 Lotus Esprit S1 submarine used in the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, we now know "the Roger Moore discount."
Recall that Sean Connery's silver 1964 Goldfinger Aston Martin DB5 was sold by RM Auctions in London in 2010 for $4.6 million. Three years later, the same auction company in the same city has sold the aforementioned Lotus for just under $1 million.
An unscientific poll of those in the room showed that people preferred Sean Connery's Bond to Roger Moore's by a rate of four to one. And thus it translated into the bidding for their respective cars. No word on the identity of the buyer or his plans for what is, in fact, a working submarine.

Lotus proves it's alive and well by releasing its most powerful road-going car

The future hasn't always looked bright for Lotus, but the British company is skating on much thicker ice under Geely ownership now than it was in the middle of the 2010s. It continues to claw back from the brink by releasing a GT-badged evolution of the Evora that delivers a meaner punch than its predecessors, and comes with a list of options that nearly rivals Porsche's. The GT replaces the Sport 410 and the 400 variants of the Evora. Presented as the most powerful road-going Lotus ever sold in the United States, it's powered by a 3.5-liter V6 engine supercharged to 416 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and 317 pound-feet of torque at 3,500 rpm. Those figures allow it to hit 60 mph from a stop in a brisk 3.8 seconds, and reach a 188-mph top speed. It's still a little bit slower than the Evora GT430 released in 2017, but Lotus kept that model away from American roads. The Evora GT comes standard with a six-speed manual transmission. Enthusiasts not interested in using a clutch can select an automatic gearbox that they can leave in drive or shift manually with aluminum paddles mounted on the steering wheel. Torque goes up to 332 pound-feet when the six shifts through the optional automatic, but the Evora GT posts the same performance figures regardless of how many pedals are in its footwell. Lotus makes the Evora GT using carbon fiber to keep weight in check. Buyers can honor company founder Colin Chapman by adding lightness if they're willing to add dollars, too. Priced at $10,000, the Carbon Pack includes a roof panel, a tailgate, a front access panel, and a diffuser all made with carbon fiber. Ticking that box shaves 50 pounds; put another way, Lotus charges $200 per pound.  Selecting the $8,000 titanium exhaust removes another 22 pounds. The Evora GT tips the scale at 3,104 pounds in its lightest configuration, but getting there requires paying for a Volkswagen Golf's worth of options. At least downforce comes standard, and the GT has more of it than its predecessors. The new GT designation doesn't bring significant exterior styling changes. It's the same story inside, where Lotus continues to offer the model as a strict two-seater, or with a pair of rear seats big enough for very, very small occupants. Every GT comes standard with a 7-inch touchscreen compatible with both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. On sale now, the 2020 Lotus Evora GT starts at $96,950. Deliveries will begin by the end of 2019.