2006 Lotus Elise With 2014 Headlights, Touring, Sports, Black Packages on 2040-cars

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Lotus Evija's wild aero setup is detailed by chief aerodynamicist

The Lotus Evija is a car of firsts for Lotus. To that end, the company has spent a lot of time talking over the details. Today, we get to learn about the wild shape’s aerodynamics and what Lotus engineers were trying to accomplish. Richard Hill, chief aerodynamicist for Lotus takes a dive into all the details, and the video at the top of this post offers a great visual. “Most cars have to punch a hole in the air, to get through using brute force, but the Evija is unique because of its porosity,” Hill says. “The car literally ‘breathesÂ’ the air. The front acts like a mouth; it ingests the air, sucks every kilogram of value from it – in this case, the downforce – then exhales it through that dramatic rear end.” We can see what Hill means as we look at the Evija in photos. Instead of a regular front bumper, this one has pass-throughs that direct the air back into the side of the car. Lotus hasnÂ’t released the all-important coefficient of drag figure yet, but we have to imagine itÂ’s very low. The front splitter (below, left) is responsible for a few different things. The opening in the center takes in air to cool the battery pack that is mounted behind the seats. Then, the outer section of the splitter channels the air to the “e-axle” for cooling of the electrical components. And finally, it also produces downforce.  There are a couple more tunnels for air to pass through in the rear. These “holes” are likely the most distinctive design feature, especially when accentuated with the LED taillights. Hill says that these are also fully functional and help to reduce drag. “They feed the wake rearward to help cut drag,” Hill says. “Think of it this way; without them the Evija would be like a parachute but with them itÂ’s a butterfly net, and they make the car unique in the hypercar world.” On top of all these porous body structures, there are pieces that move. The rear wing can elevate upward from its flush body position and deploy into clean air above, creating more downforce. And then thereÂ’s an F1-style drag reduction system. This uses a horizontal plane that deploys from the car to make it slipperier through air. The final big piece of this puzzle is the underbody sculpting that directs air into the massive rear diffuser. This causes an upwash of air, in turn creating a massive amount of downforce. Hill sums it up quite nicely.

Lotus supposedly working up a new Elan, again

Geely's investment in Volvo, and giving Volvo the freedom to do what Volvo knows how to do, propelled the Swedish automaker to another level. This could be the year English automaker Lotus begins the same climb. Late last year, Bloomberg said Geely committed an initial $2 billion to the Lotus renaissance. That number was low, the Financial Times reporting Geely planned to invest billions over the next five years. In May this year, Lotus announced it was hiring 200 new engineers and opening a new engineering center to develop a new range of SUVs, GTs, and sedans that would expand consumer appeal to triple its current annual volume. Sports cars are a vital part of the new mix as well, Autocar citing Lotus insiders for a report that a new Elan convertible sports car has "a strong possibility of being revived in the next few years" as a nameplate.    Lotus made a splash about bringing back the Elan — along with a new Esprit, Eterne, Elise, Elite, and city car — at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. That was a very different Lotus, when Malaysian automaker Proton owned the English outfit and ex-Ferrari marketing honcho Dany Bahar manned the helm. In spite of promises of funding, the team at Hethel lurched through years of corporate drama and dire finances until Geely took over in 2017. The latest Elan whispers sketch a convertible targeting the Porsche 718 Boxster - Lotus in general has Porsche in its sights. The car pictured above is from the first re-animation of the Elan badge, from 1989 to 1995. A coming Elan would sit above the Elise in the lineup, with more space, amenities, and luxury, at the same time as it would focus on being the lightest and most agile in the segment. Before that arrives, however, Lotus needs to finish developing the sports car platform that will help carry the brand's new range for the next decade; The Lotus SUV uses Volvo's SPA architecture that carries the XC90 and XC60. CEO Phil Popham's Vision-80 program — which now seeks to grow annual volume not merely triple but six-fold to 10,000 cars by 2029 — will be centered around the multi-material architecture that replaces the Elise and Evora architectures presently employed. Due in two years, the rivet-bonded "alloy-core" chassis will likely include carbon fiber and other advanced materials.

Lotus Emira V6 First Edition starts at $93,900 in the U.S.

A Lotus Talk forum thread revealed the letter Lotus sent to U.S. buyers who put in reservations for the coming Emira. The automaker revealed U.S. pricing; the V6 First Edition arriving in early 2022 starts at $93,900, and in late 2022 as a 2023-model-year-offering there will be a base four-cylinder Emira that starts at $74,900. Before the base I4 comes, the four-pot will also get a First Edition that we expect will elevate that $74,900 figure. Those prices don't include destination.   That V6 isn't cheap, of course, but it's less than the $100,000 price tag we guessed at based on the Emira's European pricing. That launch car also comes just about fully loaded, graced with the Driver's Pack, Lower Black Pack (more on that in a moment), Design Pack, and Convenience Pack, plus optional 20-inch wheels with diamond-cut two-tone finish and two-piece brake discs with branded calipers. It won't cost anything to swap the wheels for silver or black versions. The only other big-time options we know about so far are the $1,400 Extended Black Pack, which adds more black accents in places like the roof, mirror caps, and exhaust finishers, and the $2,150 six-speed automatic to replace the six-speed manual. But why would you get an automatic? The engine in the initial Emira is the same Toyota-sourced supercharged 3.5-liter V6 found in the Evora, producing 400 horsepower and 310 or 317 pound-feet of torque depending on transmission — the automatic gets the greater torque. The go-to competition for the V6 version is the Porsche Cayman GT4, the German doling out 14 more horsepower than the Englander for the same claimed 0-60 time, while being about $8,000 more expensive.  Next year's base model will run with a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder procured from AMG, producing 360 hp and shifting through a dual-clutch transmission. The four-cylinder starts at about $2,400 more than the 350-hp Cayman S, but both cars will weigh and accelerate just about the same.   The six colors available now for the Lotus are Seneca Blue, Magma Red, Hethel Yellow, Dark Verdant, Shadow Grey and Nimbus Grey, but Lotus says more colors are coming. Word is Lotus plans to update its configurator on October 18, too, which should provide a better idea of what's going to be possible.  The Emira will replace every current model in Lotus' range, the Evora, Exige, and Elise, and be the last new internal combustion sports car from the Hethel maker.