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Lotus Type 135 electric sports car mixes the Emira with some Esprit

Over the next four years, English sports car maker will make its oft-attempted transformations real by unveiling three "lifestyle vehicles" on its new Premium Architecture. The first is the Type 132 electric crossover, expected to debut in the next few months. After that will come the Type 133 four-door coupe, then the Type 134 crossover that's smaller than the Type 132. In that fourth year, we'll get the Type 135, an electric sports car that will recall the Lotus of old. This electric coupe, sitting on the firm's E-Sports architecture, is being called "a spiritual successor of the Elise," which would be a good thing. The teaser sketch Lotus released to hype up the car also makes us think Esprit, which, as far as we're concerned, is an even better thing. True, there's Elise and Exige and Emira in those exaggerated fenders, but the pointy ends are vintage early Esprit. But the looks aren't the point right now. The reason for the hubbub is Lotus signing a Memorandum of Understanding with British battery firm Britishvolt "to collaborate on research and development of advanced EV technology." The cooperation would put Lotus in charge of "electric propulsion technologies" like motors and control systems, while Britishvolt oversees a "new battery cell package." Goals for the pack are energy density, fast charging and weight reduction. Novel placement is on the menu, too, the E-Sports architecture laid out so that it can also accept batteries in the traditional style under the floor, or behind the cockpit a la a mid-engined sports car. The MOU could give the battery company two clients in one, as the Type 135 will be shared with Alpine across the Channel as well. By the time the Type 135 shows, Britishvolt's $5.1 billion battery factory in Northumberland should have been up and running for two years, ready to supply cells to the Type 135 that will be built at Lotus' historic Hethel, England headquarters (the other Types will be built in Wuhan, China at a manufacturing facility being developed by Lotus parent company Geely). The sports car will come in single- and dual-motor versions powering RWD and AWD trims, those motors expected produce anywhere between 469 and 872 horsepower providing a range of up to 450 miles on the WLTP cycle. The electronics will run on 800-volt architectures, the batteries ranging from 66.4-kWh to 99.6-kWh capacities.  Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences.

This Lotus Evora 410 is a custom tribute to the original Esprit

We love the Lotus Evora, whether it's in the current 400 trim or new 410 trim, and now an enthusiast has ordered up perhaps the coolest livery. It's an Evora 410 in an Esprit tribute scheme. And it isn't modeled after just any first-generation Esprit, but rather the car featured in the James Bond flick, The Spy Who Loved Me. The car is a one-off commissioned by a customer through the Lotus Exclusive program, which offers buyers the opportunity to have the car customized with special paint, graphics, body work, and interiors. In the case of this particular Evora 410, the car has a white paint job and features a bumper and blacked-out grille. Extending from the top of the grille is a black stripe that bisects the body. These cues represent the black bumper and stripes of the Esprit. Another nice touch is the Evora name on the panels just aft of the side windows. They've been written in the same font as the classic Esprit. Lotus also points out that the bare carbon-fiber engine cover is meant to look a bit like the glass hatch of the original car. They're all simple, subtle touches, but they come together to create a classy and convincing tribute. Inside, things only get better. The upholstery features Tartan inserts that were popular and common on '70s sports cars. The shift knob is also now made from wood. They're joined by a heaping helping of black Alcantara and red stitching. Mechanically, this Evora 410 is effectively unchanged from the standard model. But as we said, that's fine since the standard model, with its 410-horsepower supercharged V6, is excellent. It should be noted though that, being a standard 410, it does not have the ability to travel underwater. As mentioned at the top, this car is presently a one-off built for a customer using Lotus Exclusive. So don't expect to start seeing these at dealer lots. However, you probably could still order a similar car through Lotus Exclusive. Or you could use the program to customize your Evora 410 some other way, say in black and gold like the John Player Special Lotus F1 cars, or maybe the company's green and yellow racing colors. All we're saying is, as cool as this is, don't let that restrict you from trying something new. Related Video:

Lotus C-01 motorcycle shows its carbon-fiber face

Well, this isn't exactly what we were expecting. The images you see above come from Motorcycle News in the UK and are apparently official renderings of what the upcoming Lotus C-01 motorcycle will look like. As you can see, it's sort of a power cruiser, with a raked-out front end and extremely wide rubber out back.
Power will reportedly come from a liquid-cooled V-twin engine sourced from KTM, similar to the one used in the Austrian's brand's own RC8R, but tuned to produce around 200 horsepower. It appears that the powertrain and all its related necessities will be housed in a carbon fiber monocoque (whether the bodywork serves as a stressed member or not, we can't say) in a traditional-looking black (really, exposed carbon fiber weave) and yellow color scheme.
From the looks of these renderings, the C-01 might be intended as a competitor for the Ducati Diavel and ought to be very quick in a straight line. We're not so sure that's what a motorcycle wearing the Lotus badge should be, even if its builders are only using the marque's name under license, but we're looking forward to seeing the final result in production trim.