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Lotus Evora, Exige, and Elise add lightness to Geneva

The folks at Lotus have been quite busy over the past few months adding lightness to their vehicles. Since December, the company has introduced lighter, quicker versions of the Evora, Exige, and Elise, and all three members of the trio are present at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show. Each one is special in its own way, but if you crave a nimble sports car, you probably wouldn't be disappointed with any of these new models. The Evora Sport 410 is the most luxurious member of the bunch, at least by Lotus standards. At 2,921 pounds, it's also the heaviest, but a 410-horsepower 3.5-liter supercharged V6 makes this one the most powerful, too. The coupe can rocket to 60 miles per hour in 3.9 seconds and to a 186-mph top speed. Lotus will make just 150 of these special Evoras per year, and they'll have carbon fiber parts for the roof, tailgate, sports seats, and more. Best of all, this will be the only one of these three that will get a North American version. The Exige Sport 350 Roadster is the coolest member of this group, featuring tartan seats that we absolutely love. It's also the quickest of the three, reaching 60 mph in just 3.7 seconds, and it tops out at 170 mph. The rapid sprint is possible because the 345-hp 3.5-liter supercharged V6 only needs to push 2,480 pounds. The Elise Cup 250 rounds out the group with the lightest weight at 2,053 pounds (2,030 pounds with the optional Carbon Aero Package) but the least power at 243 hp. However, it certainly isn't slow with a 60-mph run in 3.9 seconds and a top speed of 154 mph. Lotus plans to make just 200 of them year each year. If you could pick any one of the three, which would you choose? The Evora might be the most livable every day but chucking around the Elise could be a barrel of fun. There're also those fantastic seats in the Exige. Let us know in Comments which one you want the most.

Lotus Esprit all but ready to go, but held back by management issues

Brief and disappointing is this report from Autocar on the status of the Lotus Esprit: it is finally ready and sitting at the light, but the light might not go green for a long time. The good news is that from being a concept two years ago at the Paris Motor Show, the aluminum and carbon fiber revival coupe is "purportedly almost finished." It is powered by a twin-turbo, 5.0-liter V8 with something like 650 horsepower, boosted by a kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) and shifting through a seven-speed paddleshift transmission. Even with all that, the UK price is said to be around that of a Porsche 911 4S Cabriolet, and the car only needs "signing off and minor tweaking."
The bad news is that former company owner Proton couldn't stay independent long enough to see through the company's ambitious five-concept-car assault - led by then-CEO Dany Bahar who was hired explicitly to lead such a campaign - and was swallowed up by Malaysian auto supplier DRB-Hicom. For a brief spell Lotus had to shut down production for lack of funds. Then the new owner cleaned house, sweeping out Bahar and, according to the Financial Times just one month ago, the Esprit and every other concept with it. Just after the FT piece came out, Lotus denied the Esprit had been canceled. Still, according to Autocar, the management whirlpool is keeping the Esprit "far from becoming a production reality."
If we're honest with ourselves, we'll keep in mind that the Esprit has been slipping into and out of a terminal ether for what seems like decades. None of us knows what is going on inside Hethel HQ, but the fact that there really is a lightweight, twin-turbo, 650-hp Lotus Esprit finally ready to be produced has to be, in spite of all else, very good news.

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.