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Lotus adds lightness to new Exige S Club Racer

If there are two things Lotus is good at, they're trimming weight off already lightweight cars and getting the most out of its existing products. And those are just the talents it's called on to roll out the new Exige S Club Racer. Based on the Exige that's been on the market since 2000 – itself based on the Elise that dates back to 1996 – the new Exige S Club Racer manages to cut an extra 33 pounds off the vehicle's already featherlike curb weight, now down to under 2,600 lbs. The weight reduction comes down largely to the lightweight battery, center console, doors and sports seats. Yet measured at 100 miles per hour, the coupe also produces 93 lbs of extra downforce thanks to the revised aero package that includes a new front splitter, rear wing and flat underbody. Joining the Elise 20th Anniversary Edition (which itself replaces the Elise S Club Racer), the new Lotus Exige S Club Racer packs a 3.5-liter V6 to run to 62 in four seconds flat and on to a top speed of 170 mph. That's some rather impressive performance for a vehicle that only costs GBP56,900 in the UK, which is about what you'd pay for a Porsche Cayman GTS over there that would cost us around $75k. Unfortunately, Lotus doesn't sell the Exige in the US anymore, so this is one further improvement on a model we'll just have to admire from across the ocean. NEW LOTUS EXIGE S CLUB RACER - FASTER AND LIGHTER - Club Racer ethos applied to searingly quick Exige S - Weight reduced by 15 kg - Lotus benchmarks for handling and pure driving experience Applying the Lotus refined Club Racer principles to the already stunning Exige S results in the most inspiring version of an already class-leading sports car. The Exige S is a model that already excels, thanks to its lightweight aluminium chassis-tub and aerodynamically enhanced composite bodywork. Its 3.5-litre supercharged V6 engine delivers exciting performance, benchmark handling and a pure driving experience combined with a 4.0 seconds 0-62mph (0-100km/h) acceleration time and a top speed of 274 km/h (170 mph). Jean-Marc Gales, CEO of Group Lotus plc, expressed his enthusiasm for the new model: "Factoring the Club Racer ethos into the Exige enhances the track-focussed potential of this important model.

Lotus hands Pastor Maldonado a new Evora S in Monaco

Being a Formula One driver has its privileges. First off, you get to drive F1 cars for a living. You get treated like royalty and fly around the world. And if you're lucky, you might get a supercar thrown at you once in a while. It all depends on which team you drive for.
Fernando Alonso, for example, has had countless Ferraris, Maseratis, Abarths and Jeeps thrown his way. Lewis Hamilton was a little disappointed not to get the keys to that rare McLaren F1 LM when he won the championship. But Pastor Maldonado just got his hands on a new Lotus Evora S.
Pastor who now, you ask? Pastor Maldonado. The first Venezuelan driver in F1, Maldonado won the GP2 title in 2010 then made the jump to F1, driving for Williams for the past three seasons, impressively winning the Spanish Grand Prix in 2012. Now he's at Lotus filling Kimi Raikkonen's seat, and took delivery of his white Evora - complete with 3.5-liter supercharged V6 and six-speed sequential gearbox - in Monte Carlo last weekend during the Monaco Grand Prix.

Leaked patent images show forthcoming Lotus SUV

Upon discovering leaked patent images of a Lotus SUV, the proper response is, "It's about time." Not because we've been insomniac with anticipation of a people-hauler from Hethel, but because we've had at least three years to prepare. Make that ten years if you start the clock from when Lotus blitzed the 2006 Paris Motor Show with the seven-seat APX concept in 2006. The APX first brandished the company's Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA). An evolution of that VVA - which can withstand a 3,520-pound curb weight - still supports the Evora. In 2015, when Malaysian carmaker Proton owned Lotus, Lotus CEO Mark Gales announced an SUV already in development that would be "the fastest and most agile" of its kind, and target the Porsche Macan. Now, with a new owner, better sales, and much bigger profits, we get a clearer view of what this slow-cooked, swoopy Lotus van might bring. The front clip, center roof channel, what look like bulging rear wheel arches, and the taillight treatment establish Lotus ties. The side view stands as notable for its rear window treatment and high-altitude fuel filler cap, both design elements echoing the 1974 Lotus Elite and foreshadowed by Gales two years ago. Tech rumors posit a Toyota-sourced four-cylinder engine and a 1,600-kilogram curb weight objective. That's 3,520 pounds in US speak, yet with a new car range in the works and more Geely-funded tools to choose from, the SUV won't use the aged Versatile Vehicle Architecture. If Lotus succeeds at the scales, the SUV would subtract roughly 1,000 pounds from a Porsche Macan. As Gales told Top Gear earlier this month, "[W]hat an Evora is to a 911 our SUV needs to be to a Cayenne." Intended for global export, Lotus plans to manufacture the SUV in China, and we're likely four years away from an on-sale date. Although we're promised the family offering will handle "like nothing else," it won't be a sports car, and only Lotus sports cars are welcome at Hethel. Related Video: