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Lotus runs the Emira hard - and sideways - on track

Lotus sent Gavin Kershaw – the British automaker's attributes and product integrity director – out on track with an Emira and a camera crew. In between reminding us that manual transmissions are wonderful and getting the Emira increasingly sideways, Kershaw's job was to explain how the last ICE-powered Lotus is still a Lotus. In this extended teaser, Kershaw offers us a look at a fresh new tidbit, that being the car's four driving modes. "Tour" mode will handle everyday driving, programmed for "maximum stability and control." "Sport" does what we all expect "Sport" to do, tightening responses and loosening slip angles. "Race" opens up even more slip angle, and changes the gauge cluster to display racy dials like the performance tachometer. Then there's the wonderfully named "Fully Off," which shuts down every nanny save the ABS. And remember, the Emira will be offered with two suspensions, either standard Tour or stiffer Sport, and will only come with hydraulic steering. Sounds like Lotus has delivered on its quest to make the Emira "for the drivers."  The engine in the V6 First Edition 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, but why would you do that? This one comes just about fully loaded, graced with the Driver's Pack, Lower Black Pack, 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.  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.  While you wait, the Emira V6 First Edition configurator is online and ready for flights of fancy. To get in one when they begin arriving Stateside, the V6 First Edition opens up the bidding in early 2022 at $93,900. Late 2022 brings a base four-cylinder Emira that starts at $74,900. Neither of those prices includes destination. Related Video This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences.

NHTSA investigating Lotus Elise for oil leaks

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received 17 complaints about an errant oil line in the Lotus Elise, and thus, has opened an investigation. The issue concerns the line on the front right cooler, which, having got loose, sprays oil either on the wheel or inside the engine bay.
This investigation pertains to around 4,400 of the little track-day wonders sold in the 2005 and 2006 model years. There have been no injuries, but one car did leave the road and catch on fire. A NHTSA investigation doesn't mean a full recall has been issued, just that your friends in the fed are looking into the matter.

What has Lotus got in store for us in Geneva?

In its latest announcement, Lotus has reported a substantial increase in sales over the past nine months of this fiscal year to date. That's good news for the once troubled niche automaker, but the interesting part was hidden further down the release. After detailing the jump in sales by 54 percent worldwide, Lotus announced that it "is revealing an exciting new car at the important Geneva International Motor Show in early March 2015." While little in the way of details were confirmed, the company said that "the product will remain true to its core pillars of lightness, performance and driving purity by embodying all of them in a most desirable package." Sounds pretty Lotus-like to us, but just what form it will take remains to be seen. Given that the Malaysian-owned British automaker has scrapped all of its ambitious new projects, the overwhelming likelihood is that whatever it is preparing to reveal in Geneva will be based on one of its existing models: the Elise, Exige or Evora. The last we heard, Hethel was planning a revision to the Evora, convertible and even crossover versions of the same, as well as an even more hard-core version of the Exige to take the place of the extreme 2-Eleven track car. The announcement refers to the Elise S Cup that was the company's most recent reveal, but seems to indicate that the Geneva show car will be something different. 19 January 2015 Lotus sales up 54% world-wide for the first nine months of the financial year · 81% sales increase EU overall · 88% increase in UK · 143% increase in France · 139% increase in Germany · 29% up USA; 50% up Canada · 24% up Asia and Middle East · 130% sales increases in China; 125% in Japan · Lotus Motorsport shows 19% increase · 163 dealers, 25 more than nine months ago, 50 more in pipeline by the end of 2015. · Exciting reveal in Geneva Announcing that overall sales are up by 54% in the past nine months provides tangible proof that the forward strategy established by Lotus Cars is working. In volume terms, the increase of 551 cars over the previous year, to a total of 1,565, is an excellent result for the British sports car maker. Lotus has enlarged and strengthened its representation globally, with 25 new dealers enrolled across a number of territories in the past nine months, with another 50 new dealers joining Lotus by the end of 2015.