Click to enlarge
Plenty of action from Group Lotus at Frankfurt later this month, with no less than six items on the agenda, of which the Evora GTE limited special edition seen above is one.
Touted by the company as the most powerful Lotus road car ever built, the GTE turns out 444 PS from its race-developed engine. It’s also 105 kg lighter than the base Evora, the weight reduction accomplished with liberal use of carbon fibre, with all the bodywork modifications including the front and rear bumpers, the rear wing and the doors utilising the stuff.
The car was originally designed as a special limited edition for the Asian market, but the company says that Evora GTE production will be expanded to meet demand and reach further markets. As Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar puts it, “The response to this model in China has been so incredible, within days we had sold out with 114 orders. In response we decided that the only logical step from a business perspective was to increase production and widen our reach.”
In addition to the Evora GTE, Frankfurt will also see the debut of three new models, with one of these being the Elise S, which replaces the Elise SC. The car features a new 1.8l supercharged engine offering 220 PS and improved throttle response, among other things.
No details about the other two cars, with only hints to suggest – one is said to be one of the quickest road cars Lotus has ever built and the other marks the return of Lotus to another adrenalin-filled motorsport discipline.
Elsewhere, the last two items on the list are new options – the 1.6l Elise gets a SPS (Serial Precision Shift) gearbox option, which utilises new lightweight robotised automated manual transmission technology to allow the driver to switch between manual and automatic driving modes via paddles fixed to the steering column.
The second new option is IPS (Intelligent Precision Shift), which will be found on the supercharged Evora S, offering the versatility of an automatic gearbox. The optional paddle shift mode allows the driver the full and uncompromised Evora S experience with the added bonus of switching to automatic mode. The S IPS will feature in the Evora model year 2012 line-up, which the company says features significant quality improvements following extensive development work and feedback.
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at first glance, it could be mistaken as koenigsegg :-)
Lotus Exige V8 on list..??
Seen enough concept cars…production to make money yet? or becoming a place for the Protong to spend money and cash into the pocket of you-know-who pocket?
You see the Protong latest earning report. Management only knows to spend money without not much return. If running like standard of other countries, already fired those management long time ago (only u know those are the puppet boy of Datuk, Doctor..)
U probably don’t understand the meaning of investment. We don’t blame you for that. Don’t Worry.
Investment to not to make money? For investors, they invest to make money! Expenditures on research, adverts are eg of non-refundable expenditure. Product devp costs, capital expanditures are something you amortise, thus controlled at minimum. You got back the cost by including it in product pricing. As long as the product does not launched, you don’t charged it in you acc yet, unless otherwise you’re long behind schedule.
Accountants, do correct me I’m wrong.
have you read the whole article before commenting? this is not a concept la, this is product update. and what’s wrong with Proton’s latest earning report? revenue is more than RM2bil, profit more than RM12mil. profit is much lesser than previous quarter due to expenditure on developing new models and many other manufacturing tech updates mentioned above. not only in Lotus, but within Proton itself now renewing their production tech and machineries for upcoming models. still, they’re making a profit, right?
yup. Yaskawa robot, Hakuto jig, Daifuku carrier bukan barang murah2 ooo. banyak benda mau update…
Sold all 114 unit in China within days, that’s one incredible achievement for Lotus@Proton and you’re still in your concept mode. Wake up and be counted.
NICE!!! feel wan to own if I got enuf budget… >.<
Ugly!
While ignoring Proton links, Lotus seems to be in an interesting transition of late. With Gordon Murray in Lotus, seemingly endless launch of new Lotus models and their return into F1, it certainly looks pretty exciting. Now if only the government would classify Lotus as a national carmaker, it would be an affordable sports car for Malaysians.
dream on… even in UK, Lotus is not ‘affordable’ for daily cars… evora in UK is £50k-60k, minimum is RM240k in UK…. affordable?
a ‘tall’ headlamps config seems doesn’t match new design language applied at the front bumper..
if satria neo design like diz….lg bez woo
to all proton fan boy…what happen to project phoenix?
now testing… Campro CFE loorr… u tot, pheonix is a brand new car ah ?
??? never heard Phoenix as a brand new car, brand new engine adalah. maybe u r insider. 10q anyway.
p/s : tell your boss we want brand new Satria Neo which having more than 165hp & a little better pick up, better interior coz that’s what drivers staring all day long, fuel efficient / hybrid maybe and new design. latest Neo CPS did had a design language of new Lotus concept, why not just pick up one of those lotus car, update it a bit into more Malaysian ans sell it as Proton Satria. As long as the price is no more than RM90k, takde masalahnya. at the end, Satria is always and will be a niche market for Proton..rakyat malaysia bukan miskin sangat pun sekarang, kalau tak mampu, yg murah sikit saga ada apa hehehehe
no new esprit or elan? sigh~
Still using Toyota engine!!
yala..fedap btl…