Firm will channel spirit of Esprit with mid-engined follow-up to Emira; car "likely" to be built in Europe
Lotus is back in the combustion-engine supercar business with a new V8-powered hybrid due in 2028 launched as part of its continued pivot away from EVs.
Lotus has shown part of the car for the first time with a rear-end shot that clearly shows inspiration from the 2024 Theory 1 electric supercar concept – but now with two massive exhaust pipe openings. Lotus last sold a V8 in 2004 when the Esprit was axed from its line-up, and the new model’s positioning will inevitably draw comparisons with one of the most famous cars from Lotus’s back catalogue.
The Geely-owned company also promised that the new model will be informed by processes of the Lotus of-old, such as the brand’s previously famous approach to extreme lightweightness.
“Lotus was born from the rebellious spirit of Colin Chapman, and that is not lost today,” CEO Feng Qingfeng said in a statement. Indeed, the new car will be a hybrid rather than a plug-in hybrid in order to save weight, Lotus said.
This goes against the trend of the supercar segment where there has been an almost universal pivot to PHEV drivetrains – which deliver more power but are also seen as more emission-friendly as they offer a small amount of electric-only miles. As such, rivals for the new V8 Lotus, such as the Aston Martin Valhalla, Lamborghini Temerario and Ferrari 296 GTB, are all PHEVs.
Lotus didn’t confirm which V8 engine the new car would use, but the company already buys in a four-cylinder turbocharged unit from Mercedes-AMG for its Emira sports car, and could extend that deal to include the powerplant that underpins much of Aston Martin’s line-up. Indeed, AMG has just reworked that M177 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged unit for a new wave of models and it now features a motorsport-derived flat-plane crank.
In the recently refreshed S-Class, the V8 develops 530bhp and 553lb ft of torque – Autocar understands work is being done to increase power for more performance-focused models to over 650bhp and 590lb ft of torque, hinting at a 0-62mph time comfortably under 4.0sec. Lotus said the new model is “likely” to be built in Europe, without specifying that it would definitely be produced alongside the Emira and Eviya in Hethel, near Norwich. How Autocar imagines the new supercar could look The car has been created in Lotus’s design centre in Coventry, as was the Theory 1 concept.
If the new model carries over more than just the look from the Theory 1, that could mean a McLaren F1-style three-seat arrangement could feature. The 4490mm-long Theory 1 concept was designed to be an approachable supercar, rather than a hypercar like the wild 2011bhp Evijia – for example, weight was reduced by using a carbonfibre tub. At the time, Lotus said 85% of the technology displayed in the model was ready for production.
The news of the V8 supercar is part of a wider shift within Lotus towards a mixed powertrain strategy after the company abandoned its plan to go all EV by 2028. The new supercar uses the codename Type 135, which had originally been applied to the now-cancelled electric replacement for the Emira.
Indeed, Lotus is poised in the next few weeks to show off an update to the Emira that will make it “the most powerful and lightest Emira built”, it said without going into detail. The company has previously said the Emira could get a plug-in hybrid drivetrain facelift timed to comply with the Euro 7 emissions regulation change in 2027 for existing models, but its note that the refreshed model being “lighter” than the current 1.5 tonne sports car throws this into doubt, for the time being at least.
As part of its pivot, Lotus said today that it wants to increase plug-in hybrid sales to 60% of its global total “in the short term” as it ramps up production of the new Eletre X PHEV version of the electric SUV. The new model is already reaching customers in China and arrives in Europe in the last three months of this year and the UK in 2027.
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