Thinks are shaking and moving at Lotus and we can finally confirm that 2021 will be the end of the road for the aging Elise, Exige and Evora.
They will be making way for a new sports car and judging by the teaser image, the Hethel-based marque is developing the model in three separate configurations.
Each seem to be sporting a slightly different front bumper and headlight design which makes sense as they are calling it a “new series of sports car”.
Internally it is known as the Type 131 and although details at this stage are scarce, Autocar reports that it will be positioned above the Evora and will be powered by a V6 engine hooked up to a hybrid system developed in-house. It is not currently known if the engine in question is a tried-and-tested Toyota powertrain that Lotus has been using for decades, but that seems likely.
Production of the new sports car will start later this year and is expected to be the very last Lotus to come with a combustion engine. Rumours suggest the sports car will be a purely two-seater machine and deliver over 500 hp so it sounds like we are in for some exciting times with the UK brand especially now that we know it has come alive again in South Africa.