Lotus has confermed that in June it will reveal at the London Show a completely new model to celebrate its 60-year anniversary. It has been a long journey from the Mark 1 of ‘48, the first car created by Colin Chapman, who used the Austin 7 as a base.

Nothing official is yet known about the new model but it will most probably be a touring car with a 2+2 cabin. According to latest reports the engine will be a V6 Toyota with central assembly on a longer base than the Lotus Elise. Regarding its name, some car markets may see Ethos as the English company recently registered in the USA and having bought web domains under this name.

After the presentation, the company will return to concentrating on the developmnt of the new Esprit which will be revealed towards 2010. For fans of the English sports car it is pleasing to know that after the debut of the Eagle Lotus will organise a series of events dedicated to its 60 years in the historical headquarters at Hethel.

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Known by know to all long-term Autoblog readers, Chris Harris does a road test of the new Lotus Elise SC, the 220hp supercharged version of the English sportscar which finally adopted the compressed engines from its coupè cousin Exige. On the Elise volumetrics are different, developed exclusively by Lotus and in particular the Exige’s intercooler, which completely closes the driver’s rear vision, is not included.

Positive notes include the performance, combined with reasonable consumption, but of particular attention is the handling, supported by a feather-light weight (although a long way from the Elise S1), and the Yokohama tyres specific to this version.

Chris, in love with the SC, doesn’t take long to praise Lotus’ choice of persuing the aim of lighter and less powerful cars, in such a way as to maintain the sporty characteristics, adapting to the ever more stringent laws on consumption and emission, compared to the German counterparts.

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Like an eagle soaring gracefully in the sky, the Lotus Eagle partially lives up to its name in front of the cameras. First, we had rather blurry photos of the new model from the British marque, and now we see the car in a disguised form thus far managing to hide most of its good looks beneath the angular camouflage.

However, the basic ingredients are there to give us an idea about the specifications of the Eagle: the body of the 2+2 will have a lightweight aluminium chassis along with a Toyota designed V6 engine and a power output of between 200 and 300 bhp.

Performance should be truly worthy of a Lotus, with an acceleration from zero-to-sixty in well under 5 seconds. It will slot tidily between the Elise and the new Esprit performance-wise and is expected to be ready in the spring of 2009.

Continue reading: New spy-photos - Lotus Eagle 2+2

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Autocar has an interview with Lotus CEO Mike Kimberley, where he outlines his plans for the next five years.

It seems that Lotus aims to double its production from 4,000 to 8,000 cars/year, by expanding the Elise and Europa model ranges (after the base Elise S, will we see a souped-up Europa R ?) and by introducing the new top of the line Esprit, which will be shown to the public in late 2007 and be in showrooms in 2008.

The Esprit, will be a mid-engined coupè with a BMW V8 engine and “a new form of extruded aluminium chassis”.

Lotus might also be considering a project like the 90’s Lotus Omega/Carlton, the only desirable version of the old Opel/Vauxhall saloon, with its bi-turbocharged 3.6-liters straight-6, outputting 377 hp / 577 Nm, that could do 0-60 mph in 5,2 seconds and reach a top speed of 287 km/h. It’ll be nice, to wonder what saloon Lotus could wave its magic wand on.

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Lotus has announced that the new Europa S mid-engined coupè Grand Tourer will be available starting from September 16th 2006 in European markets.

Prices for what Lotus calls a “Business Class driving experience” will be 32,995 £ in England and 42,100 € (before taxes) in Continental Europe, which translates in a recommended retail price that goes from 49,100 € in Germany to 50,600 € in France, all the way up to 66,603 € in the Netherlands (!). The only options will be the Metallic Paint and Lifestyle Paint finishes.

Below you can find the full text of the Lotus press release.

Continue reading: Lotus Europa S - available in september for 50.000 €

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Lotus has a new entry level car: the Elise S. It has a 136 ps version of the 1.8 liters Toyota Variable Valve Timing engine, it can go from 0-100 km/h in 6.3 seconds and it can reach a top speed of 205 km/h, at a cost starting from 35.400 € in mainland Europe.

Henceforth, the Elise 111R, which costs 8.000 € more, will be known as the Elise R.

The official Lotus press release follows below. More photos will come as soon as the Lotus media site comes unstuck.

Continue reading: Lotus Elise S - the new entry-level

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An Italian reader sends us a link to theTop Gear test of the Lotus Exige S. First it’s Jeremy Clarkson’s turn (whole-hearted approval of the “simplify and add lightness” philosophy), who also drives in a face-off againsta a Mustang GT (il triple the capacity, double the horsepower!) driven by the Stig. In closing, the lap round the racetrack, with the list of pricey super-cars left biting the Exige’s dust.

Continue reading: Lotus Exige S - top Gear test

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New photos (in blue) of the Europa S, the new two seater GT from Lotus. See our previous post for technical data and performance. It’s expected in september in the UK (33,000£) and in november in continental Europe (49,000 €).

Continue reading: Lotus Europa S - new photos

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According to the press release, the Exige S is “the fastest
accelerating Lotus ever to come off the production line”.

Weighing only 935 kg, with a supercharged engine that outputs 221 hp, the Exige S accelerates from 0-100 km/h in 4,3 seconds, from 0-160 km/h in 9,98 seconds. Top speed is 238 km/h. All that with an average consumption of 9,1 litri / 100 km in everyday driving (how often ?).

The Exige S differs from the naturally aspirated Exige in the rear wing, front splitter
and side air intakes being body colour coded.

Full press release (pdf) is on Lotus’ site, together with the technical specifications.

Continue reading: Lotus Exige S

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Lotus has started a test program for a FIA GT3 Exige racecar. The new GT3 championship is a racing series for production cars lightly modified, with an equal power/weight ratio. Each partecipating marque should have 6 cars with non-professional pilots in this championship.

The Lotus Sport Exige GT3 (press release) weighs 750 kg and has a supercharged version of the Toyota 1.8 VVTi, that ouptuts 285 hp at 7.800 rpm.

The coming GT3 championship will see the Exige in excellent company, with the Maserati Gransport Light, the Reiter-prepared Lamborghini Gallardo (see Italia Speed), Aston Martin, Porsche 997, Dodge Viper e Chevrolet Corvette. It’ll be interesting to see whether the power/weight formula will result in a balanced lineup [Via Autoblog.com].

Continue reading: Lotus Sport Exige GT3

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