- Lotus plans to show three new cars — none of which, sadly, appear to be headed to the States.
- The Elise S, powered by a new supercharged 1.8-liter engine, replaces the outgoing Elise SC in Europe.
- The company hints that one of its Frankfurt debutantes will be "one of the quickest road cars Lotus has ever built" while the other "marks the return of Lotus to another adrenaline-filled motorsport discipline."
HETHEL, England — At the upcoming 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show, Group Lotus plans to unveil three new cars, none of which, sadly, appears to be headed to the States.
The only one mentioned by name ahead of the show is the Elise S, which replaces the outgoing Elise SC in Europe. The Elise S features a new supercharged 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine that delivers 218 horsepower, with more torque and better fuel economy.
Of the other two unnamed debutantes, the company says the first will be "one of the quickest road cars Lotus has ever built," while the other "marks the return of Lotus to another adrenaline-filled motorsport discipline."
Also slated to appear on the Frankfurt stand is the recently introduced 439-hp Evora GTE, which was designed originally for China, with production now being expanded for the European market.
Last month, Lotus said it is ending North American production of the Elise and Exige, while offering "final editions" of each.
Inside Line says: More good news from Lotus — for European customers.
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mattitude says:
12:14 PM, 09/19/2011
k55, the genius of this car is it's size and weight. Building a car that is "easy to get in and out of" goes away from this. The bigger car the less it is an Elise.
Who's engine is this? I have always heard bad things about Lotus engines, and part of the selling point of the old models was the Toyota engine which had proven reliability.
k55 says:
10:57 AM, 09/04/2011
I never understood what made the Elise so expensive ( name aside) . About 50k to start in the USA. Seems like the costs should have been amoritized over time . Always thought they were beautiful little gems but getting in ( and better yet) out of one is truly comical and should be filmed on Leno. Now if they could just bring the genious of this car and put it into a 30k or so similar vehicle that you can actually get in and out of ...........