Paris motor show: Lotus unveils five new models

Don’t stop and think for a moment that the Lotus City Car Concept and the Lotus Elite revealed before this are the only two cars that Lotus have in store for the public at Paris 2010 – in fact Lotus has unleashed a massive onslaught of new cars, all styled with the new Lotus design language. Here are all the five cars in brief while we upload the rest of the stories for you. Our man on the ground Danny will be back soon with live photos from the motorshow floor as well.

Lotus Esprit – 2 seater, mid engined, rear wheel drive, powered by force inducted 5.0 litre V8 making 620 PS and 720Nm, redline at 8,500rpm, 0 to 100km/h in 3.4 seconds, 7-speed twin clutch transmission. Hybrid KERS system optional. Spring 2013 debut.




Lotus Elan – 2+2 seater, mid engined, rear wheel drive, force inducted 4.0 litre V6 making 450 PS and 465Nm of torque, 7 speed DCT. Debut in Summer 2013.





Lotus Elite – 2+2 seater, front-mid engined, rear wheel drive. Similar engine as the Lotus Esprit, but with front-mid engine layout. Uses a hybrid gearbox with integrated electric motors and KERS. Scheduled for Spring 2014 debut.





Lotus Elise – the bread and butter of the Lotus marque so far has been the Elise. It’s interesting to see if Lotus has done much to the original Elise’s ‘less is more’ principal. This new Elise is quoted at being 1,095kg so it’s still pretty light. The original Series 1 Elise was 725kg and the latest is about 901kg. This new baby is 200kg lighter. Power is via a 2.0 litre force inducted to make 320 PS and 330Nm of torque, taking it from 0 to 100km/h in 4.3 seconds, paired to a 6-speed manual with optional twin clutch. This Elise will debut in 2015 for about 35,000 pounds.





Lotus Eterne – this is a big bad four door super saloon from Lotus, also using a 5.0 litre V8 force inducted to make 620 PS and 720Nm with a 8,500rpm redline. It’s front-mid engined and rear wheel drive with optional all-wheel drive, and is expected to be priced at about 120,000 pounds with an intended early 2015 debut. You’ve got four doors and four seats.





Are you liking the new face of Lotus? More details coming soon! Other than these 5 cars and the Lotus City Car Concept, the Lotus stand also features the new Evora S and the automatic Evora IPS.