New Models: Lotus reveals plans for Eagle and Esprit

Lotus has revealed that it is to build an Elise with the supercharged Toyota engine of the Exige, detuned to 220bhp by deleting the intercooler (and enabling the rear-view mirror to remain useful in the process), and a more luxurious, better-finished Europa.

Also on the way are an Exige SR with a launch control system and the 2-Eleven's variable traction control, and California-spec versions of the Elise and Exige with plusher trim and softer responses.

However, the next big Lotus event happens at the end of 2008, when it will unveil the Lotus Eagle, a mid-engined four-seater aimed not so much at the pure Lotus enthusiast as at, in the words of Lotus CEO Mike Kimberley, a 'more lifestyle type of buyer'. The Eagle is not the much-rumoured replacement for the Esprit - that comes later - but a car to pitch Lotus into a new market area.

article continues below

'It's a two-plus-two tourer with a transverse, mid-ship V6 from Toyota,' says Kimberley. 'There'll be seven variants, including a convertible and a paddle-shift transmission, and the price will be competitive, between £45,000 and £48,000.'

The paddle-shifts represent a U-turn for Lotus, the company previously saying that it would never build a paddle-shift car, regarding it as impure and getting in the way of the driving experience. The change in heart is down to demand, Kimberley saying: 'The market wants it. That's what buyers want in the US and Japan.'

Eagle production starts at the end of next year with sales beginning early 2009. A year later, Lotus will reveal the next Esprit, although the name isn't yet finalised and it will be powered by 'a very high brand-image engine', the identity of which is still under wraps.

The Esprit's gestation has not been without its problems, however. 'I sent it back to Engineering,' Kimberley said. 'It didn't have the Lotus DNA, and wasn't true to the Lotus heritage. So the architecture and suspension were changed and it was engineered to pass US crash tests. Also, there was just one version planned. Now there'll be five or six versions.' Expect prices to start around £80,000.

That revised architecture is a version of the Eagle's structure, lengthened, widened and adapted for the Esprit's longitudinal engine. It's made from aluminium, like the Elise family's chassis to which it bears some similarities. It is designed to comply with all foreseeable crash-test legislation worldwide, but is very light.

'The Esprit's performance will be exceptional,' promises Kimberley, 'and we won't need a V12 engine to achieve it. It won't be an over-200mph car but the performance will be very usable.'

This lightness suits the mood of the moment very well, as carmakers seek to shed mass from their products as they chase lower CO2 emissions. To this end, Lotus Engineering has developed an ethanol-fuelled Exige and a hybrid one, and it supplies Elise structures for the US's Tesla electric sports car. In fact Lotus's engineering consultancy is in better shape than it has been for years, with 107 customers throughout in the car industry and operations in several countries, including one starting up in India at the end of the year.

'We were making 125 cars a week when the Opel Speedster and Vauxhall VX220 were in production, and we proved we could do it to General Motors' quality standards. So now a number of major manufacturers are looking to us for low-volume manufacturing of niche products, or to get us to show them how to do it. It makes sense when homologation alone can use up 65% of a car's development budget.'

After seeing Mike Kimberley's turnaround plan, parent company Khazanah recapitalised Lotus in March and wrote off £100m in debt, making that sum available for the new cars' development. 'They've had more patience with Lotus than I would have had,' he says, 'and now we're building a UK auto industry again. Not that the UK government cares.'