Lotus's newest model, the Elite, will debut at the Paris auto show. While the Elite name shares 80 percent of its letters with Lotus's cornerstone product, the Elise, this car is 100-percent different from the bare-bones roadster for which the company is now known. The Elite is pitched as a grand tourer, and packs a big V-8 up front. It looks less radical than the Elise and Evora, with styling suggestive of the Toyota FT-86 concept.
V-8 Blossoms for Lotus
The Elite’s 5.0-liter V-8 is based on the mill in the Lexus IS F, but it has been reworked and force-fed—although whether that means turbo- or supercharged remains to be seen—with swagger-friendly results: 542 hp at 8000 rpm in the standard car, 612 at 8000 in the R-Spec trim. Both will come only with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, which recent patent filings suggest was developed in-house. A hybrid model will sit atop the range. Lotus hasn’t released details about the gas/electric system, but the setup likely pulls some technology from the company's 414E hybrid concept shown at last year's Geneva auto show. A steering-wheel-mounted “push to pass” button will allow drivers to briefly boost power, much like the KERS systems deployed in F1 for the 2009 season. Lotus estimates that the Elite will run to 62 mph in as few as 3.5 seconds and that the high-po version should reach a top speed of 196 mph.
Big Car, Big Money, Big Expectations
Measuring 10 inches longer than the Evora, the Elite has a better shot than its mid-engine sibling does of delivering on the promise of a “comfortable 2+2.” Complicating matters, however, is Lotus’s announcement that the Elite also will be available with an optional power-retractable hardtop. We’re surprised Lotus is even considering such an arrangement, as power hardtops are inevitably so much heavier than cloth, and light weight is the cornerstone of Lotus’s car-building business. It will be a while until we can verify the packaging and performance claims, since Lotus says the Elite won't enter production until 2014. That distant date does, at least, allow time to save up the £115,000 (U.S. pricing should be the same in dollars) that Lotus will be asking for the base version.
