Lotus embodies its entire essence in the new Emira 420 Sport, which is now also available in Spain

A couple of months ago, Lotus expanded the Emira family with the V6 SE variant, joining the other versions with four-cylinder inline engines called Turbo and Turbo SE. This family was not yet complete, as Lotus has now revealed that the Emira will also be available in the 420 Sport version, which sits at the top of the range due to its characteristics.

The presentation card for the Lotus Emira 420 Sport could not be more concise: it is the most powerful, lightest and most aerodynamic Emira ever built. That is why it sits at the very top of the range: it is an Emira developed to deliver the best possible performance both on the road and on the track. In this way, Lotus takes care to preserve its DNA, giving the most purist customers a car with great agility, responsiveness and connection with the driver.

On the exterior, the Lotus Emira 420 Sport stands out from the rest of the range by fitting a new front splitter, revised front air intakes, extended side skirts, larger air inlets, a spoiler of the lip type and a rear tailgate with ventilation grilles. All these changes have been made to achieve greater airflow: the external radiators get 15% more, the central radiator 14% more, brake cooling improves by 10% and, finally, the airflow through the exhaust valve has been increased by 30%.

Moving on to personalisation, the Lotus Emira 420 Sport can optionally be equipped with a carbon fibre kit in which elements such as the front splitter, the side skirts, the ventilation grilles, the rear wing and the diffuser surround are made of that material. It can also fit new wheel designs, and within its extensive palette of 16 colours there is one exclusive to this version: Tangelo Orange. In addition, and for the first time on the Emira, the 420 Sport and the rest of the versions will be available with a removable tinted glass roof panel inspired by the Esprit, which is stored behind the seats in a protective bag.

Looking more closely at its mechanics, the height of the bodywork has been lowered by 5 mm, and it has received revised suspension settings and high-performance tyres. These changes are added to an extruded and structurally bonded aluminium chassis which, together with the double wishbone suspension and the electro-hydraulic power steering, provides a superior balance of ride comfort and precision in the line through corners.

Inside, the Lotus Emira 420 Sport is fitted with seats adjustable in 12 positions, which offer greater support both on the road and on the track. It also features new carbon fibre gearshift paddles with improved sensitivity for greater agility and precision. Optionally, the interior can be equipped with the Carbon Fibre Pack (which modifies the contour of the instrument panel with a new shape and adds carbon fibre inserts to the steering wheel and seats) and the Hand Painted Pack (which adds Tangelo Orange as a contrast colour in various areas of the interior).

Mechanically, the Lotus Emira 420 Sport uses the four-cylinder inline 2,000 cc engine of Mercedes-AMG origin, but uprated to deliver 420 CV and 500 Nm of torque, which is sent to the rear axle through an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. Optionally, you can add a little more spice with the Lightweight Handling Pack, which includes Multimatic dampers with two-way adjustment, titanium exhaust, a lithium-ion battery, carbon fibre components and the Track Performance app for measuring and recording lap times.

The new Lotus Emira 420 Sport can now be ordered in Spain, with a price starting from 132,500 euros.