Lotus has something unexpected in store for us: will it be the Lotus Esprit, a hybrid Esprit, both, or the hybrid Evora?

Too many options, right? But let’s go through them one by one, and we’ll see that everything makes a certain sense. Yesterday we received a cryptic press release from Lotus to keep the suspense alive about a new model the English company is set to launch shortly. Today another statement arrives in which Lotus announces that production begins on a three-cylinder range-extender engine, developed in collaboration with Fagor Ederlan. The conclusion is obvious if we remember that the Esprit has been surrounded by rumours for a long time.

In the last sighting of a test Esprit we reported on, we said that a “major” brand would be supplying the engine for the Esprit, although the historic association with Toyota for providing engines to the iconic sports car is well known. Lotus is a company that prefers to launch sports cars (which would rule out a hybrid Esprit), but we also know it enjoys innovating and giving us a few surprises.

The range-extender engine is a 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine, developed for potential customers looking for a solution suited to a range-extended hybrid car (such as the Chevy Volt). We already had the Lotus Evora 414E Hybrid as proof that Lotus is not far from a hybrid sports car.

But there’s more: if we add to all this that the range-extender engine I mentioned is the same one that powered the Evora hybrid, do we need more evidence that Lotus is preparing a hybrid?

Source | Lotus Engineering

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