Geneva 2011: Lotus Keeps its Evora Debuts Simple but Significant with Mansory in the Mix

After Lotus blew its proverbial head gaskets all over the Paris stage with a futuristic lineup consisting of a sedan and no less than four coupes, simplicity was the name of the game for the 2011 Geneva motor show. Lotus brought two special edition Evoras, a relatively low-key showing in stark contrast to its behavior in France last year.

Before you roll your eyes thinking, "Christ, another special edition blah blah blah," one of these two new Evoras is very different than another special edition Mustang or Bugatti.

The Mansory Evora comes from the union of two weight-conscious companies; Lotus prides itself on keeping its vehicles trim, while Mansory "provides valuable insights and an intuitive feeling for [high-end customisation]" while also offering "state-of-the-art carbon components".

Mansory's Lotus is dubbed the Lotus Bespoke Concept and is kind of a big deal because it establishes a relationship between a respected manufacturer and well-known tuner. You may recall Mansory from their various efforts tackling high-end vehicle customization. If all goes well, we just might be witnessing the next in-house tuner coming around.

Lotus calls the Mansory Evora an "Individualization Concept Car"; with it, the industry's resident featherweight hopes to develop its own "Exclusive" / "Individual" program for customer's seeking a coachbuilt feel. The other Evora isn't as significant consumer-wise as the Mansory model, but is important nonetheless.

The Evora Enduro GT concept is an evolution of the current Lotus Evora GT4 Endurance and will serve as the platform from which FIA and ACO GT2/GTE racers will be built. That means we'll likely see this at a variety of upcoming 24-hour enduros including the Nürburgring, Spa, and Silverstone.

By Phil Alex

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Geneva Preshow: Lotus Joins Forces with Mansory to Tune the Evora

Mastering the fine art of tuning is a complicated process and, judging by the sheer number of overkills one can see on the web every day, it’s clear that only a few have what it takes to do a good job. For Lotus that special someone is Swiss tuning firm Mansory, which is responsible for the creation of an Evora concept that will be presented at the Geneva show in the beginning of March.

The automaker released two pictures of the special version 2+2 sports coupe, while also stating this:

“Let’s be clear on this: contrary to media reports, what you’ll see in Geneva is NOT an Evora facelift. It’s a taste of the future of Lotus product customisation. Merely the first toe in the water and a showcase of the potential future.”

From what we can tell, the modified Evora features a new front bumper with bigger air intakes and inserts, which appear to be made out of carbon fiber. The same lightweight composite material seems to have been used for the side vents, mirror housings, side skirts, greenhouse, rear spoiler and oversized diffuser. The 10-spoke alloys with a glossy black finish are also new.

While we can’t say that the Evora is our favorite Lotus, overall the bodykit looks nice and it seems that the Brits are really on to something good here.

By Csaba Daradics

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VIDEO: Lotus Elan Concept’s Digital Instrument Panel in Action

The Lotus Elan was one of five concept sports cars presented by Lotus at last year's Paris Auto Show while it also made a quick stop at the LA motorshow that followed in November. Now that the concept studies have made it back to the England, the folks over at Paultan visited the British firm's headquarters in Hethel and shot this video showing the Elan's digital instruments in action. The panel consists of a large LCD screen flanked on either side by two smaller components. You can watch the video clip after the jump.

By Csaba Daradics

Via: Paultan

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New Photo Gallery of Lotus' Future Sports Car Lineup

You may have to ask a second time for their name and you probably need to take more than a couple of looks to tell them apart, but that doesn't mean we're not impressed by the next generation of Lotus sports cars.

Unveiled for the first time as concept studies at the Paris Motor Show in October, with the North American debut taking place at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November, the new Elise, Esprit, Elite, Elan are a wild bunch. And while we don't have anything new to add about the four sports coupes, Lotus has unleashed a beautiful photo gallery shot in Hollywood, which you can enjoy in high-resolution quality right after the jump.

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Lotus CEO Says Concept City Car will Enter Production in "October 2013"

It appears that Aston Martin won't be the only British sports car maker to have a controversial small city car in its range. Lotus chief executive Dany Bahar told Car magazine that the Concept City Car, which was previewed at the recent Paris Motor Show alongside five sports car studies, has been approved for production. The comapny's CEO said the car will be manufactured in cooperation with Lotus parent company Proton and an undisclosed third party.

"Our city car has been confirmed and will be launched in October 2013," Mr. Bahar told the British magazine. "We are doing this together with Proton and another OEM [original equipment manufacturer, or car maker]. We will build three versions: one for the Asian market, one for Europe and a sportier one."

The Lotus flavored Concept City Car is based on one of the three Giugiaro-penned Proton EMAS design studies, which were first shown in Geneva earlier this year.

Built on a platform that was designed in-house by Italdesign Giugiaro, the EV concept model features a 45 kW (75kW peak power) electric motor that can be recharged by a 1.2 liter 3-cylinder engine. The hybrid plug-in drive system was developed entirely by Lotus. Unlike the front-wheel drive iQ-Cygnet, British supermini gets a rear-wheel drive setup.

With a total vehicle weight of less than 1400 kg [3,086 lbs] and 240 Nm [177 lb-ft] of torque instantly available, the City Car concept is said to complete the 0 - 50 km/h sprint in 4.5 seconds and the 0 - 100 km/h [62 mph] in 9 seconds, when operating as an EV under battery power. The top speed is pegged at 170 km/h, [105mph] with a charge sustaining top speed of 120 km/h [63 mph].

The pure electric drive range is 50 km or 31 miles, but can be extended to a total of 500 km or 311 miles when the petrol engine kicks. Lotus claims that the drivetrain returns CO2 emissions of 60 g/km.

Mr. Bahar did not say if the production model will keep the concept's extended-range hybrid drivetrain or if Lotus will offer the car with a traditional petrol engine as well.

Source: Car magazine

Lotus City Car Concept Specifications

Layout: 3-door, 4-seater, rear-wheel drive
Drivetrain Series hybrid drivetrain
Range extender engine 35 kW, 1.2-litre, 3-cylinder engine
Engine fuel Flex-fuel (methanol, ethanol and petrol)
Battery Capacity 14.8 kWh
Power/Torque 162 kW peak (54 kW continuous)/240 Nm, 0-50 km/h 4.5 seconds, 0-100 km/h 9.0 seconds
Top speed 170km/h
Range 500 km
EV range 60km
CO2 emissions 60g/km on the ECE-R101 cycle
Weight Less than 1400 kg
Transmission Single-speed transmission

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