New Lotus sports car coming as Evora, Elise and Exige face the end
It's the end of the line for the Lotus' current three sports cars.
Three new Lotus cars!
Lotus on Monday confirmed previous reports that the brand's current lineup -- the Evora, Elise and Exige -- will retire. Instead, a new sports car, codenamed the Type 131, will arrive this year to begin replacing the three outgoing cars. We first heard the Type 131 would replace all three cars, but Lotus attached a teaser image previewing "the new generation of products that will follow Elise, Exige and Evora." So, we know there will be more than one new car.
Each of the outgoing cars are mighty old by the industry's lifecycle standards, and with Lotus now under management from Geely, the brand finally has the finances to make some big moves. The new sports car will be the first from Lotus as it readies the Evija electric supercar and potentially an SUV. All of this comes as the brand invests over $100 million into its production facility and starts hiring 250 new workers.
CEO, Phil Popham, told Automotive News Europe in an interview last week the Type 131 will span a range of price points from as low as $75,000 to $143,000, and he expects it will help prime the brand for massive growth in the years to come. We don't know much more about the new car, but Popham said last year it will not feature any sort of electrification. However, he said it will be the final sports car from Lotus with an internal-combustion engine. In the future, Lotus will focus on EVs with the Evija as its guiding light.
