The 2022 Lotus Emira makes its debut as the replacement for the Elise and Exige model, and in doing so becomes the British automaker’s sole sports car. And just to bring home the point of this being an era-changing moment, the Emira is also going to be the last new gas-powered Lotus we are going to see. Going forward, all new products from Lotus will be fully electric.
Lotus is not exactly the most prolific carmaker, and so the Emira is the first new sports car to come out of the brand’s design studio since the Evora, way back in 2009. Like the models it replaces, the car is built on a bonded-aluminum chassis and features fibreglass bodywork. The front end and heavily contoured scoops in the doors betray a close familial bond with the Evija all-electric supercar.
Lotus promises easier access to the cabin of this low-slung two-seat-only sports car, thanks in part to a larger door aperture. The interior has been updated in comparison with older Lotus cars, and so the Emira gets standard 10.2-inch central touchscreen and 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster. At the same time, physical buttons for the climate control remain. Also standard is Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration, and there are twin USB and 12V charging ports between the seats.
As for safety features, the Emira integrates Lotus firsts like adaptive cruise control, lane-departure warning, automated emergency braking and road sign information, offered as options.
The powertrains
The product offering includes two engines with the smaller a 2.0L 4-cylinder turbo supplied by AMG; here the unit delivers 360 hp (no torque figure provided), in conjunction with a dual-clutch transmission. Lotus will offer as well the 3.5L supercharged Toyota V6 from the Evora, that in the Emira makes 400 hp and 317 lb-ft of torque. That engine gets a torque convertor automatic transmission. The model will, like its predecessors, come with hydraulically assisted steering.
Acceleration is expected to be on the order of just under 4.5 seconds for the 0-100 km/h for the V6 variant, and top speed will hug 290 km/h.
