2022 Lotus Emira revealed ahead of Australian debut

Lotus has built some great driver’s cars over the years. The only problem is you wouldn’t want to drive many of them every day.

A Lotus has long been a car for a quiet road on a sunny Sunday morning; driven hard and put away in the garage next to the quiet, comfortable, air-conditioned, sat-nav-equipped machine you use for the daily grind.

The Lotus Emira wants to change all that. This all-new Lotus has been designed from the wheels up as a sports car you can drive every day.

UPDATE, June 7, 2022: Lotus Emira driven

Following its global reveal, we've now driven the new Emira ahead of its Australian debut. Read our review at the link below.

The story to here: Emira revealed

35

The Emira replaces the Elise/Exige/Evora models, cars that trace their platforms back to the mid-1990s.

Although it’s almost identical in size to the outgoing Evora, the Emira’s new Sports Car Architecture (SCA) platform differs in every dimension from any other Lotus chassis.

One of the biggest benefits SCA delivers is a more spacious interior, roomy enough for two cupholders between the front seats and 208 litres of load space behind them.

35

The Emira’s suspension follows standard Lotus practice, with multi-link setups front and rear, and the steering is hydraulic.

Brakes are steel, and standard wheels are 20-inch all round. Standard tires will be Goodyear Eagle F1, but Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s will be available as part of an optional Lotus Drivers Pack, which also includes stiffer suspension settings.

35

Launch engine is the Toyota-sourced supercharged 3.5-litre V-6 used in the Exige and Evora.

In the Emira this well-proven powerplant, which will be available with either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission, makes 298kW, grunt enough, says Lotus, to accelerate the Emira from 0 to 100km/h in less than 4.5 seconds and to a top speed of 180mph.

35

From mid-2022, however, the Emira will also be available with the AMG-built 2.0-litre turbocharged M139 inline four sitting midships.

This AMG engine is one of the most potent production four-bangers in the business, pumping out 310kW in the Mercedes-AMG A 45 S, but as this will be the entry-level Emira’s powerplant, output has been dialed back to 268kW.

It’ll still be a quick car, says Lotus vehicle attributes engineer Gavan Kershaw, who points out the AMG engine weighs 50kg less than the Toyota V-6 and drives the rear wheels through the slick-shifting AMG eight-speed dual-clutch transmission.

35

Styled in-house at Lotus under the direction of Russell Carr, the Emira borrows more than a few design cues from the extraordinary Evija, the near-1500-kW electric supercar Lotus has been developing since 2019.

It’s a dramatic looking car, with large side air intakes producing a tightly cinched waist from the side view, a black roof, and Evija-style vents notched into the bonnet.

It’s not all just for show, though: Those boomerang vents help extract air from the cooling system, and the Emira doesn’t need active aerodynamics to generate balanced levels of downforce on the front and rear axles.

Six body colours will be available, and two different wheel styles – forged V-spoke items with a choice of finishes that include diamond cut, gloss black, and silver, and the standard 10-spoke cast alloy wheel in gloss black or silver.

35

In many ways, the Emira is exactly the sort of car you’d expect from Lotus. Until you open the door.

Lotus founder Colin Chapman started out building kit cars, and even when Lotus became a fully-fledged manufacturer its interiors, with parts and switchgear sourced from volume producers and aftermarket suppliers, often retained a faintly DIY vibe.

By contrast, the Emira’s cabin is coherently designed, well finished, and well-equipped.

35

The instrument panel is a configurable 12.3-inch TFT display with clear, crisp graphics.

At the center of the cabin is a 10.25-inch touch screen that not only handles the sat-nav and audio systems but can also be switched to show a variety of performance data, from g-loads to fuel consumption. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity are standard.

Other goodies designed to make life with the Emira easy include keyless go, cruise control and rain-sensing wipers. Adaptive cruise, fatigue alert and lane keep assist available as part of an optional advanced driver assistance systems package.

The standard seat has four-way power adjustment. The optional sports seat can be tweaked and teased 12 ways at the touch of a button.

35

“We’ve always wanted to do a more usable everyday car,” says Lotus managing director, Matt Windle.

Moving away from spartan sports cars like the Elise, Exige and Evora will attract more mainstream buyers who want an interesting alternative to a Porsche Boxster or Jaguar F-Type, Windle says, and help Lotus boost its global sales from its current 1500 to 1600 cars a year to 4800 cars a year.

When will the Lotus Emira come to Australia?

The first Emiras will start rolling off the line at the refurbished Lotus factory in Hethel early next year, and the first customer cars are due to arrive in Australia in September 2022.

No official word on pricing yet, but Lotus sources say the entry-level four-cylinder Emira will be considerably cheaper than the outgoing Evora