The electric revolution of Lotus , in a sense, is; already officially started with the arrival of the Evija and the Eletre, the first hypercar, the second SUV, already; shown in their final versions. Looking at the strategy of the House of Hethel, however, it could also be said that the new zero-emission course will actually start. only in 2026.
That will be; the year of the presentation of the first electric Lotus sporty for all (the Evija will be produced in only 130 units sold for over 2 million euros) and will be; the moment when the public will take & agrave; the pulse of the British brand and will judge & agrave; really if the transition to zero emissions will be successful or not.
The conditions for success, let's face it, are all there. The upcoming electric sports car, for now called Type 135 , will be & agrave; similar to the Lotus Emira and the previous Elise, Exige and Evora. It will have low center of gravity, compact dimensions and a shape that will remember; mid-engined sports cars. This is for two reasons: a better weight distribution and the possibility; to house the famous battery that Lotus adopts on the cars built on the LEVA platform and which also develops in height, behind the seats.
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The car will be developed in collaboration with Alpine, which will pull from the same base; outside the heir of the A110 (also zero emissions, as Renault CEO Luca De Meo has repeatedly specified) and will be built in Hethel , probably on the same lines as the Evija, which are highly flexible.
But why & eacute; has a meaning like this; important? This is explained by Matt Windle, managing director of the House, who in an interview with the English magazine Autocar said: & ldquo; With the arrival of the Type 135 Lotus alzer & agrave; the production volumes arriving in 2027 to sell 100,000 cars per year & quot ;.
For us this milestone represents a great challenge but, a once reached, it will allow us & agrave; to expand the range with other Lotus-style models: we don't want to move away from the concept of light and agile sports cars that has always distinguished us, we don't want to launch ourselves into the mass car market.
The strategy in its guidelines is; been defined & ndash; concludes Windle & ndash; but with the Type 135 we would have to sit down at a table and decide in detail what to do in the next 10 years. We will make sports cars in different segments , in accordance with our philosophy, but we must establish times and ways.
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