Lotus Type 131 - The Rumour Mill

[mg4lotus]

@CorsuYou will be looking forward to the electric Lotus when it arrives

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

The PH editorial confirms retention of the Toyota supercharged V6 for the Emira in manual or torque converter auto form, plus a 2 litre 4 pot turbo of approx. 300bhp with dual clutch auto only.

[LotusFella]

how are people who live in terraced houses (no driveways) expected to be able to charge their EV cars

[Likuid]

1 minute ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

The PH editorial confirms retention of the Toyota supercharged V6 for the Emira in manual or torque converter auto form, plus a 2 litre 4 pot turbo of approx. 300bhp with dual clutch auto only.

Yikes, not great news IMO. Makes it sound like a re-skinned Evora at this point.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Well it’s a 2 seater only.

Shame you can’t get the 4 pot with a manual ‘box though.

[Likuid]

8 minutes ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

Well it’s a 2 seater only.

I know its not literally a re-skinned Evora, but none of this makes me confident in the end product. Its disappointing to me (if true) because it makes it seem that really not a lot of investment was put into the Emira. Keeping the torque converter for the V6 auto (which I assume is one already in the GT) kind of makes it seem that way. I was hoping being the last Lotus ICE it would go out with a bang, not a whimper. I guess we will see in July.

Edited April 27, 2021 by Likuid

[Woodman]

Well that's the 4 pot out for me. I also wonder if it will be coupe only :-( . I can see the SUV being essential for Lotus to survive), but if the 4 pot is only DCT there is no real direct 'Elise' replacement.

Given that they have the space I would have thought that retaining a base Elise below the v6 Emira might have been an option. DCT killed the Renault cliosport sales in the UK and has been one reason why the Alpine sales have been quite limited. I am sure the Emira will be a great car and better to drive than a Porsche, but head to head with a single model for the foreseeable future is a big challenge given that most people still see Lotus as 'plastic' and 'unreliable'. I really hope they pull it off

Edited April 27, 2021 by Woodman

[TdM]

They need a DSG to knock 0.5 seconds off the 0-62 to keep in line with other cars. Add LC for another few tenths off and you don't even really need to make a fast car to make it look fast. Such is the way of the world. If they put a manual on it it would not have the numbers and everyone would complain it's too slow and not buy it. Of course, now they will complain it's got flappy paddles and not buy it.

They will complain the V6 isn't frugal enough and not buy it. Then everyone will buy the 4x4 that appears in a year or two.

Actually, it might be surprising if the V6 pulls out much on the 4 pot to 62 unless it gets a power hike. 300bhp, a light 4 pot and DSG is going to post a low 4s probably. If it is a merc unit it can probably be stroked to 400+ bhp as well.

[amoss]

16 minutes ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

Shame you can’t get the 4 pot with a manual ‘box though.

Renaultsport Megane unit? Possible given new tie up with Alpine/Renault

[Mark Blanchard]

39 minutes ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

The PH editorial confirms retention of the Toyota supercharged V6 for the Emira

Good news for Lotus reliability.  

[SpeedMatters]

Had they skipped the Emira would any of you have moved to an EV 2 seater assuming it was available to order this year?

[Snoopy1969]

40 minutes ago, TdM said:

They need a DSG to knock 0.5 seconds off the 0-62 to keep in line with other cars. Add LC for another few tenths off and you don't even really need to make a fast car to make it look fast. Such is the way of the world. If they put a manual on it it would not have the numbers and everyone would complain it's too slow and not buy it. Of course, now they will complain it's got flappy paddles and not buy it.

They will complain the V6 isn't frugal enough and not buy it. Then everyone will buy the 4x4 that appears in a year or two.

Actually, it might be surprising if the V6 pulls out much on the 4 pot to 62 unless it gets a power hike. 300bhp, a light 4 pot and DSG is going to post a low 4s probably. If it is a merc unit it can probably be stroked to 400+ bhp as well.

the amg a 45s already has 421 ps.......

58 minutes ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

Well it’s a 2 seater only.

Shame you can’t get the 4 pot with a manual ‘box though.

hmm.... 2plus 2 seating always was a huge plus of the Evora (dog and luggage transport.....) .......

[findinfo]

So do you suppose

1) Emira with AMG engine paired with DCT,

2) Emira with Toyota SC V6 paired with manual,

3) Emira with Toyota SC V6 paied with automatic

will form 3 models shown in the teaser?

The teaser did make it look like there was going to be

three cars with different exterior right?

Edited April 27, 2021 by findinfo
added more question

[C8RKH]

Matt Windle gave the game away in his interview when he specifically taked about the "market is there for 2 seater sports cars".  Yeah, no +2!!!

The other thing i read with interest was the power output of the 4 pot and the fact that it is a very small package and therefore sits much lower in the car. I think this version will be the track star, the V6 more aimed at a 2 seater GT.  I'm actually quite excited and feel that this time lotus are taking their time to get it right.

[Likuid]

1 minute ago, findinfo said:

So do you suppose

1) Emira with AMG engine,

2) Emira with Toyota SC V6 and paired with manual and

3) Emira with Toyota SC V6 paied with automatic

will form 3 models shown in the teaser?

The teaser did make it look like there was going to be

three cars with different exterior right?

The teaser image from months ago appeared to have 3 different cars under covers. However, it appears the 131 is only going to be the Emira. I doubt they would make the Emira look completely different depending on configuration. Those other 2 cars must be electric cars or something.

[findinfo]

 

7 minutes ago, Likuid said:

The teaser image from months ago appeared to have 3 different cars under covers. However, it appears the 131 is only going to be the Emira. I doubt they would make the Emira look completely different depending on configuration. Those other 2 cars must be electric cars or something.

Well, that certainly makes sense. I mean they did retain automatic transmission from Evora

so it doesn't look like they will go as far as creating distinct bodies for different configurations.

As for Emira with AMG unit, it certainly would be nice if somebody could come up with

transmission swap options, like DCT swap option being offered by JUBU.

And if there are going to be 2 more Emira sized electric cars, that's a good thing right?

[JG220]

9 minutes ago, C8RKH said:

Matt Windle gave the game away in his interview when he specifically taked about the "market is there for 2 seater sports cars".  Yeah, no +2!!!

The other thing i read with interest was the power output of the 4 pot and the fact that it is a very small package and therefore sits much lower in the car. I think this version will be the track star, the V6 more aimed at a 2 seater GT.  I'm actually quite excited and feel that this time lotus are taking their time to get it right.

Yeah, I was thinking that. 4pot DCT, £60k, sounds quite good to me. 

[findinfo]

2 hours ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

No-one does or ever will unfortunately. Canned.

So there will not be Evora FE at all?

[JG220]

22 minutes ago, findinfo said:

So there will not be Evora FE at all?

No. No factory capacity for it. In fact I think the last Evora has been built. 

[Matt W]

It will be interesting to see what they produce with all the newer regulations, my W205 C63 sounded fantastic, but newer AMG are loosing the growl under noise regs. The A45s certainly hasn't got any soul in terms of the noise it makes. The Exige sounds fabulous for sure, let's hope they can keep something before we end up with glorified milk floats. 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

So we’ve had time to think it through properly.

I don’t think the V6 will have any more than 430 bhp at launch, so the same as the top Exige and Evora run out cars. That would equate to the same gearbox options being offered. The Emira will weigh somewhere between the Exige and Evora, probably closer to the latter. In which case the Exige 430 Cup will remain the fastest ICE Lotus for the time-being. An updated R version will follow a year or two down the line.

This engine will disappoint the non Lotus brigade. Why launch a new car with the same Camry engine that the previous car had over many years? However, the Emira V6 probably won’t be any costlier than the current Evora GT410, so why should we suddenly expect 500 bhp from the outset.

The 4 cylinder car could be plenty fast enough, but auto is not for me. Both variants will drive fantastically.

I think the biggest selling feature at launch will be the looks. I reckon it will be sensational in comparison with similar priced competition and that will win it many new customers. Unfortunately I’m going to have to wait until July to be sure.

Whatever happens it’s surely going to sell a lot more units than the existing range. All Lotus has to do is promote it.

[Bibs]

19 hours ago, Bibs said:

The press launch isn't for a while yet. 

Just saying, for those disappointed not to see the car. You were told it wouldn't be unveiled today and at no point was that promised either. 

I get that it's disappointing, it would be ace to see it but fingers crossed your friendly, favourite Lotus forum may be at the actual launch to live stream it in glorious 4K for you all

[NedaSay]

3 hours ago, SpeedMatters said:

They didn't do themselves many favours framing this as the 131 launch.

They did not frame as the 131 launch. We did that ourselves because we've been expecting this car launch for the past two years.

[PAR]

3 hours ago, LotusFella said:

how are people who live in terraced houses (no driveways) expected to be able to charge their EV cars

I think the direction of travel is that poor people won’t have cars....

[Barrykearley]

Pah that’s what pcp is for 🤭