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Lotus teases its sleek Type 130 electric hypercar

Lotus has shown a teaser image of a new concept, which will usher in the automaker's electric era. The Type 130 hypercar concept will be shown later this year in London, but this aerodynamic teaser is the first glimpse at its shapely flanks. The Type 130 is said to be in "advanced stages of development." According to Lotus, the Type 130 will spawn a production version, which will be the brand's first all-new vehicle in 11 years. It will be partially bankrolled by Lotus' parent company, the Chinese carmaker Geely, which also owns Volvo. Despite that, the hypercar will not be built in China, but in England. An earlier Autocar article estimated the eventual price at around $2.6 million. Last month, news broke that Lotus is also bringing another new car to market, but that one is likely to retain internal combustion technology along with engineering ties to older Lotus architecture, as it forms a sort of "bridge" between current Lotus products and its future cars. Hence, it can't be called "all-new" in the same sense as a fully electric halo model can. Lotus also noted some of its "firsts" when informing the media of the upcoming concept, which it calls "the world's first full-electric British hypercar." The 1995 Elise was the world's first aluminum and bonded extrusion construction production car, while the 1957 Elite was a production first in the sense that it first brought the composite monocoque within the reach of customers. Between those, there was a lot of groundbreaking F1 knowhow: ground effects for the '77 Type 78 F1 car, carbon fiber for the '81 Type 88, and active suspension in 1983.

Lotus Elise returning to US in 2020

If you've been hoping to get your hands on a new Lotus Elise, we've got mixed news for you. The good news is that Lotus will bring the Elise back to the US market. The bad news is that it won't happen before 2020. Lotus was forced to withdraw the model (along with the Exige) from the US market in 2011 after it no longer complied with US safety regulations and its temporary exemptions expired. Lotus first launched the Elise in 1996 when the company was still owned by former Bugatti chief Romano Artioli. It rolled out the current Series 2 model in 2001, and brought it to America for the first time in 2004. The larger Evora faced similar issues, and was modified in the form of the new Evora 400 that now meets US regulations. Lotus CEO Jean-Marc Gales tells Automotive News that doing the same with the Elise would be unfeasible. "We'd need smart airbags, plus side airbags and to change the whole front crash structure. It would add 100kg," or 220 pounds, said Gales. While modifying the current Elise would be prohibitive, the next version is being designed to meet American standards. That won't happen before 2020. In the meantime, Lotus continues to sell a small number of certain variants of the Elise and Exige for use exclusively on tracks. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2011 Lotus Elise News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Lotus Lotus Performance

Lotus will kill Elise, Exige and Evora to make room for the new Type 131

Lotus ended years of speculation by announcing it will begin rejuvenating its range when it releases a new model in 2021. Known as the Type 131 internally, its arrival will mark the end of the Elise, the Exige and the Evora. Although the three aforementioned models are showing their age, putting them out to pasture at about the same time is a surprising move because they're currently the only cars in the company's lineup. Saying that the Type 131 will have big shoes to fill is an understatement; it will blaze the path that a full family of new cars will follow. Official details about the 131 are few and far between, but an earlier report sketches the outline of a driver-friendly sports car powered by a mid-mounted engine. While it won't stray far from the lightness and the nimbleness that Lotus is famous for, it will be equipped with more tech than even the Evora, which offers a more comprehensive list of features than the track-inspired Exige and the back-to-the-basics Elise. Insiders have claimed that the 131 will be built on a new modular platform, and that it will not use any kind of electrification. Lotus released an image that shows the Evija (an electric, 2,000-horsepower halo car strictly limited to 130 units globally) next to three enigmatic cars hidden by a cover; one is presumably the 131. Another might be the battery-powered model that it's developing jointly with Renault-owned Alpine. As for the third, your guess is as good as ours. We know that the British firm is developing a Volvo-based SUV, but it's not pictured in the lineup. News of a new Lotus model will bring joy to enthusiasts and economists alike. The company is investing over 100 million British pounds (about $136 million) into its Hethel, England, facility, and it will hire about 250 employees to bring the 131 to the market. Most of the recruits will work in engineering and manufacturing. Lotus noted that it hopes to start building prototypes of the Type 131 — an internal designation that will likely not appear on the production model — in 2021. We don't know if deliveries will also begin this year, or if they are scheduled to start a little later. Regardless, it will be worth the wait. Lotus told Autoblog that all of its future cars will be engineered for global markets, and that its intention is to sell the Type 131 in North America. Related video: