Lotus not long ago planned to exclusively launch electric vehicles, leaving the Emira sports car as its last vehicle equipped with a gas engine.
However, the slowing adoption rate for EVs led the company in November to announce plans to launch hybrids alongside its EVs, one of which may be an Emira hybrid.
In an interview with Autocar published on Nov. 29, Dan Balmer, Lotus' European chief, said the company remained open to adding electrification to the Emira mid-engine sports car.
"Never say never is the current rule, because we have to be open-minded and understand what the marketplace wants and also what technology is available to us at the time," he said, when asked about the possibility of an Emira hybrid.
Lotus Emira
Lotus is working on an electric successor to the Emira, a car code-named the Type 135. Lotus last said the car was being developed with a view to having it launch in 2027, but Autocar reported that Lotus currently has a freeze on new product launches and that the company is also considering holding back the Emira successor until EV technology can deliver true Lotus performance.
"We have to look at the technology available to achieve the attributes that are important to us for those products, and at the right time as well,” he said. “If we were to do it today, then we don't feel we could achieve that."
This means the Emira may stay on the shelf longer than previously planned, increasing the likelihood that hybrid technology may be added to the car. Depending on the market, the Emira can currently be ordered with either a 360-hp 2.0-liter turbo-4 sourced from Mercedes-Benz AMG or a 400-hp supercharged 3.5-liter V-6 derived from a Toyota engine.
Lotus' first hybrids will likely be derivatives of the Eletre and Emeya EVs. During the 2024 Guangzhou Auto Show held last month in China, Lotus announced a series plug-in hybrid powertrain called the Hyper Hybrid EV powertrain. According to Autocar, the powertrain has been designed to fit the platform underpinning the Eletre and Emeya.
