Lotus is one of the luxury brands that has decided to “go full throttle” on its plans for electric mobility and announce plans for the production of hybrid models that will join its lineup of fully electric vehicles.
Among the models that may gain a hybrid variant is the Emira, which in its “normal” version uses a 3.5-liter V6 engine sourced from Toyota, with a mechanical supercharger, delivering 400 hp and 430 Nm, paired with a six-speed manual transmission. The Lotus Emira V6, with rear-wheel drive, reaches 290 km/h and accelerates from 0-100 km/h in 4.3 seconds, just 0.1 seconds more than the version with an automatic transmission.
The possibility of the Emira, a model launched in 2021 and initially pointed out as the last combustion engine model from the British brand, was mentioned to “Autocar” by Dan Balmer, the head of Lotus in Europe.
According to this Lotus representative, by 2027, the Emira could see some extended production with a hybrid powertrain that may offer more power and lower CO2 emissions.
It should be noted that Lotus is already working on the electric successor to the Emira, a model that is currently known internally as Type 135, and which was initially scheduled to be unveiled in 2027.
However, this decision may be postponed, considering the possibility that Lotus may choose to extend the Emira’s “life” with a hybrid version.
With this change of plans from Lotus, it will not be surprising if the first hybrids from the British brand are derived from the fully electric Eletre and Emeya.
Additionally, during the last Guangzhou Auto Show in China, Lotus announced a new plug-in hybrid powertrain, Hyper Hybrid EV, which is expected to equip new models that will hit the market in 2026.
