Alice, Exige, and Evora bowed to Lotus. The English manufacturer, owned by Chinese group Geely, is now looking to the future with the ultimate thermal car, acting as a link between the past and the future. The Emira actually has a special role for a Lotus that puts the package on electric, leaving the thermal part to external actors (Mercedes and Toyota for engines). However, there is still a long way to go before the arrival of the descendants of the Elise/Exige tandem: marketing in Europe should not be before 2025 or 2026. That doesn’t stop Lotus from revealing some interesting details today, which also concern the future Alpine A110.
English drums, neo-retro design?
Lotus will be the first mass-produced electric SUV since the very exclusive EViza, expected on the Old Continent next year. But we have to wait another 3 years for the sequel to Alice. The car is currently being built on an eSports platform shared with Alpine. His specialty? The possibility of housing the batteries “vertically” behind the driver and his passenger, to reproduce the mass distribution of the Elise and Exige.
Lotus will collaborate with BritishVolt on advanced EV technology. https://t.co/hJx9Axhaet #ForTheDrivers pic.twitter.com/nWHs8q9X3H
— Lotus Cars (@lotuscars) January 28, 2022
And precisely, today we know a little more In this battery, which will be supplied by English specialist BritishVolt. The latter recently received substantial financial support from the British government to build its first major battery factory near Blyth in the north of the country. From 2027, it will produce around 300,000 packs a year, some of which will go under the shell of electric Lotus and Alpine (unless the French uses a different supplier).
Lotus did not wait to reveal a first clue about this new generation, which bankruptcy must solve: the reconciliation of electric mobility and extreme weight loss to maintain the original character of the Elise. Image (or rather sketch) published by Lotus The car depicts a profile reminiscent of the Esprit and especially the S1, whose design we owe to Italian coachbuilder Italdesign.. A beautiful reference to the past, therefore, proves that automotive brands can always find an inexhaustible source of inspiration in their history books.
For Alpine, however, a big question remains: Where will the A110 be produced in the future? If the R5 should be assembled alongside the Alpine Classic version, and the Dieppe SUV, it is not impossible that the Berlinetta will be built on the other side of the channel with the future Elise.
