2024 Lotus Emira: Saving the Best for Last
The last gas-powered Lotus sports car — which replaces the Elise, Exige and Evora and is its only current offering in the U.S. — the Emira will go on sale for the 2024 model year. With hypercar styling inspired by the all-electric Evija, a bonded-aluminum mid-engine chassis and a turbocharged four-cylinder engine from Mercedes-AMG, the Emira promises to be a fitting grand finale to the era of internal-combustion Lotuses.
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Specific output, for less geeky readers, is the amount of power generated per unit of displacement. If that sounds confusing, the unit it’s measured in should clear things up: horsepower per liter. The Emira’s base engine is derived from Mercedes-AMG’s turbocharged four-cylinder. In the AMG C43, the 2.0-liter generates 402 horsepower, or 201 hp/liter; scale that up to the size of, say, the Chevrolet Corvette Z06’s 5.5-liter V-8, and you’d be making 1,106 horsepower instead of the Z06’s 670 hp. Specific output is a nerdy number, but it’s also an indicative one.
In the Emira, the little engine that could (kick your four-cylinder’s butt) settles at a still-impressive 360 hp and 317 pounds-feet of torque. It’s paired to an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, also of Mercedes origin. The optional engine is an updated version of the supercharged 3.5-liter Toyota V-6 that powered the Evora; it puts out 395 hp, and Lotus will offer the V-6 with a six-speed manual transmission or a six-speed automatic.
Bonded-aluminum chassis have long underpinned Lotus sports cars, blending light weight and stiffness. The one under the Emira features a new cast-aluminum rear subframe cutting around 26 pounds. Eibach springs and Bilstein dampers are uniquely tuned in the Tour and Sport chassis, and with simplicity being a Lotus hallmark, Tour and Sport are not settings that adaptive bits switch between — they are permanent tunes buyers will select from at purchase.
There are concessions to modernity inside, where the Emira sports a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and 10.25-inch touchscreen for infotainment. The driver and passenger sit in heated 12-way power-adjustable seats, with four colors of leather available or black simulated suede that offers a choice of three stitching colors. Where the Evora once pretended there was enough space for a rear seat, the Emira simply has a luggage compartment.
Pricing will start at $99,900 for the four-cylinder and $105,400 for the V-6 before a yet-determined delivery charge. Lotus has not specified exactly when the Emira will go on sale in the U.S. beyond making the configurator live and ready for dreamers now.
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