By Matt Bird \/ Thursday, 7 September 2023 \/ Loading comments<\/p>\n
Imagine reading this line as the opening sentence of a Lotus press release even half a dozen years ago: \u2018Lotus has today unveiled Emeya, the company\u2019s first four-door hyper-GT, in New York City\u2019. In less than 20 words there\u2019s a huge amount of ambition and intent; a new car, a new sector, a new name, and a new reveal location that isn\u2019t Norfolk. Sometimes, as we wait for Eletres to be parked up at Ionity chargers and Evijas to slope around Sloane Square, it can be hard to fully get to grips with the scale of the firm\u2019s electric revolution. <\/p>\n
And there\u2019s no time to do so either because here comes the next model on Lotus\u2019s Chinese conveyor belt. As we knew it would, the Emeya uses the same bespoke platform as the Eletre, and is primed to enter another fiercely competitive segment. Its maker hasn’t revealed all the technical details yet, but production should kick off as early as next year.<\/p>\n
Further information about the car is promised by the end of 2023, though there\u2019s plenty to be encouraged by for the moment. Shall we include the design in that? These things are all subjective, of course, but for a first go at this kind of car with some established design cues to include it\u2019s pretty smart – if even bigger than expected. For those who find a Taycan too familiar, an EQ E too bulbous and an i7 just too weird, the Emeya seems like it could be the ideal alternative. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a Lotus like you have never seen before. We\u2019ve built on everything Lotus has achieved so far to create a luxury performance car for the drivers, designed to inspire confidence, exhilarate with raw emotion and pure joy \u2013 connecting them to the road,\u201d reckons Ben Payne, Lotus VP of Design.<\/p>\n
Active aero here features as it does on the Eletre, the grille aiding cooling when it\u2019s open and aerodynamics when closed. The influence of the aero features is significant enough to affect the handling, with an active front lip said to contribute to \u2018great front-end feel\u2019 plus a rear spoiler and diffuser combo working together to enhance the Emeya\u2019s \u2018For The Drivers\u2019 handling and stability\u2019. While for the moment it\u2019s not entirely clear what that means, if any company is going to make a large, heavy saloon get down a road well then it\u2019s Lotus. The chunky rear spoiler here is 280mm wide, 100mm wider than on the Eletre, with net downforce claimed at 215kg.<\/p>\n
With the same power offerings as the Eletre – up to 905hp – the Emeya is likely to benefit from the high-speed stability. Lotus is targeting 0-62mph in 2.78 seconds and a top speed of 159mph for the most powerful model. Like the SUV, there will also be 350kW charging possible for the 102kWh battery, meaning up to 93 miles in just five minutes, and we\u2019re told to expect a similar range. (The Eletre\u2019s best is up to 373 miles). <\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the Emeya benefits from a \u2018race grade braking system\u2019 to go alongside that very motorsporty spoiler, as well as electronically controlled air suspension that can read the road ahead 1,000 times a second, to deliver \u2018a thrilling new standard in the GT segment for ride and handling excellence\u2019. Again, the bar has been set pretty high with the Porsche Taycan, but that car isn\u2019t perfect, and you can bet Lotus has been furiously benchmarking it in the development process. Improving upon its chief rival would obviously make for a pretty compelling EV.<\/p>\n
Sustainability is never far from an EV press release, and that remains true for the Emeya. Lotus is the first car maker in the world that uses a luxury thread for upholstery that\u2019s made by repurposing cotton scraps from the fashion industry; it will also make use of Ultrafabrics PU, and more traditional materials like aluminium, Alcantara and Nappa leather.<\/p>\n
Although perhaps nobody will care much about materials when augmented reality has made it to a Lotus – that\u2019s thanks to a 55-inch head-up display that provides all the information a driver needs (and potentially some they might not), including navigation, driver assistance status and performance data. Lotus says the Emeya is \u2018packed with intelligent and advanced technology features\u2019 that give drivers \u2018all the necessary tools to maximise the thrills from their Lotus.\u2019 And for less thrilling occasions, there\u2019ll be a KEF audio system and road noise cancellation to keep things calm.<\/p>\n
And the name? \u2018The name Emeya was chosen to embody the ambition and commitment which Lotus has for this new vehicle.\u2019 So there. It will be the flagship model above the Eletre as the brand tries to make good on its Vision80 strategy of luxury lifestyle EVs, thereby ensuring its status as a global performance brand by 2028. The global reveal has taken place at Studio Emeya in New York City with lots of notable folks invited, but is open to the public this Saturday. We don\u2019t have a price yet; that is due before the end of the year, too. For now, you just have to decide if you\u2019re a fan or not. <\/p>\n