Last year, Lotus said that it would be making one more gasoline-powered sports car before going entirely electric. The future is in electrons, and for a small make like Lotus, it’s better to embrace that future completely.
That’s why this teaser released from Lotus is important to you. Many of those vehicles you see under the covers shouldn’t have a gasoline motor at all.
The Lotus Type 131, seen exposed here, is expected to have a hybrid powertrain setup. The rest of the vehicles are the cars slated to replace the Elise, Exige, and Evora. All of those cars end production this year.
To support this new initiative, Lotus is investing £100-million-plus into its Hethel facilities. Also, an additional 250 employees will be brought on board for this expansion.
Lotus is calling this future strategy Vision80, and is being helped by Geely and Etika, who took ownership of the company in September of 2017.
“This year will be hugely significant for Lotus with new facilities coming on stream, a new sports car entering production and new levels of efficiency and quality that only a new car design and factory can deliver. Despite the continuing global challenges, Lotus has emerged from 2020 strong and on track in the delivery of our Vision80 business plan,” said Phil Popham, CEO of Lotus Cars.
The future lineup of Lotus vehicles will have big shoes to fill. The British marque sold 55,000 of the gas-powered lineup.
