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Lotus May Build its Own Engines

To say that Lotus stunned the world at this year’s Paris Auto Show would be an understatement. We’ll remember you that the British carmaker introduced no less than five high performance vehicles (and a city car) that offered a new premium approach.

Now the company is willing to show us that we are not only talking about pretty faces. The automotive producer is willing to create two new engines, a V8 and a V6, as autocar reports.

The company is currently evaluating the possibility to give birth to a V8 that would be used to power the new Esprit, as well as to a V6 for the Elan and other models.

We have done three engines for other manufacturers; why not do it ourselves?” Lotus CEO Dany Bahar told the aforementioned source. “The engine is the heart of a sports car; we should do our own product.

Lotus originally intended to use a Toyota-sourced V8 unit for the Esprit. However it seems that this could affect the vehicle’s image, as automotive enthusiasts might not see a Toyota-badged powerplant being fit for a sports car. As Lotus is using a full-throttle approach for its future range, the company isn’t willing to take any risk, so this plan has been dropped.

The CEO explained that the development of two new powerplants could come with important costs, but the investment could be an efficient mid-term financial move, as it would allow the company to share components.

Following the same idea, Lotus engineering chief Wolf Zimmerman explained that the future mid-engined Lotus vehicles will share the same platform, brakes, suspension and electrical systems.
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About the author: Andrei Tutu
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In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist.
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