Lotus has plans to go electric

LOTUS has announced that it will soon unleash a battery-powered hypercar called the Type 130, which will be the British sports car maker’s first all-new product in over a decade.

While Lotus didn’t reveal a car at the Shanghai Motor Show, it did show a sketch of the upcoming hypercar at its press conference, and said the vehicle was “in advanced state of development”.

“Type 130 will be the most dynamically accomplished Lotus in our history. It marks a turning point for our brand and is a showcase of what we are capable of and what is to come from Lotus,” said Lotus chief executive Phil Popham.

While he and Lotus are remaining tight-lipped about the specifications and performance figures, the company has promised to reveal all at an event in London, the brand’s birthplace, later this year.

The British brand has fallen by the wayside in recent years, saddled with an ageing product line-up and a lack of funding to develop new ones.

However, Lotus was given a life-line in 2017 when Chinese car giant Geely, which also owns Volvo, purchased a majority stake in the brand.

Lotus was co-founded in the early 1950s by engineering graduates Colin Chapman and Colin Dare. It was Chapman who famously stated “to add speed, add lightness”, and the company has been focused on lightweight techniques since.

Given how heavy the batteries of an electric car can be, we’d say the modern Lotus engineers certainly have their work cut out for them.

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