Car Throttle

You know sometimes movies start off strong with a great start, a fabulous middle part but they disappointingly fizzle out at the end? I sometimes feel shortchanged especially after a good premise, the movie only delivers a tiny little pop as a finale. It seems Lotus, after previewing five concept cars at the recent Paris Motor Show, are only seriously about working on one of them. The people at Hethel had spoken to Autocar recently about the fact that Lotus is only focusing their attention on the new Lotus Esprit for a 2013 launch at the moment and the other concept models are just concepts showing a complete line-up that will hopefully be produced by the manufacturer soon. The question would now be how soon is soon

When Lotus hinted that it had bigger ambitions, most took that to mean Lotus reentering the exotic supercar market with a new Esprit. We don't think anyone quite expected what followed at the Paris Auto Show - a raft of new models that spans from a luxury four-door coupe the Eterne, to the range topping Esprit revival. One of our favorites out of the introductions would have to be the Elite, an elegant Gran Turismo. It and the Eterne would have to be the models that show the biggest departure for Lotus. To promote the car, the company has released this video below showing it taking a virtual spin. The video is excellently produced and it shows an area of the car we've been wondering about - operation of

In case you didn't notice, Lotus has really packed a punch - actually five of them - at the Paris Auto Show. There is no doubt that Lotus stole the show, and that is no small feat for an automaker of Lotus' size. The brand hasn't been a big player on the automotive scene in recent history, catering to a dedicated but limited market with its Elise sportscar. That is about to change in a big way soon with introductions of the Elite, Esprit, Elan, Eterne and new Elise. As can be expected, Lotus is very excited and proud of its new introductions. To explain and show them off better, it has released a whole host of new videos documenting each one of the new vehicles. We

Lotus has been keeping busy this year, it seems.  I can't remember the last time a single manufacturer rolled out so many distinct concept cars, much less a small manufacturer like Lotus.  But so far at the Paris show we've seen a bucket full of new Lotuses that will fit into the whole "chasing Porsche" theme.  The range-topping V8 mid-engine Esprit, supercharged V6 mid-engine Elan, Ferrari California-esque front-engine V8 Elite, and the "I don't quite get it" Eterne hybrid sedan.  This isn't the Lotus we know and love, but a brand has to stay afloat somehow, right? For years, the core of Lotus' business has been the lightweight mid-engine Elise and it's various (and I do mean various) derivatives.  With the current generation having been around since

It's clear Lotus has a thing for names beginning in "E" - new models include Elite, Esprit, Elan, Eterne and existing models include Elise, Exige, Europa and Evora. A bit confusing, but in the past decade Lotus has been primarily known for one car - the Elise. It struck a chord with enthusiasts for being lightweight, mid-engined and offering g0-kart-like handling. It has become a classic, and that is a formula you don't want to mess with too much. As part of its higher ambitions, Lotus has given that formula a bigger update than anyone quite imagined with the new Elise Concept. The look is aggressive, fresh and modern. There are thin headlights and a swept back cabin that is quite a departure

CarThrottle's coverage of the Lotus product blitz at the 2010 Paris Auto Show continues. So far we've seen conceptual introductions of the front-engined V-8 Elite, mid-engined V-8 Esprit, and a mid-engined V-6 Elan. Now comes a product that perhaps stands out from them all the most - a four-door sedan. If that doesn't tell you something has changed at Lotus, we don't know what will. The high-end four-door luxury coupe segment, is a lucrative business, already entered by manufacturers like Aston Martin with the Rapide and Porsche with the Panamera. It could be getting even more competitive as there is rumblings that Lamborghini has given the green light to its Estoque four-door concept car as well. Lotus is showing with the Eterne that it wants

Lotus has been surprising everyone with its introductions at the Paris Auto Show. The front-engined V-8 Elite led the introductions when it came out prior to the auto show, followed by the mid-engined Esprit supercar revival. The Elan adds yet another new mid-engined car model to Lotus' arsenal, and it represents an extremely exciting new entry for the company. Lotus fans and car aficianados will recognize the Elan name, a curious choice. The new car bears no resemblance to the Elan of yesteryear, which was a small front-engined convertible. Despite the name, it is the product that counts, and the Elan is a model with an even bigger potential than the Esprit. For one, in design there is very little differentiation between the Esprit and the

Lotus is back and in a very big way. The company teased that a new era was dawning months ago, set to be unveiled at the Paris Auto Show. At the time we speculated about it being a new Esprit concept. And that speculation was correct, but it just so happens to be accompanied by four - yes four - other concepts as well. The Elite led the way with an introduction prior to the show. A front-engined GT with V-8 power, the Elite signaled something big was in store. Now Lotus is presenting what will be the new top dog in its lineup - a revival of the Esprit mid-engined supercar. While content to produce the lightweight, mid-engined (and highly successful we might add) Elise for

The Lotus Elise is a car that has been firmly entrenched in the minds and hearts of enthusiasts over the past decade. The Lotus brand, originally known for its lightweight sportscars, returned to its roots with the Elise. The result? Spectacular success. Lately, the brand has shown hints of desiring bigger and (depending on your viewpoint) better things. Bigger and better means a return to competition with exotic supercar manufacturers like Ferrari and Lamborghini, and now McLaren. In fact, McLaren's goals to enter the roadcar arena again with the MP4-12C could have spurred Lotus' efforts. Past speculation has pointed to two or three cars being unveiled at Paris, and the Elite is one of those. The unlikeliest of all the speculated-about vehicles turns out to be the one that

Very recently, Lotus previewed two Evora models. One, a supercharged Evora S and the other, the Evora IPS. The Evora S is what motoring enthusiasts would want. More power in what could be considered a sublime chassis. So it gets a supercharger to boost the 3.5liter V6 engine, making the Evora S have all the power some motoring journalists felt it sorely needed; about 350bhp and a whole lot of torque. The other Evora mentioned was the Evora IPS. The IPS stands for "Intelligent Precision Shift" or in non-marketing talk, Automatic Gearbox. This Evora is basically equipped with a Toyota sourced automatic transmission unit matched to the base Evora's 280bhp 3.5liter V6 engine sourced from Toyota. The transmission unit or gearbox features a “Lotus developed transmission