Lotus, Boutique Maker Of British Sports Cars, Now Setting Sights On Electric Hypercar

HotCars

By Sean Murray

Published Apr 18, 2019

Lotus will burst into the hypercar scene with the first every electric hypercar made from a British manufacturer.

via Lotus

British sports carmaker Lotus is now making an electric hypercar, which sounds very exciting.

Last we heard from Lotus, they were busily explaining to the British press that they were making a brand new sports car to sit alongside their 3-car lineup of Evora, Elise, and Exige. Now, Lotus has just announced they’re going to be getting into the hypercar market with their first fully-electric automobile.

In fact, it will be the “first full electric British hypercar” ever, according to Lotus. And we know next to nothing about it.

We do know it’ll be called the “Type 130” in honor of previous numbered cars that Lotus has produced over the years. It will be revealed in the flesh at the Shanghai International Auto Show, which starts next weeks and runs alongside the New York Auto Show. Lotus is owned by Geely, a Chinese automotive conglomerate, so if you want to know why they shunned the New York show for Shanghai, there’s your answer.

It’ll likely be revealed in London either shortly before or during the Shanghai show, just so the Brits don’t get upset.

The rest of what we know comes straight from the mouth of Lotus CEO Phil Popham. “Type 130 will be the most dynamically accomplished Lotus in our history,” Popham said in a press release. “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.”

In an interview with Jalopnik, Popham had a few additional words to add on the Type 130. “It’s not a car that we particularly just want to sit in a showroom or collection,” he said. “We’d actually like people to drive it and we will be using this around the world. It will be technology leading and all-electric.”

Lotus announced a partnership with Williams Advanced Engineering last February, so we can assume that Williams will be providing the electric powertrain. Williams supplies batteries to Formula E racers, so we know that their work is geared for speed.

We’ll have to wait till next week to get some numbers and hopefully a few good images. We’ll also have to wait to see if this is just a concept or a production-ready car that will be revealed. Here’s hoping it’s something that might take on the Rimacs and Pininfarina’s of this world.

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