Lotus has long been envied for producing super light super cars. Amid the auto world which is focusing on developing more efficient cars, Lotus showed interest on producing fast electric cars. They may do it before 2009 ends.
The name of the game for Lotus and Colin Chapman, the designer who pioneered the sportscar line of the brand, is to add lightness to the car. This means that the Lotus sports car are efficient speed monsters that can save a lot of fuel and less wear on the tires.
The efficiency of the design of the car serves as an advantage during races where the Lotus needs lesser pit than competitors like Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz. To date, the Lotus philosophy of being light lives on and production line uses light weight extruded-aluminum.
The Lotus Elise, for example, is able to live up to its name even though it uses an engine adopted from the Toyota Corolla. This means that a lot of EV manufacturers will appreciate a lightweight supercar Lotus chassis. Companies like Chrysler, Tesla, and Proton are admitting that they have been collaborating with Lotus and have been borrowing things from their parts bins.
The Lotus CEO declares that they will enter the arena of electronic vehicles later this year. The electronic super cars with range extenders will take a bow in the Geneva motor show come March.
The likes of Lotus Evora may get some tweaking or serve as a foundation DNA for developing high performance electronic vehicles.