Okay, this was actually too hilarious not to pass on.  Seriously, it’s this good.

I was over on AskMen.com looking for something to talk about when I blundered onto a list of gadgets for the car that are pretty much useless, or otherwise stupid.  And they were talking about the emergency trunk release system for the Lotus.

Now, this is technically a safety requirement, but it’s a lot like those “Warning: Do Not Use In Bathtub” warning labels on the sides of hair dryers.  Because those are also a safety requirement but they’re no less hilarious.  Anyway, the Lotus line of cars has an emergency trunk release system, on the off chance that someone should be trapped in the trunk.

The funny part comes in when you consider that a Lotus trunk is barely large enough for a pizza box, let along a fully grown (or even partially grown) human being.

Of course, you could follow AskMen’s lead and make a joke about Britney Spears here (wonder if she could get Sean Preston into the trunk? ) but it’s sufficient to let it be hair-dryer-warning-label hilarious all on its own.

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The Lotus Scura is now on sale packed with a mean black-finish. The Scura features carbon fiber splitters, oil cooler inlet vanes and side airscoops. And while it does look like a mean machine similar to supercars in the market, it does have a touch of eco-friendliness to go. The Lotus Scura is lightweight and should address fuel consumption concerns for interested parties. There will only be 35 of them available and each retails for about 45,000 British Pounds.

(Source) Examiner

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The Lotus Evora beat out 29 other cars to win the title of Performance Car of the Year for 2009 from Car Magazine. The list included marquee car brands like Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Porsche, giving you an idea of what this vehicle brings. All 30 cars went through subjective and objective testing on the driving roads of Great Britain. Among the highlights of the Lotus Evora during this event included the smooth navigation and steering.

And to refresh your memory, the Lotus Evora features a 280HP 3.5 litre V6 petrol engine paired with a 6-speed manual transmission gearbox.

(Source) Auto Spies

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It seems that Lotus CEO Dany Bahar is unhappy with the current hype surrounding his company due to its decline since the late 90s. Well, if what he says is true Lotus will be on par with Lamborghini, Maserati and Ferrari soon enough.

Autocar quotes Mr. Bahar:

“Lotus was mentioned in the same sentence as Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati in the 1970s-1990s. Then, it got closed into a corner. We believe it’s the right time to bring Lotus back to where it was.”

Will they succeed? All three of the automakers he plans to go against have long been regarded as some of the highest quality, most expensive and fastest cars in the industry, so let’s wish them luck.

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The 2010 Lotus Exige S240 was officially unveiled in the U.S. and Canadian markets, bringing a new transport solution for conservative and super-charged car fanatics. It comes with a new type of styling with its new rear wing enhancements for efficient aerodynamic performance. This light weight vehicle also boasts of new air intakes to ensure vehicle ride efficiency. Other highlights include a fully independent suspension, a supercharged 1.8 liter Lotus-tuned and 2ZZ-GE engine with Intelligent Variable Valve Timing (VVT-i), airbags and an on-board tire pressure monitoring system. For access and security, the Lotus Exige S240 also comes with a “Thatcham approved” alarm/immobiliser system that incorporates alarm and central locking.

Scheduled to come out this fall, the 2010 Lotus Exige S240 will start at $65,690.

(Source) Manual Gear

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The Tokyo Motor Show officially opens on October 24, hosting a wide roster of automakers to show off their latest vehicles set to be released in the market. And just when many people were looking forward to the event, Hyundai has begged off from the Tokyo Motor Show despite having paid a non-refundable reservation fee of $122,000.

There were no definitive reasons given for Hyundai’s pull out but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that it has something to do with expenses. If Hyundai participated, they would have to address other costs that include outlays, staffing and other support materials for any new model they would be unveiling as well as the space rental for the duration of the event. as well as the space rental for the duration of the event.

With their pull-out, the Tokyo Motor Show looms like a showdown among Japan’s familiar car brands. Only two other foreign car companies remain for the event and these are Alpina Burkard Bovensiepen and Lotus. With 3 weeks to go, will they stay or will they go?

(Source) NY Times

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Lotus Cars USA has begun offering supercharger kits to go along with their Elise and Exige models. The kit includes higher flow injectors, a supercharger with integrated intake manifold and new ECU calibrations. It also complies with all legal standards in the United States. The kit also brings 189 HP up to an impressive 218 HP; torque jumps from 133 ft.-lbs. up to approximately 155 ft.-lbs.

“Lotus Elise and Exige owners are genuine driving enthusiasts and that’s what has attracted them to Lotus cars in the first place,” said Lotus Cars USA, Inc. Director of Operations Arnie Johnson. “They will fully appreciate the dramatically enhanced driving character these Lotus Supercharger Kits will bring their vehicles and the peace of mind from a fully warranted, factory engineered kit.”

No price has been listed by the car manufacturer yet.

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Niche Cars is reportedly now taking new orders for the latest Lotus vehicle, the Lotus Evora. The latest Evora is powered by a Toyota-sourced 280HP 3.5 litre V6 petrol engine that is also complemented with a 6-speed manual transmission gearbox.

Prices are slated to kick off at B7.9M but will entirely depend on the features and options that buyers will be looking for. Initial deliveries for the Lotus Evora is expected to start somewhere in August.

(Source) Bangkok Post

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Tesla and Lotus have together issued a recall regarding 2008 Roadster’s and 2009 Elise and Exiges.

The official recall notice points to the fact that the rear hube flange bolts on some of the 345 Roadsters produced in 2008 may not have been properly torqued which could lead to decreasingly worse vehicle handling and a rubbing noise from the back of the vehicle. The rubbing noise obviously isn’t a big deal but a car with decreased handling poses all sorts of safety hazards.

If you didn’t know, Lotus provides Tesla with some engineering, mainly the Roadster’s main chassis which shares some parts with their Elise and Exige models thus leaving them to issue a similar recall.

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With a rocky state as far as finances are concerned, the ENVI is as good as gone. This was revealed as Fiat has practically overtaken the whole assembly line of Chrysler. The reason for the move is that Fiat thinks that the project may prove to be costly.

ENVI was scheduled to deliver its first electric-vehicle in late 2010 with lithium-ion battery packs supplied by A123Systems. The division had created a total of five vehicle concepts but never confirmed which of those five concepts would make it into production. However, last month CNNMoney said that Chrysler’s first production ENVI would be the Lotus Europa based Dodge Circuit.

“The Europa-based Dodge Circuit electric car has been killed by the credit crunch,” reports AutoCar. Nonetheless, insiders say that Lotus is now talking to European OEM to setup another electric-car program like the Tesla Roadster.

The Dodge Circuit EV is (or was) a pure electric-car that carries a 268-hp electric-motor allowing it to travel 150 miles to 200 miles on a single charge. 0 to 60 comes in under 5 seconds with a top speed of 120 mph.

(Source) EGM Car Tech

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Bad news for people who were looking to find comfort on the 2010 Lotus Evora. Though many expected it to be a car built for 4, it looks like it will only be built for two.

Lotus plans to keep the Evora hype going by adding new features to the car each year – including a paddle-shift gearbox and a high-performance supercharged variant – culminating in a roadster model in 2012. However, to make room for the convertible top, Lotus engineers had to do away with the Evora’s rear seat.

“It’s not going to be easy to fit the roof in,” Steve Crijns, the Evora’s exterior designer, told Autocar. “It will have to go in front of the engine, where the rear seats are now. The rest of the car has been designed with the cabrio in mind; the doors, for instance, are styled so that they can accommodate the system without any changes.”

Crijns also revealed the Evora will do with a soft top rather than a retractable hardtop. The decision to use a more conventional soft top will not only save on engineering time but will also keep the car’s weight down.

(Source) Left Lane News

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Purist Edition

In an attempt to attract buyers, Lotus is offering lots of features for less and they’re calling it the ‘Elise Purist Edition’. It is built around a Sport-package Elise with all of the options of the Touring package, but minus the leather-trimmed transmission tunnel, leather door inserts and iPod interface. This car starts out more than $3,000 below what the sticker price would be normally, starting at $44,920 (including shipping). A base Elise starts at $48,175 (including shipping).

The Purist Edition Elise will be available in three colors- Ardent Red, Monaco White and Saffron Yellow. The black leather interior is complemented by a Momo leather steering wheel, CD player, air conditioning and a starter button. Like other standard Elises, the car is powered by a 1.8L four-banger good for 189hp (141kW) that is rather spritely, dashing from 0-60mph (96km/h) in 4.9 seconds, with a top speed of 150mph (241km/h).

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Among the thing to watch out at the upcoming Geneva Auto Show is this new engine concept from Lotus. Lotus will be unveiling its Omnivore Flex-Fuel Engine concept engine that will run quite happily on standard petrol or alcohol-based fuels.

Lotus will display the single-cylinder mono-block unit at the Geneva Motor Show next week. Among its claims, Lotus says that the engine has been designed for high thermal efficiency regardless of fuel type used. This is an important aspect to note as much of the energy a combustion engine produces is lost as heat.

A variable compression rate also means the two-stroke mill can operate at peak efficiency throughout the rev range. The absence of poppet valves allows the variable compression system to be implemented with greater ease than on a conventional two-stroke engine. The design of the block is such that no cylinder-head gasket is required, meaning less weight and greater durability.

(Source) The Motor Report

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Green cars are hogging the limelight these days and British sports-car company Lotus is taking its cue in incorporating eco-friendly considerations alongside usual sports car efficiency. And one vehicle that has been trying to carry the green awareness flag is the Lotus Eco Elise.

The Eco Elise features an interior made from wool, instead of more traditional materials such as alcantara or leather, while some of the exterior body panels are made from hemp.

On the roof there are solar panels that provide the electricity to run the stereo and air conditioning, and the rest of the body is coated in a new water-based paint developed with DuPont that is not only more environment friendly, but also cheaper to produce.

The Eco Elise, which is based on the standard Elise sports car costing £24,000, is part of a company-wide drive by Lotus to green up its image: “It came from a staff initiative to improve our environmental credentials,” said Alastair Florance at Lotus.

(Source) Times Online

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Lotus Exige

The 2009 Lotus Exige is a 2-door, 2-passenger convertible sports car, available in two trims, the S 240 and the S 260. The S 240 is equipped with a standard 1.8-liter, I4, 240-horsepower, supercharged engine that achieves an EPA mileage rating of 20-mpg in the city and 26-mpg on the highway—not bad at all for a car that looks a lot like something you dreamed about when you were a little boy. The S 260 is equipped with a standard 1.8-liter, I4, 257-horsepower, supercharged engine that achieves 20-mpg in the city and 26-mpg on the highway.

A 6-speed manual transmission with overdrive is standard on both trims. The Exige will do zero to 60 MPH in under four seconds and zero to 100 MPH in under 10 seconds, and has a top speed of right around 150 MPH. The Exige looks like a professional race car, feels like a professional race car, but comes with an MSRP that you’d expect from any number of popular sports cars, making it possible to own, if not reasonable or rational. MSRP on a 2009 Lotus Exige runs from $65,690 to $74,995.00.

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