The latest ambitious plan for tiny British automaker Lotus: offer the base version of new models with a hybrid powertrain, then follow up with a lightweight performance version that does away with the electric motor.
“There is one powertrain, with two configurations. One is hybrid and the sporting variants are non-hybrid. That is the same approach for every car,” Lotus CEO Dany Bahar told PistonHeads.
With Lotus looking to put out six new or redesigned models over the next six years, installing a hybrid powertrain in each car will be something of a formidable task, even with a host of shared components.
As for the hardcore performance variants, which could be denoted by an R designation, Bahar said that the loss of the 100 horsepower electric motor could mean that the hybrids end up being more powerful. However, with engines putting out as much as 640 horsepower and curb weights reduced in part by the extensive use of carbon fiber, the non-hybrid R variants will be the more enthusiast-focused machines.
“They’ll be pure driver’s cars, nothing unnecessary, no leather, and even the seats in carbon fibre. Whereas the base version is more mainstream,” Bahar said.
The first car to incorporate Lotus’s new powertrain strategy will be the 2013 Esprit, which Bahar said would have “a second derivative of the R which is even more hardcore, which is even lighter. It’s pure nothing. We call it [internally] GT3.”
References
1.’Lotus Goes Hybrid…’ view
