The third re-born Lotus model to be released today is the Elan. Positioned slightly below the Elite and the Esprit, the Elan offers a two-seater (optional 2+2), mid-engined, rear wheel drive experience.
The Elan features a 4.0 litre V6 with optional KERS regenerative braking technology. This unit produces 450hp and 465Nm of torque making it slower than both the Esprit and Elite but still able to complete the 0-100km/h (62mph) sprint in 3.5 seconds. Top speed is 310km/h (192mph) and weight is just 1,295kg.
Production will start in Summer 2013 with deliveries in Autumn 2013. Lotus are predicting that it will cost just £ 75,000 (€ 87,000).
Dany Bahar, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lotus, said:
If there was ever a car to make you drive the long way home, it’s the Elan. Perfect for both road and track, the Elan not only ticks all the boxes, it creates new ones too.
The Elan will convert people to Lotus, I would challenge people not to become addicted to driving it. It will also go a long way towards dispelling the old misconceptions about this class, that in order to have high performance you must sacrifice usability – those days are gone.
Once you drive an Elan you won’t look back, it will give you things you didn’t even realise you were missing – that’s the essence of Lotus and the Elan perfectly captures that spirit.
Legendary name reincarnated!
All very nice, but whats wrong with 6 speed manual shifter??