Tuesday 8th February 2005

Lotus GT breaks cover

Prototype tours Hethel backroads

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The new Lotus GT has broken cover. According to a story in Autocar, the £30,000 car has been touring the roads around Lotus' home base in Hethel, Norfolk.

Lotus' official line is that the car is still 'under consideration' and that it's ‘still very much a feasibility study’. The picture comes from a design study that Lotus registered with the Patent Office last year (see link below).

Lotus plans the mid-size sports car, intended to fit into the Esprit's slot, as a more refined GT-style car than the track-focused Elise. It'll be bigger, wider and have a longer wheelbase, and be competition for the Boxster and Audi TT. Apparently, rear seats are still under discussion because the body style means that it would be tough for anyone to get into them.

More importantly, Lotus has yet to decide on an engine, according to Autocar. It'll be mid-mounted but could be a Toyota V6 or in-line four.

Autocar story: www.autocarmagazine.co.uk/

PH patent story: www.pistonheads.com/lotus/default.asp?storyId=9025

[Esprit]

Hrmm...... could be interesting.... although I fail to see how a Mid-sized V6 sports car could fit in to the Esprit's Slot? Surely this is much moe along the lines of that the aborted M250 was meant to be? As always... details are sketchy... I guess we'll find out in the fulness of time... and knowing lotus, it'll be worth the wait