Artist Envisions a New Take on the Lotus Caterham 7

Much in the same way as Morgan’s pre-Supersports models, the Lotus / Caterham 7 has remained relatively unchanged throughout its long life. A lightweight body with no fixed doors or roof, a flat windscreen, exposed front wheels and a four cylinder motor embody the Seven’s design and engineering philosophy.

Diseno-Art has drawn up a nice design study in the form of the “New 7”, a vehicle designed to expand and complement the existing range of 7-badged vehicles.

With larger proportions and more refinement than the archaic (yet still beautiful) lines of the current generation, the New 7 is designed to be uniquely tailored to each customer’s needs and offer a high level of customer service while still holding to the brand’s philosophy of lightweight, simple and fun.

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Geneva 2011: Lotus Keeps its Evora Debuts Simple but Significant with Mansory in the Mix

After Lotus blew its proverbial head gaskets all over the Paris stage with a futuristic lineup consisting of a sedan and no less than four coupes, simplicity was the name of the game for the 2011 Geneva motor show. Lotus brought two special edition Evoras, a relatively low-key showing in stark contrast to its behavior in France last year.

Before you roll your eyes thinking, "Christ, another special edition blah blah blah," one of these two new Evoras is very different than another special edition Mustang or Bugatti.

The Mansory Evora comes from the union of two weight-conscious companies; Lotus prides itself on keeping its vehicles trim, while Mansory "provides valuable insights and an intuitive feeling for [high-end customisation]" while also offering "state-of-the-art carbon components".

Mansory's Lotus is dubbed the Lotus Bespoke Concept and is kind of a big deal because it establishes a relationship between a respected manufacturer and well-known tuner. You may recall Mansory from their various efforts tackling high-end vehicle customization. If all goes well, we just might be witnessing the next in-house tuner coming around.

Lotus calls the Mansory Evora an "Individualization Concept Car"; with it, the industry's resident featherweight hopes to develop its own "Exclusive" / "Individual" program for customer's seeking a coachbuilt feel. The other Evora isn't as significant consumer-wise as the Mansory model, but is important nonetheless.

The Evora Enduro GT concept is an evolution of the current Lotus Evora GT4 Endurance and will serve as the platform from which FIA and ACO GT2/GTE racers will be built. That means we'll likely see this at a variety of upcoming 24-hour enduros including the Nürburgring, Spa, and Silverstone.

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Geneva 2011: Lotus Keeps its Evora Debuts Simple but Significant with Mansory in the Mix

After Lotus blew its proverbial head gaskets all over the Paris stage with a futuristic lineup consisting of a sedan and no less than four coupes, simplicity was the name of the game for the 2011 Geneva motor show. Lotus brought two special edition Evoras, a relatively low-key showing in stark contrast to its behavior in France last year.

Before you roll your eyes thinking, "Christ, another special edition blah blah blah," one of these two new Evoras is very different than another special edition Mustang or Bugatti.

The Mansory Evora comes from the union of two weight-conscious companies; Lotus prides itself on keeping its vehicles trim, while Mansory "provides valuable insights and an intuitive feeling for [high-end customisation]" while also offering "state-of-the-art carbon components".

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Geneva Preshow: Lotus Joins Forces with Mansory to Tune the Evora

Mastering the fine art of tuning is a complicated process and, judging by the sheer number of overkills one can see on the web every day, it’s clear that only a few have what it takes to do a good job. For Lotus that special someone is Swiss tuning firm Mansory, which is responsible for the creation of an Evora concept that will be presented at the Geneva show in the beginning of March.

The automaker released two pictures of the special version 2+2 sports coupe, while also stating this:

“Let’s be clear on this: contrary to media reports, what you’ll see in Geneva is NOT an Evora facelift. It’s a taste of the future of Lotus product customisation. Merely the first toe in the water and a showcase of the potential future.”

From what we can tell, the modified Evora features a new front bumper with bigger air intakes and inserts, which appear to be made out of carbon fiber. The same lightweight composite material seems to have been used for the side vents, mirror housings, side skirts, greenhouse, rear spoiler and oversized diffuser. The 10-spoke alloys with a glossy black finish are also new.

While we can’t say that the Evora is our favorite Lotus, overall the bodykit looks nice and it seems that the Brits are really on to something good here.

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Geneva Preshow: Lotus Joins Forces with Mansory to Tune the Evora

Mastering the fine art of tuning is a complicated process and, judging by the sheer number of overkills one can see on the web every day, it’s clear that only a few have what it takes to do a good job. For Lotus that special someone is Swiss tuning firm Mansory, which is responsible for the creation of an Evora concept that will be presented at the Geneva show in the beginning of March.

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Lotus Designs Smart Fortwo Sized All-Electric Mini Car Concept

From the make-believe world of 'What if...' comes our next story on a concept proposal for an all-electric mini car from Lotus. However, what makes this project stand out from the usual independently styled concepts is the fact that it was actually designed by Lotus. See, Automotive Engineer magazine asked the British sports carmaker to come up with a concept vehicle to show how far city car design could go.

The result is an extremely compact-sized mini car equipped with a 37kW-strong electric motor. Like many other EVs, power is provided by a 10kW lithium-ion battery pack which is positioned under the floor and can be recharged in three-and-a-half hours through a standard household 13A plug. The vehicle would have a range of around 50 km or 30 miles while it would be able to reach a top speed close to 65mph or 105km/h.

At just 2,600 mm or 102.4-in. in length, 1,600 mm or 63-in. wide, 1,700 mm or 67-in. in height and with a wheelbase of 2,000 mm or 78.7-in. the Lotus designed mini is roughly the same size as the two-seater Smart Fortwo and quite smaller than the 3+1 seater Toyota iQ.

Nevertheless, Hethel's designers say that mini can seat up to four people, albeit the two rear passengers will most likely feel like a pack of sardines. Alternatively, the rear seats can be folded to provide a luggage space. Driver and passengers would enter the car through a pair of sliding side doors.

The mini car would use an aluminum spaceframe in the floor while according to Russell Carr, head of Lotus Design, the body would be pressed aluminum or composite materials, depending on the sales volume.

Lotus points out that the design for the mini car was completed in approximately two weeks instead of the typical concept phase that lasts between three and six months, meaning that the project is a more of a rough sketch than anything else. And just to prevent any sort of rumors, the magazine says that vehicle wasn't designed as a Lotus city car but as a concept that could be developed for a third-party automaker.

Via: Automotive Engineer

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VIDEO: Lotus Elan Concept’s Digital Instrument Panel in Action

The Lotus Elan was one of five concept sports cars presented by Lotus at last year's Paris Auto Show while it also made a quick stop at the LA motorshow that followed in November. Now that the concept studies have made it back to the England, the folks over at Paultan visited the British firm's headquarters in Hethel and shot this video showing the Elan's digital instruments in action. The panel consists of a large LCD screen flanked on either side by two smaller components. You can watch the video clip after the jump.

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VIDEO: Lotus Elan Concept’s Digital Instrument Panel in Action

The Lotus Elan was one of five concept sports cars presented by Lotus at last year's Paris Auto Show while it also made a quick stop at the LA motorshow that followed in November. Now that the concept studies have made it back to the England, the folks over at Paultan visited the British firm's headquarters in Hethel and shot this video showing the Elan's digital instruments in action. The panel consists of a large LCD screen flanked on either side by two smaller components. You can watch the video clip after the jump.

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New Photo Gallery of Lotus' Future Sports Car Lineup

You may have to ask a second time for their name and you probably need to take more than a couple of looks to tell them apart, but that doesn't mean we're not impressed by the next generation of Lotus sports cars.

Unveiled for the first time as concept studies at the Paris Motor Show in October, with the North American debut taking place at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November, the new Elise, Esprit, Elite, Elan are a wild bunch. And while we don't have anything new to add about the four sports coupes, Lotus has unleashed a beautiful photo gallery shot in Hollywood, which you can enjoy in high-resolution quality right after the jump.

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1:42 PM | 0 comments | Read More

New Photo Gallery of Lotus' Future Sports Car Lineup

You may have to ask a second time for their name and you probably need to take more than a couple of looks to tell them apart, but that doesn't mean we're not impressed by the next generation of Lotus sports cars.

Unveiled for the first time as concept studies at the Paris Motor Show in October, with the North American debut taking place at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November, the new Elise, Esprit, Elite, Elan are a wild bunch. And while we don't have anything new to add about the four sports coupes, Lotus has unleashed a beautiful photo gallery shot in Hollywood, which you can enjoy in high-resolution quality right after the jump.

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Lotus CEO Says Concept City Car will Enter Production in "October 2013"

It appears that Aston Martin won't be the only British sports car maker to have a controversial small city car in its range. Lotus chief executive Dany Bahar told Car magazine that the Concept City Car, which was previewed at the recent Paris Motor Show alongside five sports car studies, has been approved for production. The comapny's CEO said the car will be manufactured in cooperation with Lotus parent company Proton and an undisclosed third party.

"Our city car has been confirmed and will be launched in October 2013," Mr. Bahar told the British magazine. "We are doing this together with Proton and another OEM [original equipment manufacturer, or car maker]. We will build three versions: one for the Asian market, one for Europe and a sportier one."

The Lotus flavored Concept City Car is based on one of the three Giugiaro-penned Proton EMAS design studies, which were first shown in Geneva earlier this year.

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Lotus CEO Says Concept City Car will Enter Production in "October 2013"

It appears that Aston Martin won't be the only British sports car maker to have a controversial small city car in its range. Lotus chief executive Dany Bahar told Car magazine that the Concept City Car, which was previewed at the recent Paris Motor Show alongside five sports car studies, has been approved for production. The comapny's CEO said the car will be manufactured in cooperation with Lotus parent company Proton and an undisclosed third party.

"Our city car has been confirmed and will be launched in October 2013," Mr. Bahar told the British magazine. "We are doing this together with Proton and another OEM [original equipment manufacturer, or car maker]. We will build three versions: one for the Asian market, one for Europe and a sportier one."

The Lotus flavored Concept City Car is based on one of the three Giugiaro-penned Proton EMAS design studies, which were first shown in Geneva earlier this year.

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Lotus Metamorphosis: An artistic take on the firm's future models [with Video]

To show that the brand is going through a metamorphosis after the presentation of five new models at the Paris Show, Lotus has joined forces with award winning French artist Gérard Rancinan to create seven artistic images that will be showcased alongside a new book by French writer, Caroline Gaudriault, at a special event in Los Angeles on Friday, November 12.

As you may have guessed, the collection of photos is called "Metamorphosis" and the focus is on the five new Lotus models that made the trip to this year's Paris Motor Show: the Esprit, Elan, Elite, Elise and Eterne, plus two extra large montages.

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Lotus Metamorphosis: An artistic take on the firm's future models [with Video]

To show that the brand is going through a metamorphosis after the presentation of five new models at the Paris Show, Lotus has joined forces with award winning French artist Gérard Rancinan to create seven artistic images that will be showcased alongside a new book by French writer, Caroline Gaudriault, at a special event in Los Angeles on Friday, November 12.

As you may have guessed, the collection of photos is called "Metamorphosis" and the focus is on the five new Lotus models that made the trip to this year's Paris Motor Show: the Esprit, Elan, Elite, Elise and Eterne, plus two extra large montages.

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Paris Show: Lotus wants to Take on Aston Martin Rapide with New Eterne Sports Saloon

In an attempt to enter the 4-door coupe market, Lotus brought a sedan - you read that right - to the Paris Motor Show. The Eterne is the new Lotus 4-door (other Loti saloons include the 377HP twin-turbocharged Lotus Carlton / Omega of the early 1990s, and they sure are cool); it uses a Lotus-tuned new bad boy engine borrowed from Lexus.

This means that sitting under the hood is a high-output forced-induction 5.0-liter V8. As with the Esprit and Elite, the Eterne will offer optional hybrid power and KERS.

An added bonus is available AWD. The Eterne provides seating for four passengers in an 1,800-kilo package that will cost approximately £120,000 [~ US$190,500 at today's exchange rates] before options.

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2015 Lotus Elise Appears in Paris - With Live Pictures and Video

The new Lotus Elise jumps into entirely new styling territory, not so much evolving from the current model but fully reinventing itself as a baby Esprit. The only similarities are the mid-engine layout driving the rear wheels and 2-seats around corners.

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Paris: Lotus Shows off New Elan, Begs the Question: What will Happen to the Evora?

Next up on our Lotus debut circus is the Elan, a small 2-seater (with an optional 2+2 layout) sitting somewhere between the Evora and the Esprit. Looking very similar to the Esprit (and in the rest of the new Lotus coupes), the Elan gets its power from a high-output Toyota-sourced V6 and, also like its new big brother, optional KERS and hybrid systems. Scroll on down for all the Lotus-certified facts.

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