Lotus Concept 1 2024: Worth, Specs, Availability

There’s extra to the way forward for Lotus than massive electric SUVs. That’s what the British firm as soon as well-known for its light-weight sports activities vehicles needs you to consider—and it’s why Lotus has revealed a hanging new supercar idea, known as Concept 1.

To be clear, this isn’t an electrical rebirth of the Lotus Esprit, the wedge-shaped ’70s icon pushed into the ocean by James Bond. Not less than not but. Lotus aficionados will discover its title isn’t “Kind” adopted by three numbers, as is idea automobile custom, nor does it start with an E, as nearly all manufacturing Lotuses do. As an alternative, it’s a approach of showcasing know-how that Lotus has deliberate for future vehicles and, simply perhaps, a touch of a supercar to come back.

Talking solely to WIRED, Lotus design vice chairman Ben Payne mentioned: “We needed to recapture that sense of purity, however to not do a sort of pastiche of an Esprit, as a result of that doesn’t make any sense. So it’s extra concerning the spirit of that automobile, the logic of the design and the way managed it’s within the execution.”

That sense of management is essential to all elements of the Concept 1. Lotus might have given it 2,000 horsepower to match its Evija flagship, nevertheless it settled at a extra affordable 987 hp (1,000 PS). It might have let its designers run wild with huge aero constructions, ground-effect followers, and different hypercar paraphernalia, or overdosed on idea automobile tropes like big touchscreen shows, synthetic intelligence, or a drone that takes off from the rear deck.

As an alternative, Lotus did what it’s best identified for and, within the apocryphal phrases of founder Colin Chapman, it “simplified, then added lightness.”

Payne defined: “There’s been this era of maximalism, and other people having to do one-upmanship and go above, above, above. And I feel we’ve reached that time the place it plateaus in stylistic phrases, and likewise within the demonstration of tech.” He provides, “We’re not in a loopy numbers race with this automobile.”

Severely Fast, Remarkably Mild

Though not loopy by 2024 EV requirements, Lotus remains to be pitching the Concept 1 as a significantly fast supercar. It’s aiming for a variety of 250 miles from a modest 70-kWh battery, an all-wheel-drive system with its rear motor bolted on to the suspension, motorsport-style, a zero to 62-mph time of beneath 2.5 seconds, and a high velocity of 200 mph. That’s all the same old supercar packing containers ticked, nevertheless it’s nothing to provide Rimac sleepless nights—or certainly get awkwardly near Lotus’ personal $2.Three million Evija.

Extra vital than outright energy is weight. Lotus says the all-carbon Concept 1 has a goal of sub-1,600 kg (3,500 lbs), or round 300 kg lower than the Evija. To additional drive the weight-saving level house, the automobile has simply 10 “A-surface supplies”—these being the supplies you possibly can see and contact with out digging beneath the floor—in comparison with the trade common of 100, in accordance with Lotus. The 10 embrace cellulose-based glass fiber, chopped carbon fiber, and titanium, in addition to recycled types of glazing, polyester, rubber, and aluminum.

It’s additionally sensibly sized, so far as fashionable supercars go, with a width of two,000 mm (78.7 inches), a size of 4,490 mm (176.eight inches), and a peak of 1,140 mm (44.9 inches). Add this relative sensibility to the ingeniously sensible doorways, three seats, and glorious visibility, and it’s simple to think about what a manufacturing model might appear to be.