2024 Lotus Emira: Saving the Best for Last

The last gas-powered Lotus sports car — which replaces the Elise, Exige and Evora and is its only current offering in the U.S. — the Emira will go on sale for the 2024 model year. With hypercar styling inspired by the all-electric Evija, a bonded-aluminum mid-engine chassis and a turbocharged four-cylinder engine from Mercedes-AMG, the Emira promises to be a fitting grand finale to the era of internal-combustion Lotuses.

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Specifically What, Now?

Specific output, for less geeky readers, is the amount of power generated per unit of displacement. If that sounds confusing, the unit it’s measured in should clear things up: horsepower per liter. The Emira’s base engine is derived from Mercedes-AMG’s turbocharged four-cylinder. In the AMG C43, the 2.0-liter generates 402 horsepower, or 201 hp/liter; scale that up to the size of, say, the Chevrolet Corvette Z06’s 5.5-liter V-8, and you’d be making 1,106 horsepower instead of the Z06’s 670 hp. Specific output is a nerdy number, but it’s also an indicative one.

In the Emira, the little engine that could (kick your four-cylinder’s butt) settles at a still-impressive 360 hp and 317 pounds-feet of torque. It’s paired to an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, also of Mercedes origin. The optional engine is an updated version of the supercharged 3.5-liter Toyota V-6 that powered the Evora; it puts out 395 hp, and Lotus will offer the V-6 with a six-speed manual transmission or a six-speed automatic.

Foundational

Bonded-aluminum chassis have long underpinned Lotus sports cars, blending light weight and stiffness. The one under the Emira features a new cast-aluminum rear subframe cutting around 26 pounds. Eibach springs and Bilstein dampers are uniquely tuned in the Tour and Sport chassis, and with simplicity being a Lotus hallmark, Tour and Sport are not settings that adaptive bits switch between — they are permanent tunes buyers will select from at purchase.

There are concessions to modernity inside, where the Emira sports a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and 10.25-inch touchscreen for infotainment. The driver and passenger sit in heated 12-way power-adjustable seats, with four colors of leather available or black simulated suede that offers a choice of three stitching colors. Where the Evora once pretended there was enough space for a rear seat, the Emira simply has a luggage compartment.

Pricing will start at $99,900 for the four-cylinder and $105,400 for the V-6 before a yet-determined delivery charge. Lotus has not specified exactly when the Emira will go on sale in the U.S. beyond making the configurator live and ready for dreamers now.

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