Latest news with #LotusElise
The Irish Sun
17-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Irish Sun
King Charles orders £160k UK-made electric car sparking speculation he'll DITCH iconic state Bentley
KING Charles has ordered a British-made £160,000 electric Lotus car. His move will spark speculation that he will ditch the 2 King Charles has ordered a British-made £160,000 electric Lotus car Credit: © David Dyson 2 Charles intends to use his Royal Claret Lotus Eletre as a personal runaround on one of his country estates Charles intends to use his top-spec It is thought that using the colour, which adorns the Royal Family's official fleet of state cars, was the idea of An insider said: 'The King has always liked eco-friendly vehicles but seems conscious that royal claret is the right look even when off-duty. 'It will look far more professional for the King's personal car to match the state vehicles. Read More on Royals 'The Palace has hinted that if Bentley can't make limousines for official use run on electric, then they would look at other manufacturers. 'The fact Lotus can produce an electric SUV in royal claret really puts them in the driving seat. 'The Royal Family had a Lotus Eletre last year on loan and it clearly ticked some boxes.' The King — increasingly spotted at his homes at Most read in Royals The modern classic Lotus Elise In last summer's annual review Sir Michael Stevens, Keeper of the Privy Purse, said: 'The two existing state Bentleys will undergo refurbishment in the coming year to enable them to run on biofuel. "This is likely to be an interim measure as we begin discussions around the next generation of state vehicles being fully electrified.'
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
General Motors's UK Designers Imagine the Future of the Corvette
General Motors has launched a new advanced design studio in the United Kingdom, which has created this streamlined concept car. The Corvette concept pairs a low-slung body with classic design cues like a split rear windshield. This concept will be one of several Corvette concepts being revealed this year, along with a GMC concept from the UK studio. Just like bald eagles, a mid-afternoon baseball game in the middle of summer, and a supersized Coca-Cola from McDonald's, the Chevrolet Corvette is an American staple. But what if the iconic sports car was designed in the United Kingdom instead? General Motors just opened a new advanced design studio outside Birmingham, England, and to christen the new space, the automaker revealed a futuristic Corvette design study from its U.K.-based team. The new facility, in Royal Leamington Spa, launches as General Motors gets ready to start selling the Corvette in the U.K. and the rest of Europe. The studio will be led by Julian Thomson, who penned the first-generation Lotus Elise, styled the Land Rover LRX concept, which previewed the Evoque, and oversaw Jaguar's advanced design department until 2021. The new 24,584-square-foot space will house over 30 designers for the advanced design team, which typically gazes five to 10 years into the future of automotive innovation. To that end, the British team cooked up a vision of a futuristic Corvette. GM says there is no production intent behind this concept, with the designers instead focusing on reimagining what the Corvette will look like in the coming decades. The concept is clearly derived from the modern era of the Corvette, with its rakish, mid-engined proportions, but makes a clear nod to the Corvette's legendary history with its split windshields at both the front and rear. The bodywork is clean, divided into a distinct, smooth white upper section and a black lower portion where cavernous intakes channel air through underbody tunnels to create downforce sans gaudy wings. GM hinted that the concept is electric, claiming that the battery is integrated into the vehicle's structure. The body is made via additive manufacturing, another way of saying 3-D printing, and there are dramatic gullwing doors. Overall, the concept stretches 183.8 inches long, about the same size as the current C8 Corvette, but measures nearly 10 inches wider and around eight inches shorter from top to bottom. The cabin is minimalist, with sleek chairs molded into the structure of the car and a rectangular, yoke-style steering wheel. The Corvette concept seen here is just the start. GM says this concept is part of a global design project that will involve studios around the world and will be joined by more Corvette concepts later in 2025. The company also teased a GMC concept that will be shown later this year; it was designed in collaboration with the GMC-specific team in Detroit. The GMC concept appears to show a boxy design, with rectilinear forms and a three-line motif in the headlights and taillights. You Might Also Like Car and Driver's 10 Best Cars through the Decades How to Buy or Lease a New Car Lightning Lap Legends: Chevrolet Camaro vs. Ford Mustang!
Forbes
31-03-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
A British Startup Challenges Tesla's (Delayed) Roadster With Two Ultra-Light EV Sports Cars
British automakers like Lotus are known for engineering sleek sportscars with ultra-low curb weights that enable brisk acceleration from engines that would otherwise be considered tepid in larger and heavier rides. As an example, the classic Lotus Elise – upon which the original Tesla Roadster was based – packed a Toyota-derived 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine that generated what would seem to be a puny 188 horsepower and 133 pound-feet of torque, yet its super-slim mass (around one ton) enabled it to register a 0-to-60 mph time at under five seconds, which was decidedly brisk for its time. Both Elise and Tesla's initial production models are long gone, and while a new Tesla Roadster has been planned (and delayed) for several years now, a fledgling U.K. brand named Longbow Motors, hopes to beat Elon Musk to market next year with a pair of what it calls the world's first 'FEVs' (for Featherweight Electric Vehicles). Founded by veteran British engineers Daniel Davy and Mark Tapscott, both with sportscar and EV development on their resumes, the company's motto is ' Celeritas Levitas,' which is Latin for 'the speed of lightness.' The brand's premiere offerings, planned for introduction in 2026, will be a pair of low-slung two-seat rear-wheel-drive EVs, the Longbow Speedster and Roadster. Each is wrapped in graceful exterior lines and curves that sweep rearward from a massive hood that evokes a classic Jaguar XKE from the 1960's. The Speedster comes without either a windshield or a roof, however, for the ultimate vintage sportscar experience. Rather than engineer and develop each of the cars' major components in house, including the batteries, motors and brakes, they'll reportedly be sourced from established Chinese suppliers to hold down costs and speed development. Each model will come powered by a 240 kw electric motor (at an estimated 322 British horsepower) and over 2,000 nickel-cadmium battery cells. Range on a charge is anticipated at a European-rated 275 miles (443 km) for the Speedster and five additional miles on a charge for the Roadster We'd guess dual-motor all-wheel drive models could arrive at some point in the vehicles' future. While the Longbows' outputs pale compared to some of the most powerful EVs on the market, either promises a 0-62 mph time at around 3.5 seconds, which places them firmly in supercar territory, thanks to extensive use of lightweight aluminum and composite components. Their curb weights are planned to tip the scales at around a svelte 2,000 pounds, which itself is about the weight of a Ford F-150 Lightning EV's battery pack alone. Both premiere models are planned for a limited production run of 1,500 units, and the company promises to show a prototype of the Speedster by midyear, with a production model scheduled for 2026, to be followed in subsequent months by the Roadster. Best of all, while the Longbow FEVs are built to run with Ferraris and Lamborghinis, they're planned to be more affordable alternatives. The Speedster is expected to start at $109,900 (£84,995), with the Roadster commanding a less-costly $84,040 (£64,995) base price. High rollers can step up to an even more-limited Luminary 1st Edition of the Speedster with 10 units planned, or the Autograph Edition of which 25 are said to be produced. There will also be 50 Luminary 1st Edition Roadster units up for grabs as well as 100 Autograph Edition versions. No word yet how much of a premium those limited models will command. Specifics including standard and optional equipment, U.S.-certified specs and availability on this side of the Atlantic are yet to surface. Oh, in case you haven't yet caught on, the Roadster's moniker was reportedly chosen as a dig at Tesla's yet-to-surface second-generation model of the same name. 'A lot of customers have put deposits down for a Roadster that they can't get," says co-founder Daniel Davy via Top Gear. "If people want to get back their $250,000 deposit for a 2020 car and put it into a better car, they're going to get one sooner (and) they're welcome to do it.'
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
You Have No Idea How Hard It Is to Fix a Crashed Lotus Elise
Track driving is not for the faint of heart — or with those thin wallets. The likelihood that you and your car will take a hit is high, and the costs associated are always going to be on the expensive end. But the heart wants what it wants, and so long as you go in with your eyes open, the difficulty of a repair shouldn't deter you from buying your track weapon of choice — even if it's something rather exotic and hard to like a Lotus. Fastx Autosport in San Marcos, Texas, is all too familiar with the costs associated with rebuilding a previously track-prepped, smashed-up Lotus Elise. The track-prep specialists, mid-engine experts, and driver coaching hub situated squarely between Austin and San Antonio has been developing a regular clientele of Lotus owners for the past five years. And when an Elise recently met its maker at Road Atlanta, Fastx Autosport's owner Kevin Fennell was the Lotus owner's first call for a full rebuild. Fennell, a former oil field engineer and Canadian-turned-Texan, brought Fastx Autosport to life after purchasing a Lotus Exige in 2014. The Lotus in his driveway garnered a neighborly invitation to Harris Hill Raceway, Fennell's local course, and track driving became a regular facet of his life shortly thereafter. He spent two years in his garage and the following three building up his shop in San Marcos, attracting Lotus customers from across the country. It's not just crash repair that Fastx Autosport focuses on, either: check their YouTube channel and you'll see the likes of a twin-turbo, 1000-hp time-attack Exige, a number of ChampCar Miatas, and even an in-house wiring harness room. We first learned about Fastx Autosport after a social media post of a crash at Road Atlanta went viral. Exiting corner 10b and cresting the ridge toward turn 11, a gnarly set of rumble strips appeared to unsettle the rear end of the Elise, sending the driver into the inside edge concrete wall headfirst at about 40 mph. The initial video clip shows the driver screaming a repeated expletive — we would be doing so as well — but Fennell told us that their customer was ultimately okay. Plus, the time and cost to repair his precious Elise track car weren't as cost-prohibitive as forum posts and Lotus exclusivity might lead you to believe. "It was about 80 hours to do that job. Something around 15 hours to do the crash structure, 10 hours each to do the clams and get them quick mounted, and maybe five hours to get the roof quick mounted," Fennell told Road & Track. The front-end damage was the primary problem, but the Elise had spun around and taken a rear-end hit, too. As a result, Fennell and the folks at Fastx Autosport elected to do a full rebuild. Replacing the front-end crash structure was first on the list. Lotus uses a fiberglass body structure under the front end of its Elise lineup, a decided departure from the likes of Toyota and Ford, but it's not actually that expensive to buy. Fennell said the price for a new crash structure from Lotus came out to $3000. That's a drop in the bucket compared to the price of buying and tracking an Elise these days. What was difficult, however, was the way Lotus attached the crash structure to the chassis. Instead of bolting it in like any other automaker, Lotus primarily uses glue to fix its safety brace, meaning Fennell and his team had to cut the damaged one out and grind out all the adhesive first. Then came the painstaking process of inserting the new structure. Glue remains a critical component in reassembly, but Fennell said the glue itself isn't very tacky; it takes precision, temporary rivets, and a patient touch to get it sitting right. "We mocked everything up, checked all the alignment, got the new crash structure in, mounted it up with Rivnuts, figured out where it had to sit, and then used the special two-part glue to put it back on in that position," Fennell said. "From there, it was just a matter of putting body panels back on." It's here where the story starts to get expensive. Factory body panels for most Lotus models remain available, but the price per panel can be as high as $10,000. This particular client needed to replace his Elise's front and rear clamshells, meaning the carbon fiber body panel bill would have run upwards of $18,000. ("Simplify and add lightness" ain't cheap.) However, Fannell found a workaround for his client in the form of aftermarket, race-ready panels that cost around $7000 total. Using quick-release latches, the rebuilt Elise can have its front end off in a matter of seconds — ideal for quick track-side fixes or future crash repair. Even after all the fixes and upgrades — on guidance from Fannell, the Elise owner went on to upgrade his aerodynamics and add a supercharger — but one piece of the damaged Elise remained. Both doors took minor hits during the crash, but repairing an Elise door is perhaps the most annoying part of all. "Man, you have to really want your door repaired on a Lotus. Everything is glued to the inside of it," Fannell said. "So if it gets hit and one of those glue panels breaks off, trying to get the alignment back so that you know the window, latch, and hinge works, the mirrors in the right spot, and so you can mount the door back on the car in the right spot is kind of beyond what most people would want to pay for and maybe even what we could do here." Beyond the host of power and aerodynamic upgrades applied to this Elise, the total parts cost of rebuilding a nearly totaled Elise ran the client about $10,000, plus 80 hours of labor on top of that. We're not here to say that five figures of repair are affordable, but it's akin to the inflated repair costs associated with an insurance claim for a pedestrian commuter car these days. While the bodywork can be understandably expensive, Lotus's long-held partnership with Toyota parts and generous engine bay arrangement is a significant reason why even a mechanical rebuild isn't bank-breaking; gear sets, engine parts, and even odd-ball interior parts are all stocked by your local Toyota dealership. "Those parts that are glued on are incredibly difficult to work on. Then on the counter side, the parts that you can take off make it very easy to work on. On my personal race car, you could be standing in the engine bay in a minute and a half and have every piece of bodywork off the entire rear end of the car," Fennell said. "The reason I like working on the Lotuses is that you can kind of figure out anything to do in them. You have this chassis, but inside the chassis, there's this big open space to have the engine and the engine bay, so it gives you some freedom to put different drive trains in and different kinds of plumbing layouts and so on. You're not restricted so much by the car." You Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car
