Firm’s credibility will hang on dynamic character of 2027’s Elise-spirited Type 135 EV
JAMES ATTWOOD
The electric-only spiritual successor to the Elise will be an “essential” part of the future Lotus line-up, according to company bosses.
Codenamed Type 135, the new two-seat sports car will effectively replace the Emira, Lotus’s final combustion car.
The EV will be developed and built in the UK and will be the fourth and final model of Lotus’s Vision80 project, following the Eletre large SUV, Emeya saloon and forthcoming Type 134 D-segment SUV.
Lotus intends to reveal the Type 135 next year, before starting sales in 2027.
The target starting price of £75,000 compares with £59,995 for the planned entry-level four-pot Emira.
Mike Johnstone, Lotus Group’s chief commercial officer, told Autocar that meeting the target price is “an engineering challenge” but it was chosen because “it’s not a big step on from where we are at the moment, but we recognise there’s going to be a lot of new technology”.
The Type 135 will be a relatively small-volume offering. Lotus’s goal is to achieve annual sales topping 150,000 by 2028, comprising 80,000-90,000 Type 134s, 40,000-50,000 Eletres, 30,000-40,000 Emeyas and 10,000-15,000 Type 135s.
Those targets for the Type 135 far exceed the 6000 or so Emiras Lotus aims to sell per year, and Johnstone said it’s still a vital model for the brand.
“We need the bullseye at the very centre of the brand, which has to be that two-seat lightweight sports car,” he explained. “Otherwise we’re just a brand with a Lotus badge. The sports car is an essential part of our future.”
The Type 135 will be developed on a bespoke E-Sports platform, which will replicate a rear-mid-engined layout by having battery packs stacked behind the seats.
Lotus has put a major focus for its future growth on filling the ‘white space’ between what it sees as established performance brands and EV start-ups by emphasising both its 76-year history and the advanced tech in its cars.
Ben Payne, Lotus Group’s design chief, said that although the Type 135 will be developed and built at Hethel while the Eletre, Emeya and Type 134 are produced in Wuhan, China, it will take technology learnings from those EVs.
“There’s a lot of learning that carries across, and as a sports car it will have a lot more technology embedded in it than we’ve seen before from Lotus,”
