The new Lotus Emira was essentially tasked with serving as a replacement for all three of Lotus’ mainstream cars, which was no easy undertaking, but most feel was accomplished well. One of those people is legendary automotive designer Frank Stephenson, who gives his opinion on the Emira‘s design in his latest video.
As far as the front end goes, he liked it and didn’t feel the need to change anything. The same could be said for the side profile, although there were a few things he did want to tweak.
Watch: Jenson Button Drives The New Emira On Lotus’ Hethel Track
Overall, he liked the simple, more mature look of the side. That being said, he felt the black trim running along the side skirts was a little too large, so he added a body-colored strip along the bottom to give more of an impression that it hugs the road. He also admired the line flow of the intake, but slightly modified how the lines connect to clean up the design a bit. His final change to the side involved swapping out the Emira badge near the window in favor of a Lotus emblem.
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Stephenson also had a lot of nice things to say about the rear, but there were still some changes he wanted to make, mainly involving the lighting. Regarding that, he connected the three lighting elements into a continuous bar, beefed up the actual taillights, then added a second light bar, creating a distinctive shape that’s almost reminiscent of the Elise‘s elliptical rear end framing. Other than that, he added quad tailpipes, removed the slats from the brake vents, and combined the triple engine cover vents into one.
To watch his full critique and redesign, you can check out the video right below.