A new all-electric sports car from Lotus is tipped to be unveiled as soon as 2025, joining the Electre SUV, Emeya sedan, and a future electric mid-size SUV.
The new sports car is codenamed Type 135 and was first teased back in 2021. It will serve as a direct rival to the future electric Porsche Cayman and Boxster and should reach the hands of customers in 2027. It will be sold alongside the combustion-powered Emira for a short time before that car is retired in 2028.
Work on the Type 135 has hit a few roadblocks. For starters, Lotus had initially planned to develop the new sports car alongside Alpine but the two brands recently parted ways on the project. Additionally, Lotus was working with British battery startup Britishvolt but that company spectacularly fell into administration at the start of the year. Despite these hurdles, Auto Express reports that work on the car is continuing and that it will ride on a bespoke architecture developed specifically for electric sports cars.
This platform, known simply as ‘E-Sports,’ can support different battery designs and sizes and has a lightweight rear subframe. It can also support up to two electric motors at the rear axle.
Read: The Lotus Emeya Could Spawn The Ultimate Electric Wagon
Many other details about the Type 135 remain shrouded in mystery. Lotus has previously said its electric sports car platform could support a car with a 2,470 mm (97.2 inches) wheelbase and a 66.4 kWh battery pack as well as a car with a 2,650 mm (104.3 inches) wheelbase and a 99.6 kWh battery. The architecture also gives the brand the flexibility to either position the battery in the car’s floor or stack it vertically behind the cabin to give the vehicle a similar weight distribution to a mid-engined sports car.
The teaser from 2021 wasn’t all that revealing but did confirm the car will have sharp LED daytime running lights similar to those of the Emeya. Additionally, it will have pronounced rear haunches and appears to adopt a familiar shape to traditional mid-engined sports cars.
