At over 2,000 kg, the Emeya GT saloon might be unusual to Lotus purists, but it makes more sense than earlier four-door cars that bore the badge
The Lotus Emeya, launched in New York, might be the first four-door GT saloon from the Norfolk brand, following the Eletre SUV revealed during 2022. Purists might say Lotus has no place making four-door vehicles, though a generation ago there were those who argued that Porsche’s Cayenne would flop.
After the Cayenne, and, for that matter, the Maserati Levante, Aston Martin DBX, the Lamborghini Urus and the Ferrari Purosangue, Lotus is, in fact, late to the game, and most readers would accept that the volume sales from SUVs can at least fund the sports models that these brands are known for. Below Lotus is MG, which has made a good living selling its crossovers.
The Emeya and Eletre both have links to the Zeekr 001, since Lotus is now part of Geely Cars, which has deeper pockets than previous owner Proton. With a family that includes Geely, Zeekr, Lynk & Co., Volvo, LEVC, Polestar, Geometry, Livan, and others, they can spread their investment over more brands, too. But light they are not: the Eletre tips the scales at 2,490 kg, admittedly lighter than an electrified competitor, but still not light. While the Emeya’s weight has not been announced, we know the Zeekr 001 is 2,335 kg. Not quite in line with Lotus founder Colin Chapman’s ‘Simplify, then add lightness’ credo, but perhaps also not unexpected since Lotus’s brief moment under Dany Bahar as CEO, when five luxury models were announced at the 2010 Paris show. Not all (any?) of those would have been light, either, had Lotus the capital to realize even one of them.
However, the Emeya at least has performance cred. Lotus says it will be equipped with a 102 kWh battery pack: plenty of power and range. It also claims the car will have 905 hp on tap and 985 Nm of torque. ‘Saloon’ is a misnomer, and Lotus never used it anyway, preferring ‘hyper grand tourer’.
Above, from top: The Lotus Emeya. The Emeya at speed, showing its red lightbar at its rear. Lotus Eletre. The 2023 Zeekr 001.
The figures haven’t been independently verified, but we know the Eletre manages 600 PS from a 112 kWh (gross) battery. And the Emeya looks more low-slung like the Lotuses most people remember, principally the Esprit, helped by its James Bond connection in two films (The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only). To a lesser extent, the Éclat and Élite wedges of the 1970s also boasted low, lithe looks.
Stylistically it has that link, but with plenty of modern touches: the two-tiered LED headlights and a single red lightbar at the back. The shape itself is curvier, with subtle haunches over the front and rear wheels. The grille emphasizes the straighter, wedge forms, reminiscent of the 2010 Élan concept but also of the current Lotus Emira.
A four-door isn’t entirely unprecedented, either. Among those 2010 concepts was a Porsche Panamera-chasing four-door called the Eterne, theoretically with a V8 pumping out 600 hp.
Looking through Autocade, the Lotus badge has graced four-door fare, and we’re not even including those GM and Proton products with ‘Handling by Lotus’. It has been on humble-looking but potent, Lotus-fettered fare such as the Cortina Mk I (Lotus Type 28, 1963–6) and Mk II (1966–70), and the Chrysler (later Talbot) Sunbeam, though these were all two-doors (plus a flip-up rear glass in the case of the Sunbeam).
Perhaps the most famous four-door Lotus-badged saloon was the 1990–2 Vauxhall Lotus Carlton or Opel Lotus Omega, depending on which side of the English Channel you were. This was given a Lotus designation (Type 104), and looked different enough from the source car, with wider wheelarches, a body kit, vents on the bonnet and a rear spoiler. The engine was bored out to 3,615 cm³ and twin turbos were added, giving 382 PS. The original multi-link suspension was improved further for the high speeds the Carlton could do.
Above, from top: Vauxhall Lotus Carlton. Emme Lotus. Youngman Lotus L3, a rebadged Proton. Youngman Lotus L5 Sportback, based on a stretched Proton Gen-2 platform.
The connections to Lotus were more than apparent: the Cortina Lotus Mk I was finished at Lotus’s Cheshunt facility; the Mk II had a Lotus engine, though it was built in Dagenham; the Sunbeam was finished near Lotus’s Hethel base; and the Carlton was completed there. But others have been more tenuous.
In 1998 came one attempt at the Brazil Motor Show, a Volvo EEC concept-apeing large saloon (but smaller than the Chevrolet Omega, or Opel Omega A) from Brazil called the Emme Lotus, coming in 420, 422 and 422T models. At least it followed Lotus’s principles of lightness, with Esprit engines. It had a tubular structure covered by a body using an injected polymer with VexTrim, which was lighter and stronger than steel, cost less, and fully recyclable. Apparently, VexTrim was also bulletproof.
There was independent front suspension, and leather seats and walnut or carbonfibre on the dashboard. But the dashboard layout itself was confusing and there was neither airbag nor ABS in a supposed “luxury” car.
Build quality was patchy—it had come out of a Megastar factory in Pindamonhangaba that usually churned out scooters. Engines were supposedly Lotus units in 2·0 and 2·2 turbo guises, the former also available without the turbo, though it appears the finished cars only had the 2·2 turbo. Emme claimed that the flagship could hit 100 km/h in 5 s and 273 km/h.
Eighty-seven per cent of components were locally sourced, or so it was claimed. A lot about this venture was opaque: did they make 12 or 15 cars? Did Lotus know about its badge on the cars just because Esprit engines were used? Emme faded without trace in 1999 thanks to currency shifts that rendered getting parts unfeasible, but briefly in 1998, Brazilians were rightly excited in a country where Ford, Fiat, Volkswagen and General Motors dominated.
Considerably more plentiful than the Emme Lotus was Youngman Lotus, with its 2011–15 L5 out of a factory in Jinhia, Zhejiang, China. Whilst under Proton ownership, Youngman stretched the Proton Gen-2’s wheelbase by 70 mm, and gave it new bodies: either a four- or a five-door called Sportback. Mechanically, it was Gen-2, down to the 1·6 Campro DOHC engine. Chinese marketing played up the Lotus roots, as well as its non-Chinese design team. Adding to the range was the Gen-2 and the booted Persona version, donning the Youngman Lotus L3 badge.
It’s true that Lotus worked on the Gen-2, a departure for Proton as it did not want to base its new model on a Mitsubishi. But build quality remained wanting, and in both cases, the cars were deleted in 2015. The Youngman Lotuses may have been the least Lotus-like cars to ever wear the badge.
The Youngman Lotus T5, meanwhile, could have been the first Lotus-badged SUV, with a Mitsubishi 1·5- or 1·8-litre engine, once again on the Gen-2 platform and shown at Beijing in 2012. By 2013 there were reports it would hit the market, but little evidence that it did, just as there is scant evidence of the L5’s successor, a facelifted car called the L6.
Now part of Geely, alongside Volvo and Polestar, Lotus has a fighting chance—and in this context, the Emeya at least looks and performs as we might expect a modern EV version to. •
Originally published, with more images, in Autocade Yearbook 2024.