Shanghai Motor Show - Lotus has announced that it will soon unleash a battery-powered hypercar called the Type 130, which will be the British sports car maker’s first all-new product in over a decade.
While Lotus didn’t reveal an actual car at the Shanghai Motor Show on Tuesday, it did show a sketch of the upcoming hypercar during its press conference, and also announced that the vehicle was “in advanced state of development”.
“Type 130 will be the most dynamically accomplished Lotus in our history. It marks a turning point for our brand and is a showcase of what we are capable of and what is to come from Lotus,” said Lotus CEO Phip Popham.
Sadly he and Lotus are remaining tight-lipped about the actual specifications and performance figures for now, however the company has promised to reveal all at an event in London - the brand’s birthplace - later this year.
The British brand has fallen by the wayside in recent years, saddled with an aging product line-up and a lack of funding to develop new ones.
However, Lotus was given a life-line in 2017 when Chinese car giant Geely (which also owns Volvo) purchased a majority stake in the brand.
Lotus was co-founded in the early 1950s by engineering graduates Colin Chapman and Colin Dare. It was Chapman who famously stated “to add speed, add lightness”, and the company has been focused on lightweight construction techniques ever since.
Given how heavy the batteries of an electric car can be, we’d say the modern Lotus engineers certainly have their work cut out for them.