Lotus wants to make the first British all-electric hypercar in the form of its Type 130. Unveiled as just a silhouette in Shanghai, Lotus says it is hard at work on a prototype which it plans to unveil in London later this year. It will be the first all-new production Lotus in over a decade.
Information on the Lotus Type 130 is scant and the sole image released less than revealing, but Lotus says that it's in the advanced stages of development.
"Type 130 will be the most dynamically accomplished Lotus in our history," says Lotus CEO Phil Popham. "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."
The car joins several Lotus "Type" cars, which have traditionally been experimental models introducing new technologies, materials, or engineering. Most Lotus Type cars have been race models, specifically in Formula 1, but some have been road-going vehicles, such as the Lotus Type 14 and the Type 111. The former became the Lotus Elite, which in 1957 became the first composite monocoque production road car, and the latter became the Lotus Elise, which in 1995 was the first aluminum and bonded extrusion construction production car.
Lotus hasn't released a new production car since the launch of the Lotus Evora in 2008, but has kept itself busy with a steady stream of special editions, including the Elise 20th Anniversary, Elise Sport, Elise Sport 220, Exige Sport 350, Exige Sport 380, Exige Cup 430 Unlimited Edition, Evora 400, Evora GT410 Sport, and Evora GT430, just to name a few. If the company stays true to form we can expect to see numerous iterations of the Type 130 in the years to come.
Source: Lotus