Lotus Emira to Make US Debut with F1 Racer Jenson Button

Lotus Emira with F1 driver Jenson Button at the wheel at Laguna Seca.

The Lotus Emira made its first appearance in the USA with aging Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button at Laguna Seca Raceway. Jenson – in California for Monterey Car Week – drove the Radford 62-2 – a reinterpretation of the Lotus Type 62 that recently received its world premiere ahead of making its public debut with the Emira on the Lotus stand at The Quail, A Motorsport Gathering. Jenson Button said after his drive that “This is such a great circuit, most road cars on tracks don’t work, but this does.” (AutoInformed on Renault Group to buy Lotus F1 Team; Alpine and Lotus to Study Joint Development of an Electric Sports Car as Groupe Renault Restructures)

The Emira is an all-new mid-engine sports car that is being marketed on wisps bygone days, a British habit that applies to most British sports car manufacturers. Lotus immodestly claims the Emira has exotic supercar appeal in the sports car segment, with traces from the Lotus Evija hypercar in its surfaces and feature lines. Two petrol, err gas, engines are available, including a new-to-Lotus 2.0-litre turbocharged ‘i4’ from technical partner AMG, as well as the venerable 3.5-liter supercharged V6 from the critically acclaimed Evora GT. (AutoInformed on Chinese, Malaysian owned Lotus Engineering Expands Hethel)

A choice of manual, automatic and Dual Clutch Transmission is available, with power output from 360 to 400 hp at launch. All versions will reach 0-62mph (0-100km/h in metric, not Whitworth) in less than 4.5 seconds.

The Lotus Emira will be joined with the Lotus Evija hypercar and the Radford 62-2 at The Quail: A Motorsport Gathering on Friday the 13th of August. All three will be part of a press conference held at 9.15am PDT (GMT-8) on the Lotus stand.