Lotus might provide the Emira with an excellent bigger engine than the supercharged petrol V6 unit that at the moment serves the mannequin, reported Autocar. “We’re at the moment investigating the feasibility of the V8,” Geely CEO Feng Qingfeng was quoted as saying.
The assertion got here in response to a query from a United States-based vendor who recommended that Lotus ought to provide an much more highly effective spinoff of the V6-engined Emira, and the CEO of Geely dominated out adapting the present unit for extra energy as a result of it might not adjust to upcoming Euro 7 emissions rules.
At current, the Emira is the only inside combustion engine-powered mannequin within the Lotus product line-up, comprised of a Toyota-sourced 3.5 litre V6 unit that Lotus has deployed in fashions previousin addition to a turbocharged 2.0 litre inline-four from Mercedes-AMG within the EMIRA I4.
There are “some alternatives with the present provider of engines,” so Lotus is trying on this route, stated Windle, although he didn’t particularly title Mercedes-AMG, nor affirm the plan for utilizing a V8 as indicated by Feng. “It’s a really, very competent product that we in all probability haven’t exploited to its full already, so we’re taking a look at all of the choices,” Windle added.
Adapting a V8 engine, ought to it come from AMG, to be used within the Emira would take vital re-engineering as V8-powered mid-engined automobiles are sometimes bigger and their engines longitudinally oriented, whereas the three.5L V6 at the moment within the Emira is a transverse-mounted unit.
In-built Hethel in the UK, gross sales of the Emira reached a document 5,272 items, and whereas Lotus had meant to discontinue the V6 model of the sports activities automobile, its reputation in the US – the world’s largest marketplace for sports activities automobiles – prompted the producer to think about changing the V6 with an excellent greater engine.
“The US is an extremely necessary marketplace for us for the automobile. It at all times has been. So we’re trying on the market demand for the product going ahead,” Lotus CEO Matt Windle advised Autocar. Whereas the model’s CEO didn’t particularly title Mercedes-AMG because the potential engine provider, Windle stated that Lotus is contemplating different choices by way of powertrain.
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