The British mid-engined coupe is expected to go on sale in Singapore in early 2022

SINGAPORE

Like your luxury sports cars ‘old school’, with plenty of noise, feedback, and even better, with a manual transmission? Lotus’ new Emira claims to be all of that. This new luxury mid-engined sports car with a supercharged 3.5-litre V6 engine is expected to find buyers amongst well-heeled driving enthusiasts that are still firmly in the cult of internal combustion engines. 

The Lotus Emira was first revealed in July 2021, and positioned as a model that builds on the legacy of the Elise, Exige and Evora.

The British brand has long had a tradition of building its cars around engines from other manufacturers, and the Emira is no different, with the V6 engine being sourced from Toyota. The same 2GR-FE engine block in naturally aspirated form was also used in the Lotus Evora and Lexus ES 350, though the inclusion of an Edelbrock 1740 supercharger to the Emira sees peak power bumped up to 400hp, with peak torque rated at 420Nm.  

The car features a six-speed manual gearbox as standard, with a visible gear change mechanism. If you’re lazy with the left foot however, a six-speed automatic is available as an option. The official top speed of the car is 290km/h, and the 0 to 100km/h sprint is covered in 4.3 seconds with a manual gearbox. The automatic a a tiny bit faster, doing the same in 4.2 seconds.

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The Lotus Emira V6 First Edition has just been listed in the United Kingdom and Europe, at around the same price category as the Lotus Evora. The car rides on 20-inch ultra-lightweight V-spoke forged alloy wheels, with two-piece brake discs with branded calipers are part of the First Edition spec, along with a tyre pressure monitoring system.

Besides a selection of body colours exclusive to the First Edition, the car also gets Lotus’ Lower Black Pack fitted as standard, which is simply a cosmetic variant where the front bumper air blades, front splitter, side sills and rear diffuser are finished in the now very trendy gloss black.

Also fitted as standard are the Drivers Pack with a choice of Tour or Sport suspension, the Design Pack wich adds privacy glass, sports pedals, a black Alcantara headliner, and the choice of black, red, yellow or silver painted brake callipers, and the Convenience Pack with parking sensors and automatic wipers.

Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and satellite navigation are integrated into the Emira V6 First Edition, along with a 10-channel, 340-watt audio system developed in partnership with British brand KEF. 

The V6 isn’t the only Emira that will be available. Lotus states that a four-cylinder variant will be launched later this year, and will include a First Edition variant as well.

Wearnes Automotive, Singapore’s official Lotus distributor, has confirmed that the Emira will be available in Singapore in early 2022, in both V6 and four-cylinder forms. By our own estimates based on current prices of Lotus cars here, the Emira V6 will likely be in the S$400k range, without COE.

The 3.5-litre V6 engine will undoubtedly be hit with a VES surcharge in Singapore as well, adding to its cost when compared against clever hybrid and electric cars.

Here’s a car with a big VES rebate, because it has zero CO2 emissions

While Lotus claims that development of its next-generation EV performance cars are progressing as scheduled and the Evija EV is supposedly launching by 2022, the new Lotus Emira does seem like a step sideways in the face of all-electric performance cars like the new and terrifyingly fast Audi RS e-tron GT and Porsche Taycan. Still, there are ICE performance cars like the Toyota GR Yaris and Alpine A110 S that show there’s still plenty of driving fun to be had with good old petrol engines. 

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