Lotus May Develop In-House V8 Engine for Esprit
While the upcoming Lotus Esprit has been announced using a supercharged version of the Lexus IS-F’s 5.0-liter V8, that may all change when the new high-powered exotic comes to market in 2012.
Lotus CEO Dany Bahar, in an interview with AutoCar, commented that the storied British sports car maker is now examining the possibility of building its own V8. “The engine is the heart of a sports car; we should do our own product,” said Bahar.
One of the main factors in pushing Lotus towards this decision was customer feedback. “In the mind of sports-car enthusiasts, Toyota power might not be good enough,” he admitted.
Still, Lotus has yet to move ahead with a costly engine development program and won’t make any decision on if it will do so until January with Bahar commenting that the decision would be purely financial.
Recently Lotus announced it would run cars powered by its own engines in the 2012 Indy Car season, despite the fact that it currently does not build any of its own engines.
GALLERY: Lotus Esprit
[Source: AutoCar]
Lotus engineering chief Wolf Zimmerman also revealed that the planned three-strong family of mid-engined Lotuses that will start with the Esprit will share a common platform, brakes, suspension and electrical systems.
With AutoGuide from its launch, Colum previously acted as Editor-in-Chief of Modified Luxury & Exotics magazine where he became a certifiable car snob driving supercars like the Koenigsegg CCX and racing down the autobahn in anything over 500 hp. He has won numerous automotive journalism awards including the Best Video Journalism Award in 2014 and 2015 from the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Colum founded Geared Content Studios, VerticalScope's in-house branded content division and works to find ways to integrate brands organically into content.
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If you watch the Lotus m1-11 inside story you might not be so sure about fast lotus can achieve things. I personally think it would be silly for them to make an all new engine. They have a (recent) history of using toyota engines, I see no reason why they would not use a modified version of the Toyota Tundra's 5.7 aluminum V8. I think one of the coolest things about Lotus is they appeal to a base of people who like to work on their own cars. Putting some limited run super rare 1 off type of engine in the car they will run into issue after issue with customers being miffed that they can not find a head gasket to save their lives etc etc etc.
...cause it worked so well for them the first go around with making their own V8 in the Esprit. Cylinder leaks galore, premature sieze, and paired with a transmission so fragile that they had to detune the engine. Please Lotus, give us your genius chassis and systems, but leave the powerplants to reliable manufacturers, and we'll love you for it. On a side note, why not stir even more public interest by hinting that you might use the LFA's 4.8L V10?