The Lotus Emira, the last gas-engined car from Lotus and a replacement for the Exige, Elise and Evora models, is making its US debut at Monterey Car Week 2021. The flagship event for Lotus will be at The Quail: A Motorsport Gathering. The Emira will also make its dynamic debut at Laguna Seca Raceway for a very special celebrity track day. Lotus is transitioning to making pure electric sports cars, and is set to launch the Evija, a near-2,000-horsepower electric hypercar billed as the most powerful production car in the world, which will also make the rounds in Monterey this week.

The Emira has been developed on a new lightweight bonded aluminium mid-engine chassis, technology pioneered by Lotus which remains an intrinsic part of the company’s sports car DNA. That is wrapped with a bold and sculpted body design.  Powering the Emira will be a choice of two gas engines: At launch, the first cars will be available as limited-production ‘First Edition’ models powered by the much-loved and Lotus-honed 3.5-litre V6 which cut its sports car teeth powering the Exige and Evora. In summer 2022, the first new Lotus sports car engine for more than a decade will make its debut, with the Emira powered by AMG. The new-to-Lotus AMG unit is a turbocharged 2.0-litre inline four from the performance division of Mercedes-Benz, with some fundamental changes made for Lotus: Transverse-mounted and delivering rear-wheel drive, the unit has been modified with a new air intake system and new exhaust to suit the character of the Emira. All cars will be available with a manual, automatic and Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT). Deliveries are set to begin in Spring 2022.