You know, Lotus CEO Mike Kimberley must have been rubbing his hands together when Al Gore's self-promoting eco documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth' came out: all of a sudden, maximum output with minimal input is planet-sparingly cool. Step in Lotus.
Now Kimberley can say things like this: "We are at the cutting edge of green transport technology and we will continue to push the boundaries with our green research and environmental strategy. We are keen to ensure that Lotus as a company and its products offer an ethical, green option that appeals to our customers."
He's referring on this occasion to the 2010 Elise and Exige models, which Lotus has just unveiled. And what do you know, they're a bit cleaner and more fuel efficient. The base model Elise S gets the most improvement: a full nine percent enhancement, which means 3.2 more miles per gallon - now 37.2mpg - and 179g/km of CO2. The Elise R achieves 34.4mpg and 196g/km CO2, and the Elise SC and Exige S both fly with 33.2mpg and 199g/km.
Lotus doesn't tell us how it's done those things, or whether the cars get any visual improvements, but you can bet they do, however subtle, and you can also assume that aerodynamic and weight reduction tweaks account for the majority of the extra parsimony. Fancy one? Get to a Lotus dealer now and they'll happily take your order.
Mark Nichol - 16 Apr 2009