In mid-2019, the legendary British sports car brand Lotus launched the new pure electric supercar Evija in its hometown. This is the most important highlight moment for the brand since Geely officially took over Lotus in 2017. This is also the second revival of this brand after many years of silence.

From Lotus to Lotus, more than half a century of ups and downs

Speaking of Lotus (meaning "Lotus"), it was a god-like existence back then, and it was the same car as Porsche and Ferrari. One of the three major sports car brands on par. It is known for its pursuit of lightweight and exquisite design. The exquisite design mainly refers to its special emphasis on aerodynamic effects and also on the control level. It does not place too much emphasis on strong power, but achieves a powerful effect through comprehensive considerations at the overall engineering level.

Mr. Colin Chapman is the founder of the Lotus brand. In his early years, he majored in structural engineering at university. He also studied flying and briefly joined the Royal Air Force. Later he joined the British Aluminum Company and was mainly responsible for the sales of construction aluminum materials. These experiences gave him a deep understanding of lightweighting and the most advanced aerospace engineering technology at the time. So his car-making philosophy is to put more emphasis on weight reduction rather than simply increasing horsepower. His wise words are "Increasing horsepower makes you faster in a straight line, and reducing weight makes you faster everywhere."

Since its founding by Colin Chapman in the 1950s, Lotus has participated in various competitions. At first, he encouraged his car owners to participate individually, but later he felt that it was not enough, so he participated in F1 as a factory team for the first time in 1958. As a result, in 1960, Stirling Moss accidentally won the Monaco Grand Prix while driving a Lotus 18 car. In 1963, driven by James Clark, the Lotus 25 helped Lotus win its first F1 factory championship, which was a very important award in the history of Lotus.

Sir Stirling Moss is a man of the hour in the history of British racing. At present, he has participated in 529 games in different categories and won 212 of them. In 1960, he drove a Lotus 18 racing car and won the F1 Monaco Grand Prix.

James Clark is a British racing genius who is good at participating in various types of car competitions. He won the F1 championship twice in 1963 and 1965. In 1968, he suffered an accident while participating in an F2 race at the Hockenheimring in Germany and passed away at the age of 32. "Time" magazine ranked him first in the list of the world's greatest F1 drivers in 2019.

This photo is of the scene in 1963 when James drove the Lotus 25 car to win the annual championship. The person holding the trophy was Colin Chapman.

Being able to achieve success in the world's top events certainly depends not only on luck - it mainly relies on Lotus's outstanding capabilities in engineering and technology. Lotus' mid-engine layout racing cars once became famous in IndyCar events. The monocoque chassis that integrates the engine and transmission shaft developed specifically for F1 racing cars is also unique. In the F1 arena, Lotus racing cars were also among the first to be equipped with fixed wings and increase downforce by optimizing the airflow under the car. At the same time, it was also the first racing car to place radiators on both sides of the body for better aerodynamics and to adopt active suspension.

In the 1980s, Lotus was still a star in the F1 arena. From 1985 to 1987, car king Ayrton Senna served as the driver of the Lotus team. During his service, he won two races every year and won 17 pole positions. As of its last entry in 1994, Lotus's racing team had won 79 races, many of which directly defeated Ferrari, the ever-victorious general in the F1 arena.

Car king Senna also once served for the Lotus team. He drove a Lotus 97T car and won two races and seven pole positions in the 1985 season. Senna and 97T won their first race championship at the Portuguese Grand Prix. It was raining heavily and Senna was ahead of the second place by as much as 1 minute. This victory marked the return of the Lotus team to the glory of the 1960s and 1970s in the 1980s.

In addition to dominating the competition, Lotus also left behind many classics in terms of civilian models of the year. You know, Lotus was an engineering company when it was founded, with its main business being to provide vehicle technical solutions and adjustments. It was later divided into the Lotus team, which focuses on racing, and Lotus Automobile Co., Ltd., which mainly develops and sells civilian vehicles. It can be seen from this development experience that there is a strong sports gene in the DNA of the Lotus brand.

It is precisely because of this that the civilian vehicles originally developed by Lotus were aimed at avid racing enthusiasts and were sold as kits. On the one hand, it can avoid taxes, and more importantly, it facilitates car owners to freely choose and modify.

In 1958, Lotus launched the first civilian model Elite (Type? 14). This is a two-door, two-seater hardtop sports car. Although it is a civilian car, Elite still has many racing influences. But getting racing performance means compromising reliability and even safety. Elite's design concept is based on racing, so it always has flaws in quality. By the end of its life cycle in 1963, just over 1,000 Elites had been produced. Although Lotus's first civilian model was not successful, the Elite name was later revived, which we will mention later.

Elite (Type?14) uses a lot of racing technology, and even directly uses some parts from F2 racing cars. However, this radical approach may not be suitable for civilian vehicles - for example, the monocoque body made of fiberglass reinforced plastic (GRP) is indeed very light, but it will fly if it runs too fast on the road. However, once on the track, Elite is like a god. During its life cycle, Elite has won at least 6 class championships in the Le Mans endurance race, and has won countless trophies in other events.

In the 1960s, after accumulating enough experience with the unsuccessful Elite, Lotus launched its flagship product-Elan.

The first-generation Elan is a very lightweight two-door, two-seater sports car, with a total vehicle weight of only 680 kilograms. It is not only technically unique, but also commercially successful. It can be said that it laid the foundation for Lotus' future development and made Lotus' brand proposition deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. This car was not only welcomed by consumers, but was also used as a benchmark model by Toyota and Mazda for in-depth research. The later 2000GT and MX5 were deeply influenced by it.

So, what is so great about Elan? This car uses a fiberglass body and a skeleton chassis. The whole car weighs only 680 kilograms, which is very light. It uses a 1.498-liter (later upgraded to 1.558-liter) four-cylinder engine, front-rear drive, four-wheel independent suspension, four-wheel disc brakes, and rack-and-pinion steering... Not only does it have a beautiful design, but the cost of each component is controlled. Very strict, it became the first commercially successful model in Lotus history. In addition to being recognized by consumers, Elan has also become a reference for the development of Toyota 2000GT and Mazda MX5.

The Toyota 2000GT was actually developed by Yamaha. In order to break the rigid brand image at that time, Toyota obtained the plan for this car from Yamaha and had its own designers design it according to the Jaguar E-Type. This car adopts the same lightweight approach as Lotus in terms of mechanical structure, and the car weighs only 1,120 kilograms. In 1967, the 2000GT was launched on the market. As of 1970, 351 units had been produced. In the same year that this car was launched, the 2000GT also appeared in the 007 series of movies: "You Only Live Twice" and appeared in the form of a convertible, winning a lot of praise.

The first generation MX5 (NA) was born in 1989. It was inspired by the small sports cars that appeared in the British market after the war. MG?B and Lotus Elan were both reference objects when developing the MX5. This car received numerous praises upon its launch and has now developed into its fourth generation (ND). In 2000, the total production volume of MX-5 reached 531,890 units, and it was listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as "the world's best-selling two-seater convertible sports car." In 2004, the total production volume exceeded 700,000 vehicles, and it was once again selected by Guinness. On February 4, 2011, cumulative sales reached 900,000 vehicles, breaking the record for the third time. In April 2016, total sales exceeded one million vehicles. It was driven by it that the trend of two-seater convertible sports cars was launched, including the Mercedes-Benz SLK, BMW Z3, ??Porsche Boxster and other models were all born under the stimulation of the MX-5's success.

In the mid-1970s, Lotus was preparing to push the brand to greater heights, so it launched the four-seater Elite and Eclat, and offered air conditioning and automatic transmission as options to attract more wealthy potential users. .

From 1974 to 1982, Lotus launched the four-seater Elite (Type?75 and later Type?83). The Elite is larger in size, has more seats, and has a more luxurious interior. Lotus hopes to use this to upgrade the brand. This car is the first Lotus model to use a 907 aluminum cylinder block, four-valve DOHC inline four-cylinder engine. The engine displacement is 2.0 liters and the maximum power is 155 horsepower. In 1976, Elite began offering automatic transmissions. The Elite has an angular appearance, but its drag coefficient is only 0.3. The basic parts of its chassis and suspension form were designed by Colin Chapman himself. At the time, it was the most expensive four-cylinder car in the world.

Eclat is the sister model of Elite. It can be regarded as the fastback version of Elite. Its original name is Elite Coupe. Only the upper part of the Eclat's body shape is different from the Elite, while the lower part is exactly the same. The Eclat was launched in 1975 and discontinued in 1982.

Unfortunately, it was in the mid-1970s that the global oil crisis broke out. Under the influence of this general environment, coupled with factors such as the Vietnam War, the rise of Western Europe and Japan, the U.S. economy took a sharp turn, which directly affected Lotus' sales. By 1980, Lotus' annual sales plummeted from 1,200 to 383, and it was on the verge of bankruptcy. However, what was even more unfortunate was that at the end of 1982, Mr. Colin Chapman died of a heart attack. At this time, Lotus's situation was really worse.

Later, a young law professor and investment banking consultant Joe Bianco helped Lotus tide over the difficulties and rescued it from the brink of bankruptcy. In 1986, Lotus Group (Group Lotus PLC) was sold to General Motors (General Motors). In 1993, General Motors sold Lotus to A.C.B.N. Holdings S.A. in Luxembourg for 30 million pounds. The owner of this company is Italian businessman Romano Artioli, who also owns Bugatti Automobili SpA. In 1996, Lotus was acquired by Malaysian car manufacturer Proton. In June 2011, the Lotus brand officially entered China and released its official Chinese name "Lotus". In 2017, Geely officially took over Lotus and announced that it would achieve domestic production in Wuhan.

Initial E Legend

In the beginning, the naming method of Lotus models was "Lotus+number", such as the Lotus 18 we mentioned earlier. But because there are different names on the Lotus? 11 model (some people pronounce "1" as the English letter "I"). So Mr. Chapman began thinking about renaming it. Because Lotus is a British brand, the initial letter E of "England" is used as the first letter of subsequent models, such as Elise, Esprit, Elan, Exige, Evora, etc. Some of these words are the names of the Chapman family, and some are more elegant or beautiful words in English.

Elise is considered the most famous Lotus model. Its name comes from Elisa Artioli, the granddaughter of Romano Artioli. Romano Artioli was the chairman of the board of directors of Lotus and Bugatti at the time. This car first appeared in 1994 and was later launched in 1996. It's a typical Lotus, with a fiberglass body and aluminum frame and chassis. This structure keeps body weight and manufacturing costs to a minimum. The special structure allows the Elise to weigh only 725 kilograms. The engine is a 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine with a mid-mounted rear drive. The high-performance version of the Elise can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in just 4.6 seconds.

The first-generation Elise (S1) was born in 1996. Carefully built by design director Julian Thomson and chief engineer Richard Rackham, it weighed only 725 kilograms. Even though the 1.8-liter engine only has 120 horsepower, this car can still accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in 5.8 seconds. Also because of its light weight, its braking performance and economy are outstanding.

The latest version of Elise is S3, which is improved on the basis of S2. In addition to the improved appearance, the 1.8-liter four-cylinder engines equipped on the S3 are all supercharged, with a maximum power of 220 horsepower. Later, Lotus also launched Cup?220, Cup?250 and Cup?260. The latter two cars accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers within 4 seconds.

Exige is a hard-top reinforced version of Elise. The body structure is different from Elise, but the chassis and interior are the same as Elise. This model was officially displayed at the Geneva Motor Show in 2004. The early "Series 1" (S1) was equipped with the K series 1.8-liter self-priming engine from Rover, and the later "Series 2" (S2) was equipped with the Toyota 2ZZ-GE series 1.8-liter self-priming engine. Starting in 2012, the Exige was upgraded to the "Series 3" (S3), and the power system was upgraded to a 3.5-liter V6 supercharged engine from Toyota.

The original Exige can be seen as an enhanced hardtop version of the Elise. But later, as the market changed, four-cylinder engines began to be abandoned and V6 engines were used. A convertible version also appeared in the body shape. The Exige?S in the picture is equipped with Toyota's 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine numbered 2ZZ-GE, which is supercharged and has a maximum power of 223 horsepower. The vehicle weighs 933 kilograms and accelerates from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in only 4.1 seconds. Second.

The Esprit is a mid-engine sports car launched by Lotus and the successor of the Europa. It is also the first car in the world to adopt Giugiaro's polygonal "origami" design. The first-generation Esprit was launched in 1976. At the beginning of the design of this car, the concept presented by Giugiaro on the Maserati Boomerang concept car was adopted. The first generation model is called "Series 1" (S1). It uses a fiberglass body + a skeleton chassis, and is equipped with a 907 engine. The European version has a power of 160 horsepower, and the North American version has a power of 140 horsepower, which is slightly insufficient. The subsequent second- and third-generation Esprit did not have major changes in appearance, but they made improvements in power.

Europa is a mid-engine GT model. This plan was originally proposed by Lotus in 1963 as a bid for the Ford GT40 racing project. After the bid failed, Mr. Chapman decided to produce it himself. Looking back at the mid-1960s, only racing cars used the mid-engine layout, and almost no civilian cars used this layout. Lotus dared to build the Europa into a mass-produced, two-seat mid-engine, hard-top coupe, and the price was even cheaper - which shows its ambition back then. From the start of production in 1966 to the discontinuation of production in 1975, Europa produced 9,230 vehicles.

As the successor of Europa, Esprit also adopts a mid-engine layout. At the design level, Giugiaro’s polygonal “origami” design is boldly used. This design is inspired by the Boomerang concept car designed by Giugiaro for Maserati. In this picture, the one in the front is the Esprit concept car, and the one in the rear is the Maserati Boomerang concept car.

The first-generation Esprit (S1) was indeed very eye-catching in that era, and its tough wedge-shaped design led the trend at the time. Although its power is not too strong, with the help of its excellent lightweight, Esprit has particularly good handling, especially the steering system, which is known as the best-steering Esprit.

In 1987, Esprit was modified by British designer Peter Stevens. It was no longer full of tough lines, but became more rounded. This Peter Stevens was the designer of the later famous McLaren F1. Even Giugiaro likes the redesigned Esprit very much and believes that it has inherited the essence of the previous design. The facelifted Esprit is not named with S, but with the project name X180.

After three generations of model development, Esprit finally ushered in design changes in 1987. Not only have the lines of the new Esprit become rounded, but the body materials have also been improved - Kevlar materials have been added to the roof and sides of the body to improve the protection effect during rollover, and the torsional rigidity of the body has also been improved. Hence the 22% increase.

The S4 launched in 1993 underwent minor changes in appearance, and a V8 model was launched in terms of power. This 90-degree angle V8 engine was developed by Lotus itself and has a maximum power of 500 horsepower. However, considering the bearing capacity of the gearbox, the power was reduced to 350 horsepower when loading the car. Even so, its 0-100 km/h acceleration time is only 4.4 seconds.

The Esprit V8 is one of the few Lotus models in history that uses a large-displacement engine. Its performance is quite powerful, no worse than the Porsche 911 (964) at the time. But unfortunately, in the early 1990s, Esprit's sales declined sharply, mainly due to the emergence of direct competitor Honda NSX.

As of the end of production in August 2004, Esprit*** had produced 10,675 units, which can be regarded as a relatively successful model in the history of Lotus.

Evora is the largest, most luxurious and most equipped flagship model in the Lotus family. Its multi-component modular chassis is completely redesigned and can be disassembled or even replaced individually by area, significantly reducing maintenance costs. It is equipped with Toyota's 2GR-FE 3.5-liter V6 naturally aspirated engine, which is placed horizontally behind the seat. The S version is equipped with a supercharged engine, with an acceleration time of 0-100 km/h in only 4.6 seconds. Evora is now also available as a new car, model GT410 Sport. The power of the overseas version is 410 horsepower, while the torque of the domestic version is 410 N·m. This is where the 410 name comes from. It weighs only 1,361 kilograms (domestic 1,368 kilograms) and accelerates from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in only 3.9 seconds (domestic: 4.1 seconds).

This is the model with the most luxurious materials and the most abundant configurations in Lotus history. The most important thing is that it is the only Lotus currently available in China.

Once a pioneer in electrification

Speaking of Lotus's thinking and technical capabilities, it is indeed worthy of praise. Especially in the field of electric vehicles, which is currently very popular, it was actually involved as early as 20 years ago and achieved some results, but few people paid attention to it in the environment at that time. Although these models basically appear in the form of concept cars, they also fully demonstrate the strength of Lotus.

Evora?414E?Hybrid

There are many opinions on the specific time when Lotus began electrification research and development, but at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, Lotus exhibited the first An electric model - Evora 414E Hybrid. This car is derived from Evora. The biggest change is that the power system is changed to an electric motor to drive the rear wheels, with a maximum power of 402 horsepower and a torque of 1003 Nm. The acceleration time from 0-100 kilometers is only 4.3 seconds, and the top speed is 208 kilometers/hour. In order to achieve the ideal cruising range, Lotus also equipped it with a 1.2-liter three-cylinder gasoline engine as a range extender. This gasoline engine was developed by Proton Motors Malaysia and can use methanol or ethanol gasoline. This car has a pure electric cruising range of 50 kilometers and a comprehensive cruising range of 430 kilometers. These figures don’t seem too bad even today, let alone nearly 10 years ago.

Lotus Ethos

Also in 2010, Lotus launched its second electric model, the Ethos concept car, around the Paris Motor Show. This car, like Lotus before it, wants to go far. It is a two-door hatchback used for urban commuting. This car is derived from Proton EMAS. EMAS is a concept car designed by Giugiaro of Italy and launched in 2010, which is deeply improved from the Toyota iQ platform. Lotus Ethos has been redesigned again in appearance, but retains the power system. Its pure electric cruising range is 60 kilometers, which is only 10 kilometers more than the 414E Hybrid. With the help of the range extender, the cruising range can reach 500 kilometers. As an urban commuter car, the performance of Ethos is not particularly impressive. It takes 9 seconds to accelerate from 0-100 km/h, and the top speed is 176 km/h. Ultimately, neither Ethos nor EMAS entered mass production.

Infiniti Emerg-e

In 2012, Infiniti exhibited a concept car called Emerg-e at the Geneva Motor Show. This car is based on the Evora?414E?Hybrid. It is exactly the same as 414E in terms of structure and performance. Although this car did not eventually go into production, it still proved Lotus's ability in the design and development of electric vehicles.

Tesla Roadster

The Lotus Elise is famous for its lightweight and balance. At least four mass-produced or concept electric vehicles are built based on the Elise platform. The most representative one is the first-generation Tesla Roadster. Tesla launched the Roadster in 2008, which is based on the platform of the second-generation Elise. In fact, the chassis part was modified by Lotus in the UK before being transported to the United States for assembly. Overall, the proportion of parts shared by Roadster and Elise is 6%.

Roadster production did not end until the supply contract for 2,500 chassis signed by Tesla and Lotus was completed in early 2012. Looking back now, the execution of this contract is crucial to Tesla. It was through the Roadster that Tesla accumulated considerable experience and laid the foundation for quickly developing new businesses.

Rinspeed?s Quba

In 2008, Rinspeed, a Swiss company known for often launching unusual concept cars, also launched an electric concept car based on the Elise. This concept car is inspired by "The Spy Who Loved Me" released in 1977. The Lotus Esprit driven by Bond in the play is unimpeded on land and sea, and the sQuba launched by Rinspeed also has this amphibious capability. It has three motors, one for driving on land and the other two for use in water. The vehicle has a diving capability of up to 10 meters and is driven by two electric propellers and two water jet propulsion devices. At the same time, its cabin is waterproof and comes with automatic cruise control.

Detroit?Electric?SP:01

In 2013, Detroit Electric launched its first electric vehicle, SP:01. The company's predecessor was Anderson Electric Car Company, which was founded in Detroit in 1907 and closed in 1939. In 2008, the company was resurrected as "Detroit Electric" with the goal of developing modern electric vehicles. The SP:01 can be regarded as a replica of the Tesla Roadster. It is also based on the Elise. It is characterized by a special appearance design and a carbon fiber body. It has a 201-horsepower electric motor with a maximum torque of 225 Nm, and a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 37 kWh. The acceleration time from 0-100 km/h is 3.7 seconds, and the top speed is 250 km/h. Its performance is consistent with that of the Roadster. Like the Roadster, the SP:01 fully demonstrates the flexibility and tolerance of the Elise platform.

Dodge EV

In 2009, the Dodge brand launched a concept car called "Dodge EV" at the Detroit Auto Show. This car is built by ENVI, the electric vehicle division of the Chrysler Group established in 2007. The front design is like a scaled-down version of the Viper. Different from the previous models, the Dodge EV is developed based on the Lotus Europa?S. In addition, Europa?S focuses on comfort, which is much more comfortable than Elise, but users obviously don’t recognize it, so this model was only produced from 2006 to 2010. The electric motor of this Dodge electric vehicle has a maximum power of 268 horsepower, a maximum torque of 653 N·m, a cruising range of 320 kilometers, and a fully charged battery time of 4 hours. This car was originally planned to be put into production in 2010, but it fell through because Fiat Group cut off the ENVI department.

Judging from these forgotten histories and electric vehicles that people are not very familiar with, the lightweight concept that Lotus has always adhered to has not only created a golden signature for itself with excellent handling, but also in the current electric car market. Under the wave of globalization, it has also maintained its core competitiveness.

Evija, a new starting point for Hypercar

As mentioned above, Lotus’s years of accumulation in lightweight technology are crucial to electric vehicles, especially electric supercars. This is also the fundamental reason why so many manufacturers use Elise as the basis in the early stages of developing electric vehicles. With the knowledge base and engineering experience of electric drive systems, coupled with its long-standing industry-leading level in lightweighting, Lotus' launch of the Evija electric supercar is completely natural.

At its world premiere, Lotus called the Evija a Hypercar. So what is the definition of Hypercar? Although the two words Hypercar and Supercar have always existed side by side, they are both used to refer to those extremely rare and powerful models. But in people's minds, Hypercar refers to the top models of Supercar. In other words, Hypercar is the supercar among supercars and the best among the best.

To deserve the title Hypercar, Evija must have some hard-core skills. The maximum power is 2,000 horsepower, the maximum torque is 1,700 Nm, the acceleration time from 0-100 km/h is less than 3 seconds, and the acceleration time from 0-300 km/h is less than 9 seconds... These data are enough to make people shine. Limited to 130 units worldwide, prices start at ￡1.7 million. All of this expresses the connotation of the word Hypercar vividly.

Not only is the performance powerful, the price is expensive enough, and the output is small enough, but more importantly, the Evija embodies the essence of the Lotus brand, which is super lightweight, excellent aerodynamics and Excellent handling. Evija uses an integrated carbon fiber chassis structure, which not only ensures strength but also greatly reduces weight. It can be regarded as a tribute to the monocoque chassis used in F1 racing cars in the last century.

Looking back on the 70-year history of Lotus, it has experienced countless ups and downs. In the 1980s and 5 years ago, this legendary brand almost declared bankruptcy twice. Fortunately, danger can be saved every time, and this long-established brand can continue. Joining the Geely family can be said to be the best choice for Lotus at present - it can not only obtain sufficient funds, but also get complete technical support, and more importantly, it can also gain access to China, the world's largest automobile market. In addition to Evija, Lotus is also planning the successor models of SUV and Esprit. I sincerely hope that this highly personalized brand can take root in China and flourish around the world.

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.