What comes next for the UK arm of Lotus? At this point, your guess is probably as good as ours.
Click here to read our review of the Lotus Emira V6 manual
Lotus has been owned by Chinese maker Geely since 2017. And since 2023 there have been essentially two separate business entities within the brand, Lotus Advance Technologies and Lotus Technology: the former what we might think of as the “traditional” bit, including the UK-produced sports cars and engineering consultancy, the latter based in Wuhan, China and focusing on new-gen luxury EVs like Eletre and Emeya.
In April, Lotus Technology (China) acquired the controlling share in Lotus Advance Technologies (UK), which was worrying to some but was in fact always part of the plan; Geely’s “put option” required the change once Lotus Advance Technologies sold more than 5000 vehicles a year, which it did in 2024.
But the UK operation is also in trouble. Most recently, in August, it announced it would cut 550 jobs (around 40% of the workforce). But it says it’s still committed to keeping its UK base.
Emira will likely be the last of its kind: a sports car with a mid-mounted combustion engine, a clear descendant of the Evora, Exige and Elise.
Whatever happens, the future of Lotus will be dominated by electrified power (perhaps super hybrid). One of the most talked-about projects for Advance Technologies back in 2023 was the development of a compact EV sports car platform with a mid-mounted battery, aka the Lotus Type 135, with the technology base also to be sold to other brands. Current status unknown.
Regardless of what happens… it’s safe to say the Emira will be the last of its kind: a sports car with a mid-mounted combustion engine, a clear descendant of the Evora, Exige and Elise.
The Emira is not exactly Lotus-light at nearly 1.5 tonnes, but it certainly feels Lotus-nimble when you’re on the narrow, sinewy stuff.
That’s a downbeat start to a review of what’s undeniably a fun little car. But that’s the context, and might well make the little Emira even more desirable to enthusiasts than it already is.
Emira was a brand-new model in 2022, launched first with a Toyota-sourced supercharged V6 and then later with a detuned version of the Mercedes-AMG 2.0-litre turbo we have here. Two models with very different characters, not least because the V6 can offer you a manual-transmission option, whereas the 4-pot can’t (because AMG doesn’t make ’em that way).
Sobering to think that for Emira Turbo money, you could have a Porsche 718 Cayman and almost enough change for a Geely Starray EM-i to run the family around in.
Going old-school is expensive. Our Emira Turbo test car is the first of the new entry-level models to make it to New Zealand, with 268kW/430Nm, but it still costs $199,900. The next one up is the Turbo SE, with 298kW/430Nm. To go V6 you need at least $229,900.
We say old-school, but it’s not really. Perhaps “authentic” is a better word. The platform is new for this car, much of the styling is inspired by the Evija EV hypercar (2019) and there are the requisite touch-screens and digital infotainment tech in the cabin. The interior is a high-quality affair, too; which might go at least a little way towards justifying the spend.
Go fast and it feels awesome. No surprise there. The turbo engine sounds nothing like it does in any kind of AMG: it’s right behind your earholes, there’s minimal soundproofing and the soundtrack is dominated by urgent turbo whirr (throttle on) and playful turbo flutter (throttle off).
It might be compact, but from the driver’s seat the Emira has a bit of a supercar vibe. You sit so very low, legs outstretched, you might as well be in a racing car. The steering is hydraulic, not electric, which is an incredibly rare thing these days (that authenticity again); so the car goes exactly where you point it and talks to you while it’s all happening.
The Emira is not exactly Lotus-light at nearly 1.5 tonnes, but it certainly feels Lotus-nimble when you’re on the narrow, sinewy stuff.
The powertrain also rises to the occasion when required. At 6000rpm the engine note gets truly hard-edged - raw but not uncouth - and the dual-clutch transmission (DCT) bangs through the gears with real aggression. The Emira Turbo would be the one to take a track day, no question. Maybe the Turbo SE, but in all honesty, this one has plenty of performance.
You’d think it would be the one to drive everyday as well, given it has two pedals and as much torque as the V6. But the DCT is not ideal in urban driving; if you get unexpectedly frisky with the throttle, it can hang onto gears for an uncomfortably long time (even in comfort-oriented Touring mode).
It’s the double-tap that really takes the edge off the Emira urban experience. To go from Park to Drive, you have to tap once for Neutral, then again for Drive. So for a three-point turn, it’s tap to go from Drive to Neutral, tap again for Reverse, complete the turn, tap again for Neutral, tap again to recover Drive. The automated-clutch response is slow and if you really hurry it, it can fail to engage. It can be infuriating.
The Emira Turbo is still a sensational little car. But weirdly, if it’s destined to be a daily driver we reckon the V6 manual would be the one to go for (assuming you can swallow the extra $20k): the manual gearbox is slick and it has that delightful visual feature of the exposed mechanism under the lever. You can also have the V6 with a conventional automatic, which is no doubt smoother in town than the DCT (we haven’t driven it), but we’re not sure it would match the DCT for high-speed responsiveness.
The Emira, any Emira, remains a driver’s delight. It’s a toy, and an expensive one at that; sobering to think that for the price of this entry Emira, you could have a Porsche 718 Cayman and almost enough change for a Geely Starray EM-i to run the family around in.
But regardless of how you crunch the numbers, there’s nothing quite like the Emira on the Kiwi market.