Legendary British carmaker unveils bizarre three-seater sports car inspired by iconic model from its past
A LEGENDARY British carmaker has unveiled an exciting new sports car with three seats and a top speed of 199 mph.
The big reveal comes just a week after they teased fans with a hard-to-fathom image of only its rear spoiler.
Lotus are set to release their first all-electric sports car next year and this aggressive-looking concept has been held up as a “blueprint” for what it could look like.
Known as the ‘Theory 1’ concept, this stunning motor features an odd three-seat setup, 986bhp and an all-wheel-drive electric powertrain that draws energy from a 70kWh battery.
Lotus also claim it has a 0-62mph time of less than 2.5 seconds and a top speed of 199mph.
Most notable of all is the Theory 1’s carbon-made body weight, which is under 1,600kg – significantly low for an electric car.
Lotus enthusiasts will notice the Theory 1 boasts subtle design nods to their iconic Esprit model – the car made famous for its appearance in the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me.
Inside the Theory 1, the driver is sat centrally with seats for passengers each side and slightly behind – similar in a way to the Gordon Murray-designed McLaren F1 road car of the 1990s.
Indeed, Ben Payne, Lotus Group’s vice president for design, said the seating arrangement means the car is “as close as you can get to driving a Formula One car.”
He added: “For a product designed for drivers, it instills and builds and inspires confidence.
“From a weight distribution point of view, you can’t get any better.”
If the car’s seating arrangement is unusual, then the seats themselves are straight-up alien-looking.
Built to be completely state-of-the-art, they feature headrests that include individual speakers with active noise-cancelling tech that allows each of the three occupants to be listening to individual media without the others hearing.
Lotus have also used the Theory 1 to show off other ingenious innovations, including ‘Lotuswear’ – a system of textile-covered robotics that gives the driver ‘feedback’ through the seat and steering wheel.
This apparently works by using small inflatable pods that can send signals to the driver for turns.
Another feature is its steer-by-wire, which Lotus says lets drivers adjust how the steering feels and responds.
The fact that the Theory 1 is merely a concept may relieve many fans of the brand, who seemingly feared it could end some 65 years of tradition with a name that doesn’t begin with the letter ‘E’.
E is for...
Lotus nearly always name their cars with a word beginning with the letter ‘E’ – and it’s all down to a tradition established by the company’s founder, Colin Chapman.
After naming the Lotus Eleven and then the Lotus Elite, Chapman decided to continue the pattern with model names starting with ‘E.’
Over time, this became a distinctive feature of their cars, with popular models following the pattern like the Elan, Elise, Esprit, and Exige.
The exact reason for choosing ‘E’ isn’t entirely clear, but it has since become a recognisable hallmark of their motors.
Of course, there are a few early exceptions, such as the Lotus Seven, as well as a few track-focussed models like the 2-Eleven and 3-Eleven, and special-edition or collaborative efforts like the cult favourite Lotus Carlton.
In fact, their earliest models followed a ‘Mark’ naming system, from Mark I to Mark XI.
To avoid confusion with numbers, Chapman renamed the Mark XI as the Lotus Eleven. And the rest is history.
In many ways, it seems the Theory 1 serves as a preview to the brand’s upcoming all-electric sports car that’s set to be released next year.
Known as the ‘Type 135’, little else is known about the car that is set to go on sale in 2027, other than it could be priced from around £75,000 and is considered by many to be the long-term successor to the much-loved Elise.
Lotus recently hinted that the Type 135’s release date could be pushed back until battery tech catches up with their ambitions for a smaller, lightweight EV in the same essence as the Elise.
This comes as Renault accidentally leaked the bold new design of a popular model ahead of its official release.
And elsewhere, an iconic sports car from the 1960s that was left untouched in a barn for 43 years has been sold for a very reasonable price on eBay.