While we weren’t shocked to hear of Lotus’ decision to delay the introduction of its track-ready Elan model until at least 2016, we were a little disappointed. However, there appears to be a silver lining to the Elan’s delayed introduction, with Lotus reportedly shuffling money allocated to the Elan project to a new engine program.
Lotus currently relies on Toyota for its vehicle engines, but that will soon change as Lotus has already begun its engine development program. Moreover, Lotus is working on a modular design, which should allow for several different engine configurations from the same basic architecture.
“This is a big [financial] hit because it’s expensive to do an engine,” Lotus head Dany Bahar said. “But because the Elan is not happening now we have got capital expenditure headroom for engine development.”
Lotus reportedly began work on the engine project last year. Lotus’ first engine born from the project will likely be a V8 of unknown displacement. However, Lotus is targeting Ferrari with the new bent-eight, with total output expected in the 550-570 horsepower range.
The project should also bear a V6 and possibly even an inline-four. However, if the four-cylinder proves too costly, Lotus will like stick to its Toyota-sourced four-pot.
The new engine family could be on the road as early as 2013.
No comments:
Post a Comment