The tradition continues through July 6.
In case you didn’t notice, all Lotus roadcars start with the letter “E”. Well, almost. Lotus Cars has a great story to tell about this vehicle nomenclature, just as any other vehicle nomenclature following a standard format.
The automaker claims that the tradition began in the 1950s, but it has roots back to 1948 when the marque was founded. Colin Chapman, founder of British brand Lotus, was the one who named the first Lotus vehicle. Design He built the Mark I and chose to use Roman numerals for the number.
This tradition continued with subsequent models until Mark X. Although the Lotus Mark XI would have been the next car, the 1956 motoring media preferred to call it the Lotus XI. Chapman decided to remove Mark from the naming system as it moved forward.
Chapman chose to spell the name to avoid confusion with the Arabic numeral “11”, which is visually similar to Mark II. This was also the birth of the tradition we know today for Lotus road cars. It will continue with the Lotus Emira on July 6, 2021.
The last internal combustion engine-powered Lotus is the Emira. It’s its final song before the electrification revolution. The model was announced by the Geely, a Norfolk-based automaker, in January this year. A teaser video was released just a few days ago, revealing much about its styling.
Although details regarding the Emira’s powertrain remain elusive, Lotus has historically used Toyota’s V6 3.5-liter engine. This could also be included in the Emira. There are rumors that the new Lotus sports car could feature a turbocharged 2.0-liter four cylinder from a partner. The final details about the Emira will be available in just a few days.