La Dolce Veloce

Lotus has all-but confirmed its intention to sell the Exige in the US beginning this fall. The latest word is that an Exige will be on display at the upcoming Lotus Owners Gathering (details) late August. A supercharger will either be standard, a factory option, or a dealer installed option.

A prototype Lotus GT was spied recently, as shown in this photos. That’s definitely not a Toyota four cylinder motor under the clear glass engine cover; can anyone identify that? As previously reported, this four seater coupe is expected to be powered by a V6 and to be somewhat more expensive and more refined than the Elise. See the rest of this post for more pictures.

EDIT: upon further review and feedback from others, it seems more likely that this is a sports car destined to be sold under the Proton nameplate (Proton owns Lotus). It doesn’t appear to offer enough space for rear seats, it has what appears to be a removable top, and the styling just doesn’t make sense for a Lotus.
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Unlike those earlier, likely photoshopped pictures of the new Lotus 2+2 (see this post), I found a photo of a real one sitting in the warehouse, courtesy of AutoCar. Click through to the rest of this post for the photo.

The new Esprit should be introduced sometime around January of 2007.
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Since my mind is on the Elise and there hasn’t been much sports car news to report, I thought I’d take a moment to plug one of, if not THE best, store in America for Lotus Elise parts, Sector 111. The people that run the store are first-rate, and the rate at which they’re coming out with new goodies is amazing. Check ‘em out!

The 190hp, Toyota powered Lotus Elise is fast. Real fast. 0-60 in under five seconds, and over 1g of cornering force. Could it be made any better? ForcedFed in Livermore, California thinks so. First, they designed (and are now selling) a turbocharger kit that bumps up power to 275hp, while only adding around twenty pounds of weight (this low gain is mostly because they’re replacing heavy stock parts with lighter custom ones, like the exhaust manifold). Now, they’ve finished development work on a 400hp version of that turbo kit. The car recently completed testing for an upcoming Car & Driver comparison test, and while that test didn’t go as well as hoped (the engine was severely damaged by operator error), the concept of 400hp in an Elise is mind boggling. My stock Elise is fast enough, I can’t begin to imagine what doubling the power (and almost doubling the torque) will do. Naturally, they also have an upgrade solution for the brakes and suspension to go along with the added power. I was at ForcedFed’s shop the other day and had a chance to check out their work. Really nice stuff, and I walked out of there with a new air intake for my Elise.

AutoExpress reports on details of Lotus’ upcoming 2+2 coupe, likely to be named either Excel or Elite. Basically, it’s a stretched Elise, and will likely receive a V6 engine. While AutoExpress speculates that a Toyota V6 will be used, I think it more likely that Lotus will go with Volkswagen’s VR6 motor, given the recent partnership between VW and Lotus’ parent comapny Proton. The VR6 is a good choice anyway, as it’s a very compact unit, with plenty of options for low boost turbochargers to produce a more suitable level of thrust for this 1100kg GT car. Good news too, this coupe will almost certainly be built in Hethel, unlike the next Esprit which will be coming from Malaysia. Look for this new Lotus to be unveiled in Geneva next spring. (The photo here is computer generated; the actual car may vary).

Canadians, rejoice! The 2006 Lotus Elise has received approval for sale in Canada! No longer will you have to sit idly by while your American neighbors bore you with tales of the great experiences they’re having in their Elises, now you can get your own! Demo cars for test drives should arrive around July/August; the first customer cars are expected around September. No word on pricing at this point.