After McLaren, another exotic British sports car brand will enter the Indian market. Lotus, which manufactures speed guns such as Emeya, Eletre, Emira, and Evija globally, has confirmed its entry into the Indian market scheduled to take place on November 9, 2023.
The British marque has joined hands with New Delhi-based Exclusive Motors as its dealer and service partner in India. The latter will also act as distributor for Lotus. Exclusive Motors also handles Bentley Motors in India. Lotus is expected to embark upon its journey in India by launching a single model initially followed by more models based on the consumers’ response.
Although Lotus hasn’t yet revealed the exact name of the model to be introduced in India, we expect the supercar brand to launch either the petrol-powered Emira sportscar or the all-electric Eletre SUV later this week. In either case, all Lotus sports cars will come to India as fully-imported Completely Built Unit (CBU) models.
Lotus Emira details
Lotus Emira is a 2-door sports coupe that made its global debut in 2021 and is available with two engine options. The first option is a 3.5-litre supercharged V6 petrol engine that puts out 400 horses. This engine is paired with either a 6-speed manual or an 6-speed automatic gearbox with peak torque outputs of 420 Nm and 430 Nm, respectively. As for performance, this version of Emira can do 0 to 100kmph in 4.4 seconds.
The other option is a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol unit sourced from Mercedes-AMG that pushes out 362 horses and 430 Nm of peak torque. This power mill is paired exclusively with an 8-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. It can do a 0 to 100 kmph sprint in 4.2 seconds and breach a top speed of 296 kmph. If it arrives, we expect the Emira to be priced around Rs 2.50-2.70 crore (ex-showroom).
Lotus Eletre details
Lotus Eletre is the brand’s first all-electric SUV. It is based on the Electric Premium Architecture and features a dual-motor setup producing over 600 horses. Lotus claims that the Eletre accelerates 0 to 100 kmph in under 3 seconds and can reach a top speed of 260 km/h. The electric motor is paired with a battery pack of over 100 kWh, offering a range of 600 km on a single charge (WLTP cycle).
Expect the all-electric SUV to be priced in the range of Rs 2.5-3.0 crore (ex-showroom), if and when launched in India.
