Lotus At Paris Motor Show 2010 Part 2
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After a few years since the release of the last model from Lotus, the Elise, the company is back in 2010 at the Paris Motor Show. We revealed in the first part of the article the concept Lotus brought, concepts that will see the light of the day in the upcoming years. Cars like the Esprit, Eterne, Elise and the Elite, with big engines and incredible acceleration amazed the people at the show, but there is another car presented by Lotus that made a very positive impression, the City Car Concept.
This will be the first car developed by Lotus that is planet-friendly, which is very important nowadays in the world of automobiles where the tendency is to go green. The City Car Concept is a 3,086 lb, 3 door, 4-seat, compact car that features a front-mounted, range-extending gasoline engine and of course, a rear-mounted electric motor that powers the rear axle. The battery of the automobile is fitted underneath the passenger compartment.
The total power output of this small car is quite impressive with its 162 kW (220 PS) and 240 Nm of torque (although the continuous power figure is a more modest 54 kW). The range based only upon the electric engine is 60 km (37 miles) and with the gasoline 1.2 liter engine it grows to an impressive figure of 500 km (311 miles). The 1.2 liter petrol/gasoline engine is a flex-fuel power plant that is able to run also on methanol or ethanol. The car has a sprint to 100 km/h in 9 seconds and 0 to 50 is done in 4.5 seconds which is very good for the city, where these cars shine the most. The co2 emissions of the Lotus City Car Concept are very greenish at only 60 g/km and 0 if the car runs only with the electrical engine.
As far as the design is concerned, the concept comes with a glass roof, carbon fiber touches, leather and the cabin upholstery is in a prime green and yellow tartan fabric. The chief engineer at Lotus, Wolf Zimmerman, told the Autocar magazine that the company is looking for a partner to start producing the car from 2014 and forward. Zimmerman also affirmed that he wishes Lotus to manufacture a city car similar to the Aston Martin Cygnet which will become a production model in 2010 and will be sold at an estimated price of $ 35.000. “Lotus Design has created a vehicle that condenses the essence of Lotus into a low carbon city car, with many inspired design touches,” said Dany Bahar, Group Lotus CEO, in a company press release.
From a quick look at the Paris Motor Show, the future of city cars looks promising with the Smart, Mini, City Car Concept and the Aston Martin Cygnet. Small cars with low fuel consumption, 0 co2 emissions is the tendency in the future, but we all hope that real supercars will not be replaced by these minis, because an automotive world without fast cars is useless.
