The new hybrid powertrain will come from a joint venture between Renault and Geely, and it'll be a lot more powerful than the existing engines. Yesterday, Lotus announced a pivot from its plans for an electric supercar codenamed the Type 135, instead revealing that the low-slung two-door will pack a new V-8 hybrid powertrain with nearly 1000 horsepower.
Now, it appears the Lotus Emira sports car will also go hybrid, with Autocar reporting that an updated Emira will arrive soon with a V-6 hybrid setup. The plans to launch a hybridized Emira were confirmed to Autocar by Lotus CEO Qingfeng Feng, who also revealed that the new powertrain will become the only choice going forward for Lotus's sports car.
View Price on AmazonThe new hybrid setup will instead be produced by powertrain manufacturer Horse, a company founded in 2024 as a joint venture between Renault and Lotus's parent company, Geely. The heart of the powertrain will be a turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6, paired with a four-speed automatic transmission with an integrated electric motor.
The switch to a hybrid setup will bring a big power bump. The Horse W30 V-6 can produce up to 536 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque on its own, before factoring in some extra power from the transmission-mounted e-motor. The current Toyota V-6 churns out 400 hp and 310 lb-ft, while the Mercedes-AMG four-pot is good for 400 hp and 354 lb-ft.
While the hybrid assembly will likely increase the Emira's weight, Horse Powertrain says the V-6 itself weighs just 353 pounds, claiming that it's around 22 pounds lighter than all other V-6s on the market and only slightly heavier than most 2.0-liter four-cylinder engines.
Along with the weight penalty, there's another factor that may cause concern for enthusiasts. The W30 seems to be paired exclusively with the automatic gearbox, and the removal of the Toyota V-6 would also suggest the death of the six-speed manual transmission.
Still, this move is a reversal from Lotus's previously announced plan to go all-electric, which would have included an electric replacement for the Emira that was originally set to be developed in collaboration with Alpine. But Lotus decided there wasn't enough of a market for an electric sports car (and Alpine is also apparently reengineering its electric-only A110 replacement to fit combustion engines).
Apparently, the focus on six-cylinder engines for the Emira was driven by the United States. "They told us that they love the V-6 engine, and actually the V-6 version is our best-seller in the U.S. market," Feng told Autocar.
We'll see if American enthusiasts still love the V-6 once it's electrified and sold exclusively with an automatic. More details on the updated Emira powertrain should emerge over the course of the next year.
Source: caranddriver.com
