Lotus confirms a new 986bhp+ hybrid V8 supercar and continued Emira production

Lotus has today confirmed it intends to push forward towards 2030 by being more… Lotus. And headlining this new strategy will be a new hybrid V8 supercar with many, many horsepowers.

More than 986bhp, in fact (1,000PS+). That car – currently codenamed Type 135 – will arrive in 2028 with an unconfirmed price but a semi-confirmed drivetrain. It’ll use a development of the hybrid setup currently doing business in the Eletre X SUV – what Lotus dubs ‘X-Hybrid’.

In the Eletre, it’s a very fancy setup comprising a fat 70kWh battery, 939bhp, a 2.0-litre four-pot turbo and 900V tech. Pretty good car, too. The Type 135 supercar will get a V8 bolted in rather than a four-pot, but aside from this and the fact it’ll be built in Europe, we’ll have to wait until later in 2026 to find out more.

Still, long story short: a new Lotus V8 supercar! 

Elsewhere in this Focus 2030 strategy, Lotus also confirmed the Emira will continue to be built, and as a pure combustion-engined sportscar, too. Apparently we’ll see an update very, very soon, and this update will represent “the most powerful and lightest Emira built”.

This continuation not only reflects “Lotus’ commitment to manufacturing in the UK”, but also “sustained consumer demand for its combustion-engine sportscars”. Lotus isn’t the only one fighting the brakes being put on EV adoption, remember.

Outside of the two tangible product news comes the other parts of ‘Focus 2030’: closer cooperation with mothership Geely (development speed, supply chain… things, building everything quicker, being able to sell it everywhere, etc etc), merging Lotus UK and Lotus Technology into a “single entity”, and “restoring financial discipline”.

On that last note, Lotus said it wants to focus on “targeted volumes” and “stronger margins” which of course means more scope for personalisation – the magic elixir when you’re competing at this end of the automotive bidness.

It sees China as the “primary volume growth engine”, Europe as the racing playground, the USA ‘anchored’ around sportscars and SUVs, and developing in the Middle East.

“Lotus was born from the rebellious spirit of Colin Chapman,” said CEO Qingfeng Feng, “and that is not lost today. Focus 2030 will reset both the brand and the business to keep us true to our DNA.

“We are obsessed with engineering, obsessed with performance and obsessed with building drivers’ cars, and that is what will grow this business,” he added.