Lotus’ new Eagle flies

The new car, which is known only by its project name ‘Eagle’, is a more holistic offering than the Elise and Exige models that have been so popular with track day enthusiasts. Lotus says the new car, the name for which will be announced at the British Motorshow on 22 July, is designed for people who want exotic sportscar characteristics, stunning design, exclusivity, dramatic proportions and performance. The Eagle, to be manufactured at the Malaysian-owned company’s Hethel, Norfolk factory, is powered by a 3.5-litre V6 producing 280 PS, the new car employs innovative lightweight chassis technology to ensure visceral all-round dynamic performance, in keeping with the Lotus tradition. In the very early stages of development testing, Lotus ride and handling engineers report that it is considerably faster around the famously demanding Nürburgring circuit than the Elise and more stable at speed than the Exige. Styled in-house by Lotus Design, the Eagle sports sumptuous leather surfaces and high-tech features including driver focused instrumentation and flush-mounted controls that glow with blue LED haloes and a stylised speedometer and rev counter. As well as being sold in a 2+2 configuration, the car will also be available as a purely two-seater, the space in the rear being allocated to luggage storage. Other derivatives are also planned for the future, including a convertible and an ultrahigh performance version. Deliveries of Project Eagle will begin in Spring 2009, with only 2000 of the hand crafted cars planned each year. Lotus CEO Mike Kimberley said the Eagle was the biggest milestone Lotus had achieved since the Elise was born 13 years ago. “We are currently working at broadening the appeal of the Lotus brand through an aggressive 5-year model plan of which this car represents the first exciting step,” he added.