Back-to-basics Lotus sports car just months away

The long-awaited replacement for the ancient Lotus Elise, Exige and Evora could be just months away, following comments from Lotus boss Phil Popham that the car-maker will launch a new sports car in the British summer.

In an interview with Automotive News, Popham said the all-new model was expected to be unveiled in the third quarter of this year, but production won't kick off until 2022.

The Lotus CEO was also careful not to namecheck either the 25-year-old Elise, 21-year-old Exige or 12-year-old Evora, but did say the unnamed sports car would come powered with an internal combustion engine, instead of a development of the Evija hypercar's pure-electric powertrain.

Announcing the mystery Lotus will be built at the car-maker's Hethel plant, which was recently overhauled in the wake of Geely's purchase, Popham said he's banking on the car to provide "substantial growth".

When it arrives in 2022, the new model will be priced from £55,000 ($A97,000) to £105,000 ($A185,000) – a range that broadly covers the Elise, Exige and Evora trio.

Lotus has previously stated that it wants to lift its sales from 1600 cars a year to around 5000 units.

Raising the Hethel plant’s production capacity is a key factor in achieving that goal, according to Popham, along with performing well in the US – the brand's second biggest market despite only selling one model, the Lotus Evora, there.

Now under the Geely umbrella, Lotus is expected to be able to borrow from its fellow stablemates, like Volvo, although it's unlikely any of the brands will have suitable architecture to underpin a roadster, small coupe and a compact 2+2 coupe.

Even if the Volvo-developed CMA platform is modular enough, it's thought it would also be far too heavy for the resulting car to be considered a true Lotus.

That means the new models could either be based on a heavily developed version of the current Elise's epoxy resin bonded and riveted aluminium tub or a completely new architecture.

If it's the latter, expect the new structure to be engineered for EVs, too.

Under the rear bootlid, the small Lotus could borrow from Volvo but the level of expensive electrification needed to raise power to the outputs an Exige or even an Evora would demand means the British car-maker could once again borrow from Toyota.

It's thought Lotus will begin building anticipation for its Elise replacement in the coming months, ahead of the third-quarter launch.