Lotus Exige Sport 410 coming to Oz

The new Lotus Exige Sport 410 is a very fast sports car – it accelerates to 100km/h significantly quicker than a $260,000 Mercedes-AMG GT… and costs $100,000 less.

Priced at $159,990 (plus on-road costs), the Lotus Exige Sport 410 will arrive in Australia from November, taking pride of place in showrooms as the British brand’s new hero model for the foreseeable future.

Powered by a 3.5-litre Toyota V6 with Edelbrock supercharger and intercooler, the lightweight 1054kg coupe has a top speed of 290km/h and will also put many half-million-dollar exotics to shame in the traffic light tango.

The brutal Briton can dispatch the 0-100km/h in a face-rippling 3.4sec, as a specially-cooled six-speed manual transmission works in tandem with a 240mm clutch to dump 420Nm on the rear axle. Peak power of 306kW – or 410hp, hence the name – hits the skids at 7000rpm.

There are faster Lotus models (not many) and the Lotus Exige Cup 430 is one of them. But only 10 of these track-ready 430 sports cars were imported to Australia and only two were left for sale at the time of writing.

The Lotus Exige Sport 410 has slightly less power than the 430 but shares the same suspension and forged 332mm AP Racing brakes with four piston callipers front and rear.

Richard Gibbs, chief operating officer of Lotus Cars Australia and New Zealand, said the new model would begin arriving in Australia from November, with around 15 cars due to touch down before Christmas.

Unlike the super-special 430 model, the 410 will not be a limited edition.

“We will bring in as many of these cars as we can get -- it’s an unlimited-build vehicle. This car will be our hero car for the next 18 months.”

So will all-new Exige be forthcoming in 2020?

Gibbs wouldn’t talk about upcoming models but Lotus has relied on its Elise, Exige and Evora – not to mention its insane 3-Eleven roadster – to keep the home fires burning.

The Exige was first produced in the early 2000s and has remained fundamentally unchanged ever since.

For now, the range-topping Lotus Exige Sport 410 will come standard in Australia with a bold rear wing and aggressive front splitter which together deliver 150kg of downforce at higher speeds, plus 17-inch front and bigger/wider 18-inch rear alloy wheels with 215/45 and 285/30 tyres respectively.

Inside there are Alcantara-trimmed sports bucket seats, bisected by a striking open-gate manual gear shifter design, while an Alcantara steering wheel is also standard.

Air-conditioning is also included, which is not always the case with Lotus cars in order to reduce weight, and the regular lead acid battery has been replaced with a lighter lithium-ion cube.

“It was $154K for the 380 Exige Sport so this is very good bang for your buck,” said Gibbs.

“For $5000 more you get a lot more for your money -- the upgraded engine, wheels, brakes, tyres. There’s a lot here.”

Of course if you want to spend a little more there are plenty of options too, including carbon-fibre features inside and out, plus a titanium exhaust system which sheds 10kg and makes more noise.

Those who see a bit of race track work in their future may want to option an electrical cut-off, fire extinguisher, four-point harnesses, airbag deletion and a FIA-approved roll cage.

Lotus is now by Chinese car giant Geely, which also owns Volvo and orchestrated that company’s resurgence, and has pledged to inject more than $2 billion to build a new Lotus design centre and second factory.

Plans for a Lotus SUV were leaked in late 2017, suggesting a Porsche Macan rival based on a Volvo platform, which would be a radical departure for the British brand best known for making lightweight sports cars, but would increase its by orders of magnitude.