SHANGHAI MOTOR SHOW: Lotus Type 130 teased

Lotus used today’s Shanghai motor show to tease what it promises to be the first all-electric British hypercar and its first all-new production car since 2008.

Codenamed the Lotus Type 130, the battery-powered super sports car is in the advanced stages of development and will be fully revealed in London later this year, said Lotus.

For now, all we’ve got to go by is this heavily stylised rendering that reveals the computational fluid dynamic modelling of its sleek side profile to highlight its extensive wind tunnel testing, and a mostly historic teaser video showing little more.

Lotus CEO Phil Popham promised the Type 130 will be the most dynamic model in the 71-year history of the Norfolk, UK-based sports car brand, which under the controversial leadership of the colourful Dany Bahar in 2010 promised to release no fewer than seven all-new models including a born-again Esprit.

None of those eventuated, so the Type 130 will be the first new Lotus in more than a decade, and the first since Chinese auto giant Geely took control of Lotus and its parent company Proton in 2017.

“Type 130 will be the most dynamically accomplished Lotus in our history,” said Popham.

“It marks a turning point for our brand and is a showcase of what we are capable of and what is to come from Lotus.”

No technical specs of the as-yet-unnamed Lotus hypercar, which is expected to be a strictly limited edition model available as soon as next year, have been revealed.

However, the low-slung two-seater is reportedly based around a carbon tub and an electric powertrain developed by Williams Advanced Engineering and powering all four wheel wheels via a two-motor EV system.

Naturally, Lotus is keen to point out the technical advances achieved by the Type 130’s hallowed predecessors.

They include the 1957 Type 14 (Elite), the world’s first composite monocoque production road car, and the 1995 Type 111 (Elise), the world’s first aluminium and bonded extrusion construction production car.

The longer list of Lotus motorsport firsts include the 1963 Type 25 (the world’s first fully-stressed monocoque F1 car and the first Lotus to win F1 world title), the Type 72 that won the F1 crown in 1970, 1972 and 1973, making it “the most successful F1 car of all time and the blueprint for F1 car design for many years”, the 1977 Type 78 (world’s first ‘ground effects’ F1 car), the 1981 Type 88 (world’s first carbon-fibre F1 car and the 1983 Type 92 – the world’s first active suspension F1 car.