Lotus Theory 1 2024: Price, Specs, Availability

There’s much to the aboriginal of Lotus than large electric SUVs. That’s what the British institution erstwhile celebrated for its lightweight sports cars wants you to believe—and it’s wherefore Lotus has revealed a striking caller supercar concept, called Theory 1.

To beryllium clear, this is not an electrical rebirth of the Lotus Esprit, the wedge-shaped '70s icon driven into the oversea by James Bond. At slightest not yet. Lotus aficionados volition announcement its sanction isn’t “Type” followed by 3 numbers, arsenic is conception car tradition, nor does it statesman with an E, arsenic astir each accumulation Lotuses do. Instead, it’s a mode of showcasing exertion that Lotus has planned for aboriginal cars and, conscionable maybe, a hint of a supercar to come.

Speaking exclusively to WIRED, Lotus plan vice president Ben Payne said: “We wanted to recapture that consciousness of purity, but not to bash a benignant of pastiche of an Esprit, due to the fact that that doesn’t marque immoderate sense. So it’s much astir the tone of that car, the logic of the plan and however controlled it is successful the execution.”

That consciousness of power is cardinal to each aspects of the Theory 1. Lotus could person fixed it 2,000 horsepower to lucifer its Evija flagship, but it settled astatine a much tenable 987 hp (1,000 PS). It could person fto its designers tally chaotic with tremendous aero structures, ground-effect fans, and different hypercar paraphernalia, oregon overdosed connected conception car tropes similar immense touchscreen displays, artificial intelligence, oregon a drone that takes off from the rear deck.

Instead, Lotus did what it is champion known for and, successful the apocryphal words of laminitis Colin Chapman, it “simplified, past added lightness.”

Payne explained: “There’s been this play of maximalism, and radical having to bash one-upmanship and spell above, above, above. And I deliberation we’ve reached that constituent wherever it plateaus successful stylistic terms, and besides successful the objection of tech.” He adds, “We’re not successful a brainsick numbers contention with this car.”

Seriously Quick, Remarkably Light

Although not brainsick by 2024 EV standards, Lotus is inactive pitching the Theory 1 arsenic a earnestly speedy supercar. It’s aiming for a scope of 250 miles from a humble 70-kWh battery, an all-wheel-drive strategy with its rear centrifugal bolted straight to the suspension, motorsport-style, a 0 to 62-mph clip of nether 2.5 seconds, and a apical velocity of 200 mph. That’s each the accustomed supercar boxes ticked, but it’s thing to springiness Rimac sleepless nights—or so get awkwardly adjacent to Lotus’ ain $2.3 cardinal Evija.

More important than outright powerfulness is weight. Lotus says the all-carbon Theory 1 has a people of sub-1,600 kg (3,500 lbs), oregon astir 300 kg little than the Evija. To further thrust the weight-saving constituent home, the car has conscionable 10 “A-surface materials”—those being the materials you tin spot and interaction without digging beneath the surface—compared to the manufacture mean of 100, according to Lotus. The 10 see cellulose-based solid fiber, chopped c fiber, and titanium, arsenic good arsenic recycled forms of glazing, polyester, rubber, and aluminum.

It’s besides sensibly sized, arsenic acold arsenic modern supercars go, with a width of 2,000 mm (78.7 inches), a magnitude of 4,490 mm (176.8 inches), and a tallness of 1,140 mm (44.9 inches). Add this comparative sensibility to the ingeniously applicable doors, 3 seats, and fantabulous visibility, and it’s casual to ideate what a accumulation mentation could look like.