Lotus is well-known for making fast cars in the sports car world, both for production and racing. That being said, Lotus, like many other automakers, has started transitioning itself into the EV market, and soon, Lotus will stop selling gas-powered cars. Here’s a look at the Lotus Emira GT4 race car, the last gas-powered car from Lotus.

The powerful specs of the Lotus Emira GT4 

As Car and Driver wrote, there are two engine options on the Emira, but for the track version of the car, it’s only available with the 3.5-liter supercharged V6 engine. The standard production version of the vehicle will come with a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, but both engines will be pretty powerful. The four-cylinder gets 360 horsepower, while the V6 brings 400 horsepower. 

The V6 engine will allow the Lotus race car to go from 0 to 60 mph in 4.3 seconds, and it’ll also have a top speed of about 180 mph. These may not be record-breaking speeds, but the Emira is designed for racing, as Car and Driver said. As such, it follows racing requirements, including in other areas of its design. The track version should have a relatively simple interior, but the production version should be more practical for daily driving. 

Overall, according to Car and Driver, Lotus expects to produce a “limited number” of the Emira GT4 just in time for the 2022 racing season. Production should scale up by 2023. On top of that, the production version should have a similar schedule. Anyone who can afford its $75,000 base price tag can expect to get one in early 2022. 

A new electric era for Lotus

According to Car and Driver, the Emira, both as a production car and as a race car, will be the last gas-powered car from Lotus. As such, that $75,000 price tag is probably a reasonable price to pay for something that may become a collectible. Lotus isn’t only going to transition into making EVs, either. Lotus is also making some more extensive changes.

That’s because, according to Car and Driver, Lotus will also be launching two new SUVs, and they will be EVs as well. This is a surprise, of course, since Lotus has stuck to sports cars for most of its history. This all changed when Lotus unveiled the Evija, an all-electric hypercar that is very quick. The Evija has been successful for Lotus so far, so it’s not surprising that Lotus has decided to make its transition into EVs so soon.

When the the next generation of Lotus cars are coming

Since electric SUVs are so popular in America right now, it makes sense that Lotus has decided that its next car, after the Emira GT4, will be an SUV. Currently, its codename is the Type 132, and it’s pretty certain that Lotus will change it when it’s closer to launch. That said, it’s already very close to launch, as it’s expected to debut sometime in 2022. 

The Lotus model after that is unsurprisingly named the Type 133. That said, the Type 133 will not be an SUV, but it’ll be a four-door coupe. Currently, it’s expected to debut in 2023. The Type 134 will debut after that, but not for a while. The Type 134 will debut in 2025, and it’ll be an SUV again. Lastly, the Type 135 will debut in 2026, and it’ll be an all-electric sports car. While the other Lotus cars are probably worthwhile, the Type 135 may be the next racer from Lotus after the GT4.