The updated Lotus Emira sports car will be the first to use a new 3.0-litre V6 turbocharged hybrid engine developed by Geely-Renault-owned powertrain company Horse.
The revised Emira, due in 2027, is part of a wider overhaul at Lotus that brings combustion-engine sports cars back to the fore, with a new V8 hybrid supercar codenamed Esprit leading the charge.
The Horse V6 will become the only available powertrain so will replace both the current Toyota-sourced V6 and AMG-supplied four-cylinder unit that currently powers the Emira, Lotus CEO Feng Qingfeng confirmed to Autocar.
The Horse V6 develops up to 536bhp and 516lb ft but weighs just 160kg – making it around 10kg lighter than any other V6 on the market and only marginally heavier than many 2.0-litre four pots, said Horse CEO Matias Giannini.
The unit is mated to a four-speed automatic transmission with an integrated electric motor, giving the Emira an additional power boost while also reducing emissions.
Lotus extended the life of the Emira after deciding there was no market for the planned electric replacement, originally to be developed alongside Alpine for a launch previously planned for this year.
Lotus made the decision to focus on the six-cylinder partly due to reaction from the US market, which has driven demand for the Toyota-supplied V6. “They told us that they love the V6 engine, and actually the V6 version is our best-seller in the US market,” said Feng.
The continuation of the combustion-engined Emira is great news for Lotus’s historic production plant in Hethel, near Norwich, which will also build the V8 ‘Esprit’ supercar from 2028. Production sunk as low as 2000 cars last year after the US imposed an inflated 25% tariff on imported cars in March 2025.
Negotiations by the UK reduced the final figure to 10%, reviving production and making Hethel an attractive place to supply the US again. “The 10% tariff for UK-manufactured cars exported to the US seems acceptable to us,” said Feng. “It is actually more cost-efficient [using Hethel] than investing in a [new] factory.”
Lotus last year had to deny a well-sourced Autocar report that it planned to shut Hethel amid a wider push to cut costs at the money-losing company.
Lotus now aims to push Hethel close to its capacity of 10,000 with the combined production of both the new Emira and the V8 supercar, which is likely to take its Esprit codename into production.
