Lotus will unveil a new sports car called the Theory 1 on 17 September.
The brand's marketing chief, Qiao Xinyu, made the announcement on Chinese social media and posted a close-up preview image of the car's rear end.
The picture leaves much to the imagination but clearly shows an aggressive-looking rear spoiler, hinting that the new car is more overtly focused on outright performance than the Emeya saloon and Eletre SUV.
Given it is called the Theory 1, it is highly likely that the new model is not a production car but a forward-thinking concept.
With the exception of the track-focused 2-Eleven and 3-Eleven, Lotus's road cars have all been named after words beginning with 'E' since the Elite was introduced in 1958.
The Theory 1 is expected to preview the next evolution of Lotus's design language, introduced with the Evija in 2019 and since reinforced by the Eletre and Emeya.
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Finally! They've thought it'd be a good idea to put the Lotus name on the back of a new car. With all of the over the top branding these days I find it scarcely believable that the Eletra and ... other saloon one don't have clearer badging.
I'm afraid otherwise, pains me to say, but I'm struggling to care much about Lotus and their EVs. Expensive, weirdly styled, huge and inefficient Chinese EVs whose business case has been completely torpedoed by the recent import tariffs. Not sure the business case adds up anymore.
Despite the financial backing from Geely, I am not sure that Lotus can or will survive. Its EV SUV seems to be a rebadged Chinese EV with no discernible Lotus attributes. The Emira is largely a rebodied Evora that seems to have lots of manufacturing glitches.
I am not sure about using heritage UK brands like Lotus and MG to sell Chinese cars into the UK. Admittedly, it's hard to build a car brand from scratch and name recognition can be important, but the current crop of Lotus and MG cars on sale bear little relation to their predecesors.
Of the 6 cars that Porsche sell, 4 of them are Volkswagens, but nobody complains about that.
I think there is still a lot of equity and goodwill to the Lotus brand but the products haven't been what customers have been looking for. The new EVs are impressive but neither excels beyond the headline power outputs - yes great cabins but poor range for a high price - awkward looks but really good dynamics
I think the brand needs that Lotus Esprit replacement - great driving dynamics, performance and a genuine high calibre cabin would work - a lightweight car powered by a over the top on power V8 would work for a lot of people especially if wrapped up in a great looking car
Your talking about an ICE car and that's at best would be short term solution, using heritage brand names is new,most are owned by non native companies just to sell their product,and with the advent of Ev power, high power and sub two seconds acceleration times really means that fast cars aren't so revered as they were, the EV technology has to concentrate on to reduce overall weight of vehicles, reduce production costs of batteries and hopefully reduce the price of vehicles, makes EV cars more available to the masses, Lotus is an icon from the past like a lot of brands, there not the car brand on the lips of the current generation.