Lotus has shown mainstream manufacturers just how lardy their cars are, with a study that has revealed they could chop 38 per cent of a mainstream production car’s weight at a cost increase of just 3 per cent.
The study, conducted by Lotus Engineering and the International Council on Clean Transportation, focused on the use of lightweight materials and efficient design and demonstrated substantial mass savings.
The Lotus team used the US-market Toyota Venza crossover as a benchmark and, having carefully dissected one, reckon that vehicle mass (excluding the powertrain) could be reduced by more than a third – and that the technology required could be on stream by 2020 for a mere 3 per cent increase in component costs.
Lotus says this would be achieved through a mixture of stronger and lighter materials, dramatically increased component integration, and advanced joining and assembly techniques.
Despite its crash diet, the lightweight passenger concept developed by Lotus shares all key interior volumes, safety levels, vision, sight line, and interior comfort with the benchmarked Venza.
Lotus has also produced a second concept – one that would be production-viable by 2017 – which shaves 21 per cent from the mass of the Toyota.
"Lighter vehicles are cleaner and more efficient. That philosophy has always been core to Lotus's approach to vehicle engineering and is now more relevant than ever. Lightweight Architectures and Efficient Performance are just two of our core competencies,” says Dr Robert Hentschel, Director of Lotus Engineering. “We believe that this approach will be commonplace in the industry for the future design of vehicles."
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