Friday 3rd October 2008

Paris '08: Lotus Exige Cup 260

Quickest Exige ever unveiled in Paris

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Lotus has unveiled its fastest and most hardcore Exige yet at the Paris Motor Show. The Exige Cup 260 is a development of the Exige Cup Car and uses advanced light weight components and carbon fibre body material, to reduce the overall weight by 38 kg to a total mass less than 900 kg.

Maximum power output is 260bhp and 0-60mph will take less than four seconds. While it has been designed for track racing it is fully homologated for road use in Europe and key markets in Asia - a must have for many race competition programs where a road legal car has to be entered. The Lotus Exige Cup 260 is also eligible to compete in the newly announced 2009 Lotus Cup Europe race series organized and run by LoTRDC.

Mike Kimberley, chief executive of Group Lotus said:  'Lotus is now recognised globally as one of the leaders in the green automotive revolution. Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus is attributed as saying 'Adding power makes you faster on the straights; adding lightness makes you faster everywhere' and this statement is more relevant today than it ever has been, as decreasing weight increases the car's performance and most importantly efficiency.'

Pictures: Sebastian Geisler

[Callan.T89]

Why do them bring themselve down by building an awesome car and then blabbering on about eco cack. very sad

[Boggy]

Great News,

Now get the price down to sub 35k and they might start selling

Boggy

[Mr JP]

Boggy said:

Great News,

Now get the price down to sub 35k and they might start selling

Boggy

Agreed this looks great but is the Exige not selling right now?

JP

[H22K]

call me a nationalist but should lotus not be showing these cars at the british motorshow?

(I know I know, politics, cost etc)..

[G7 Rye]

I don't think anything is selling right now, not a reflection on the Exige, although track cars do suffer coming into the winter months.

[rob e]

"light weight components and carbon fibre body material, to reduce the overall weight by 38 kg to a total mass less than 900 kg."

they should have started with an s1

[Twit]

Callan.T89 said:

Why do them bring themselve down by building an awesome car and then blabbering on about eco cack. very sad

Because that is a massive selling point for Lotus. We may not like it, but eco-ness is a business and its a business that sells; therefore, they are simply positioning themselves in that market.

The current green discussion and lack of credit / cash in the wider population has the potential to decimate the big engined sports car market. Smaller engines that seemingly pander to the eco-market and that are sub 40ish K is exactly where Lotus should be.

[Snoggledog]

The thing I like about Lotus is that unlike many of the German manufacturers they are not just throwing a huge engine into a car and saying "Look how powerful and fast this is." They're actually making an effort to produce a car that's good all round whilst being 'green' and still a good drive. For that reason alone I think Lotus is much better than any other manufacturers out there.

[Benmac]

Ooh, I like those wheels. Would look great on my 'lowly' 240Cup.

[stinkysteve]

Is the woman standing in pic 1 enormous or is that a 3/4 scale model of the new cup 260?

[kevin ritson]

Snoggledog said:

The thing I like about Lotus is that unlike many of the German manufacturers they are not just throwing a huge engine into a car and saying "Look how powerful and fast this is." They're actually making an effort to produce a car that's good all round whilst being 'green' and still a good drive. For that reason alone I think Lotus is much better than any other manufacturers out there.

Indeed, manufacturers have become very lazy of late and it's good to see old-fashioned values such as efficiency returning to the top of the agenda. Just a shame it's on another special edition with an extra couple of BHP

Still, the great bit of news is LOT looking after the Lotus Cup Europe series

[LD1Racing]

Great, how much?

[mchammer89]

Twit said:

Callan.T89 said:

Why do them bring themselve down by building an awesome car and then blabbering on about eco cack. very sad

Because that is a massive selling point for Lotus. We may not like it, but eco-ness is a business and its a business that sells; therefore, they are simply positioning themselves in that market.

The current green discussion and lack of credit / cash in the wider population has the potential to decimate the big engined sports car market. Smaller engines that seemingly pander to the eco-market and that are sub 40ish K is exactly where Lotus should be.

Also, Lotus aren't doing the silly thing of arguing over 1g CO2 emissions or 0.2mpg, while negleting the fact that they're causing massive amounts of pollution creating these "effecient" cars, they're actually changing the way they manufacture cars in order to be more green, plus they've always been a company who design a car to be as light as possible, which not only is very green, but also a lot of fun

[tim milne]

Twit said:

Callan.T89 said:

Why do them bring themselve down by building an awesome car and then blabbering on about eco cack. very sad

Because that is a massive selling point for Lotus. We may not like it, but eco-ness is a business and its a business that sells; therefore, they are simply positioning themselves in that market.

The current green discussion and lack of credit / cash in the wider population has the potential to decimate the big engined sports car market. Smaller engines that seemingly pander to the eco-market and that are sub 40ish K is exactly where Lotus should be.

Performance cars will only have a future if they can show they're part of the growing green conciousness. If they don't, they'll become an easy scapegoat for global warming.

Let Hummer be your guide.

[Boggy]

LD1Racing said:

Great, how much?

Over 50k? Place your bets

Boggy

[Monkey boy 1]

£46K ish

Edited by Monkey boy 1 on Friday 3rd October 12:39

[Sivraj]

Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus is attributed as saying 'Adding power makes you faster on the straights; adding lightness makes you faster everywhere'

Words of wisdom from a man, who knew a thing or two,
Perhaps there are some who could learn from these wise words

[purdy84]

Monkey boy 1 said:

£46K plus the £950 on the road costs.

Mmmmm think ill just be Komo-Tec'ing mine then.....

[Scuffers]

Belgium: 68,650 EUR
France: 67,950 EUR
Germany: 67,600 EUR
Italy: 68,650 EUR
Netherlands: 91,800 EUR
Switzerland: 100,000 CHF
Recommended retail prices for the following markets (MSRP) (excluding transport, delivery, local taxes, first service, registration, license plates and full tank of fuel):
Luxembourg: 56,034 EUR
Spain: 56,034 EUR
Austria: 56,034 EUR
Greece: 56,034 EUR

so, €56K = ~£44K + VAT = ~52K + delivery etc.

(and that's probably not including the CF pannelset etc)

Edited by Scuffers on Friday 3rd October 12:43

[purdy84]

Scuffers said:

52K

Holey 'carbon fibre gear knob' Batman...

...picks myself off the floor...