Time to consider a secondhand Lotus Emeya?
Can a significant saving finally make Lotus's EV seem appealing...
There are two ways of looking at the Lotus Emeya. The first is arguably the prevalent view on PH - that it was (and is) a symptom of both what’s wrong with the new car market generally and Lotus specifically. Obviously it worked to distance the latter from its core mission as a maker of lightweight sports cars, and though Lotus might have made a saloon work (it didn’t do a bad job with the Carlton, after all), it was hard to dress up a battery-powered saloon that was developed and built in China.
Even that subjective shortcoming might not have mattered if customers were enthused en masse about the idea of owning a six-figure luxury EV - but by the time the Emeya arrived, they absolutely were not, partly as a result of the Taycan becoming a noose around too many owners’ necks. And if Porsche, with its much bigger profile and better-established customer base couldn’t adequately shift the one EV that the Emeya aspired to be, what chance did Lotus have?
Well, some did sell. At the time of writing, there are nine currently for sale on PH (compared with 351 Taycans). The latter can be had for a mind-boggling £29k. The Emeya, meanwhile, presumably as a result of its comparative scarcity and younger age, is available from around £60k. Is it worth twice as much as a high-mile Taycan? Probably not, if we’re of the view that the Lotus still has plenty of depreciating to be doing in the coming years. As a value for money prospect, Porsche’s folly is currently hard to beat.
The second view is different because it takes into account what the Emeya is actually like to drive. Which, if you opt for the more affordable and lesser-powered S variant, is to say very nicely indeed. Where the R was a flagrant attempt to take on the Taycan in its lofty Turbo format, the 612hp S did not try so hard to impress and was all the better for it. At the time, we called it a ‘fine addition to the growing ranks of large, battery-powered luxury cars that want to be thought both highly refined and sleekly driveable.’ Had it not been lumbered with the baggage that came with its Lotus badge, ‘the praise might have been even more fulsome’.
Of course, the S we drove at the launch retailed at £101k, a number no more recommendable than paying the asking price on a two-bed London flat. Back then, the mechanically identical entry-level car was quoted at £89,500; today, you can have a base 600 model from £84,990. This lovely looking example, which seems well-kitted with the KEF 1,380W audio system, four-zone climate, heated everything and the interior carbon pack, has covered fewer than 12k since it was first sold in 2024. It is listed at £62,950.
A big enough saving to win over the doubters? Well, clearly it isn’t sufficient to fall into the Taycan’s bargain bucket, but that would hardly do Lotus any long-term favours. A better way to look at it might be to compare it to the sixty-ish grand currently being asked for a nearly-new BMW i5 M60, a car with much the same output and real-world range. It too has descended from a six-figure asking price very quickly, but has neither the look nor the luxury mindset of the Lotus. Nor will it generate the same look of wonderment from passersby, either. Can we call that badge kudos? Possibly not. But it does help to make the idea of a secondhand Emeya seem no less wacky than any other used EV purchase in 2026...
Maybe less so for this particular lotus now but the original Taycan the range is so poor compared to modern offerings and it’s not a Sunday or track special and there is no engine note to lust after so why would you? Bit of badge desire maybe but looking at sheer numbers of formally very expensive EVs struggling to find a home no one fancies a punt.
£10k 5 year old Porsche/ Lotus incoming?!
I bang about in an S2 Elise and the Lotus EV guys always seem really happy to get a wave, I feel most must have bough them with some love of the brand/badge behind that decision.
It's a shame. I like the looks of the car (not this one with its nasty black wheels) and I certainly believe it has presence (outside) and quality (inside). It's just too big. Cars have to be used in places that are just not designed for such girth, and that puts me off this (and the Eletre).
) when the Elise was launched please, because cars(and life) in general were much better back then for me. I don't actually mind these in black to look at, but it doesn't suit that colour at all in my view.
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