Lotus Tuus: Lotus Cars launches in Manila

A decent crowd took interest in the Lotus models during the official launch held in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City.

Lotus is a company that was born to race. The British car company has a 60-year history of building sports and race cars, including a significant presence in Formula One.

So it was fitting that Lotus Cars Manila chose the Globe Slipstream event to hold its first public preview. The event highlighted Filipino-Swiss driver Marlon Stöckinger’s journey to a potential Formula One seat through various race-themed activities, including  a public drive of the Lotus Formula car on the streets of Bonifacio Global City.

The Lotus Cars Manila pavilion was at the center of the BGC Amphitheater, housing a trio of cars. These were the Elise 220 Cup, Elise S Club Racer and Evora S. The Exige will also be on offer when the brand officially launches in August.

What makes Lotus cars exceptional? Like several sports car brands, Lotus’ roots are in racing. Company founder Colin Chapman was a great innovator in Formula One, introducing monocoque chassis and ground-effects aerodynamics (low air pressure to generate a suction effect) to the sport. The cars embodied his philosophy of subtracting weight to enhance performance.

The cars that carry his name still continue that approach. Making the car lightweight means that the company can use a relatively small and  efficient engine and still extract bristling acceleration.

Front Pirelli P-Zero Corsa tires (above left) and interior details (above right) of the Evora S Sport Racer

WILLY Tee Ten, Lotus PH president

With a lighter car, many components such as wheels and brakes can be smaller as well, leading to a virtuous circle of weight savings.

One look at the Lotus Cars on display, and we could plainly see that everything in the car is there for the sake of performance, with a few concessions made for comfort and convenience.

The Elise is a small masterpiece of automotive engineering, using a lightweight aluminum architecture and fiberglass bodywork.

Mounted midship behind the driver is a 1.8-liter supercharged inline-four engine, good for  216.99 horsepower and 250 Newton-meters.

With the car’s unladen mass at just 924 kilograms, the dual-VVTi engine delivers 0-100 kilometers per hour in just 4.6 seconds.

OWEE Cruz, Lotus PH vice president

There are two variants of Elise: the Elise S Club Racer and the more track-oriented Elise 220 Cup. The latter features zero-lift bodywork, engineered for maximum downforce at speed.

The Lotus Exige is a higher-performance sports car. Like the Elise, it’s built on a lightweight aluminum-frame chassis. It uses a supercharged 3.5-liter V6 with  345.21 HP and 400 Nm. This one can be had with a six-speed manual or automatic transmission. The car uses a mid-engine configuration for optimum handling.

The Evora is the luxury performance car of the group. While the Evora also uses a mid-engine configuration, it manages to pack a 2+2 seat cabin within its compact frame.

Evora has more concessions to comfort, with leather seats, trip computer, vehicle monitoring display, electric windows and air-conditioning. Evora also uses the 3.5-liter V6 with manual or automatic transmission.

Lotus Cars Manila is under the umbrella of the Autohub Group, which manages distributorships and dealerships of several world-class car brands including Rolls-Royce and Mini. It is currently completing its showroom on Ortigas Avenue, Greenhills.

Lotus Cars president Willy Tee Ten said: “We’re pleased to announce this newest, and so far the biggest, milestone for the Autohub group. It is with great pleasure that we’re given the chance to… deliver the unique Lotus Pure Driving experience here in the Philippines.”

Enthusiasts are taking notice of Lotus’ official presence. No less than the founder of Motul distributor Autoplus Sportzentrium Carlos Gono has already ordered a Lotus. Gono is quite familiar with high-performance machines, having driven many of them, and with more being serviced and tuned at his shop.

Exige S Roadster: a head-turner on any road

He said: “I ordered mine from Willy. Actually, it’s for [my son] Luis. The model he chose is the Exige S V6 Cup. It’s a radical track racer. It has very good power to weight ratio since the Cup version is 60 kg lighter than the Standard Exige S. It weighs only 1030 kg and has a 345.21-HP supercharged engine which can be tuned easily to  448.77 HP. It also has a track-ready fully adjustable height and damping wishbone suspension.” The son is, of course, Luis Gono, the 2014 Vios Cup champion—quite a vote of confidence for the Exige.

ELISE S Club Racer

The pricing for Lotus Cars Manila’s initial offerings are:

• Elise S Club Racer (1.8-liter supercharged mid-mounted engine,  216.99 HP and 250 Nm, 0-100 kph in 4.6 seconds, 234 kph top speed, six-speed close-ratio manual transmission, rear-wheel drive, cloth-trimmed lightweight seats, four-speaker audio system, power windows and locks, 17-inch front/18-inch rear alloys, with forged alloys as options) for P4.65 million

• Elise 220 Cup (1.8-liter supercharged mid-mounted engine,  216.99 HP and 250 Nm, 0-100 kph in 4.6 seconds, 225 kph top speed, six-speed manual transmission with sports ratios, rear-wheel drive, cloth and Suedetex composite seats, power windows and locks, zero-lift, maximum downforce bodywork, track-focused) for  P5.35 million

Cloth and Suedetex composite seat for the Elise S Club racer

• Exige S Roadster (3.5-liter supercharged V6 engine with  345.21 HP and 400 Nm, six-speed close-ratio manual transmission or six-speed automatic, 0-100 kph in 4.0 seconds for manual, 0-100 kph is 3.9 seconds for automatic, 233 kph top speed, aluminum mid-engine construction, 17-inch front and 18-inch rear alloys, with forged alloy options) for  P7.5 million

• Evora S Sport Racer (3.5-liter supercharged V6 engine with  345.21 HP and 400 Nm, black leather luxury seats, magnesium-alloy steering wheel, power windows, air-conditioning, 18-inch front, 19-inch rear alloys with Pirelli P-Zero Corsa tires, 0-100 kph in 4.6 seconds for manual and 4.7 seconds for automatic, top speed at 286 kph for manual and 269 kph for automatic) for   P8.88 million.