Lotus Is Replacing Its Toyota And AMG Engines With A Horse
Lotus has long used Toyota engines for its sports cars, only recently adding an AMG turbo four-cylinder to its menu with the Emira, but then killing it off shortly after. However, despite their two decade-plus relationship, Lotus is kicking Toyota engines to the curb, along with the AMG four-pot, when the Emira gets a facelift in 2027. Replacing them will quite literally be a Horse.
As much fun as it'd be to see someone lapping a track in a horse-drawn Lotus, that's the wrong kind of horse. According to Autocar, Lotus will be switching engine suppliers, moving to a hybrid V6 from Geely-Renault-owned Horse Powertrains. Lotus needed a new engine with lower emissions, and since both Lotus and Horse sit in the same Geely stable, it made sense to partner up. It's interesting, though, that Lotus was able to get an engine that meets upcoming emissions regulations without downsizing. Even better still, the new V6 weighs the same as the outgoing AMG four-cylinder, despite being hybridized, and makes more power than the old Toyota V6.
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The specific Horse engine will be a 3.0-liter V6 that's said to make 529 good old fashioned American horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. Despite its turbocharging and hybridization, Horse's engine is rather light on its hooves, with a claimed weight of just 353 pounds, which is almost exactly the same as the Emira's current AMG M139 engine. The hybrid tech gets an 800-volt architecture, but there's no word on any sort of electrified range just yet.
It's unclear whether Lotus will still be able to give the Emira a manual transmission with the new Horse engine. According to Horse, this hybrid V6 is paired with a four-speed "hybrid transmission and e-machine," but doesn't mention whether it can be made to work with other transmissions. Keeping a larger engine but dropping the manual could feel like one step forward, two steps back for Lotus fans. With its power specs, this new engine will certainly deliver the performance of a sports car, but a Lotus is as much, if not more about feel and fun than it is power and performance, so hopefully the Emira gets to keep its third pedal. Hopefully, it sounds good, too, because you don't want your Lotus to sound... hoarse. OK, I'll stop.