Speaking to CarBuzz at a recent motorsport launch event, Lotus Advanced Performance’s head of sales and marketing, Simon Croft, confirmed Lotus would continue producing combustion cars, albeit with a twist.
No one expected the Lotus Type 66 to be revealed this past weekend at Monterey Car Week, but that was by design. In 1970, when Type 66 was supposed to compete in the Can-Am series, there wouldn’t have been social media teaser campaigns and leaks because social media didn’t exist. Instead, reveals happened with a bang at big events.
While the story of Type 66 is incredible – lost drawings of an unproduced sports car leading to it being built 53 years later – what’s more poignant is that it’s powered by combustion, by an incredible V8 producing 830 horsepower at 8,800 rpm. But wait, didn’t Lotus say the Emira would be the automaker’s last combustion car?
As it turns out, Lotus is fully invested in exploiting a loophole allowing it to continue producing ICE-powered cars. There’s just one caveat: they won’t be road legal.