At this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, Geely-owned Lotus showed two UK dynamic debuts – with the highly anticipated hyper-GT Emeya, and the one-of-a-kind Evija X. Visitors at the festival were also able to see the Evija, the world’s most powerful production car (boasting a staggering 2,011bhp), take part in the ‘supercar’ category track run.

Alongside the Lotus debuts, a full EV product range was showcased on the Lotus stand. Lotus showed the ‘looks like an SUV, drives like a Lotus’ Eletre, the fully electric hyper-GT, Emeya, Emira, and the elegantly styled Evija hypercar.

Frankie Youd spoke with Simon Lane, executive director, Lotus advanced performance, and Ben Payne, chief creative officer, to discuss the Lotus presence at the event, and to learn more about the OEM’s electric future.

Frankie Youd (FY): What are people able to see on this year’s Lotus Festival of Speed exhibition stand?

Simon Lane (SL): We are excited because for the first time at Goodwood we are showing our whole model range, including the new Emeya. It’s the first time we’ve brought the car to a public show, and we’ve got one on the stand.

We’ve got two cars running in the ‘First Glance’ category; they’re going up and down the hill every day.

We’ve also got the Electra, our hyper SUV, and we have the Emira with the new 400 horsepower, two-litre turbocharged engine. Then we have the Evija hyper-car which is finished in the Evija Fittipaldi livery, and it’s sitting opposite the iconic Type 72 F1 car, which inspired that livery.

So, it’s a great stand, with loads of excitement and engagement from the public. Over in the paddocks we’ve got the Evija hyper-car; we also brought the Evija X with us. The rest of our range is also running up and down the hill; the Emira, V6 400, running in the ‘First Glance’ category, and we’ve got an Eletre as a course car.

Classic Team Lotus have brought the type 56 B, the jet turbine car. They’ve been running that up and down the hill, which I think has been quite entertaining for people. This year it’s a good presence from Lotus.

Ben Payne (BP):  It’s very exciting for the first time ever to see everything on a stand. We’ve got the full car line-up that is coming out in production. This is the first time Lotus has ever had four cars in series production.

We have everything here from an entry-level sports car, the Evija hypercar and the Eletre that we had here last year. For the first time in UK, and any major significant public event, we are showing the  Emeya hyper-GT, which is super exciting.

What has the reaction been to Lotus having an electric future?

SL: I genuinely think people have been really excited about the Emeya. The feedback that we’ve had from the staff has been super positive about that car. People love the way it looks, they love the design, they love the performance. Eletre has already set the scene for us with a similar powertrain.

I think people are genuinely excited about our electric future.

I think people are genuinely excited about our electric future. Evija is also becoming more and more real. We we’ve been showing it more this year; we took it to Supercar Fest in May and for the first time really demonstrated the performance of that car versus every other hyper-car and it was faster than everything else. I think people can see the Lotus has a great future, and you can see it on our stand at the event.

BP: I think it’s quite a surprise, to see the level that the company is now stretching into. I like to mill around the stand and not wear a Lotus uniform to hear what’s going on. I’m always interested to hear what people say, and you see a lot of people looking at the vehicles.

There are a lot of comments, naturally. Some people say that the Emeya looks like a sedan – it’s interesting to hear and they’re surprised by it. I think they’re genuinely more surprised when they sit inside the car and see the quality and technology side of things. It’s a wow factor.

It’s a strong level of progression in interior design, and level of refinement and the technology side. I think the public seems to understand that.

When they can see the full line-up, it reinforces the overall Lotus brand message. The Emeya helps us connect the dots between a two-seater sports car, a hybrid, and a somewhat larger luxurious SUV. To have this bridging in the middle for us, I think it tells a story.

What can people expect to see next from Lotus and its EV journey?

SL: Over the next few months, you’re going to see more Evija models going into customers hands; we’re also going to deliver Evija media drives.

Emeya is going on sale in various markets around the world. We’re going to be at Monterey car week. We’re going to start delivering the Emira with the higher-powered engine. You’re going to see us racing more, too, because we’re delivering Emira GT-4s to customer race teams.

We’ve got a really great race team in Mahiki Racing who are racing in British GT and the European GT. They won class at the Silverstone 500, so that was exciting. By the end of this year, we will have 30 GT-4s in the hands of race teams. Type 66 is continuing so I’m expecting us to come back next year with one of those and run it up the hill.

We’ve expanded into new markets and we have appointed new retail partners. We’ve got some exciting retail partners coming onboard and they are equally enthusiastic. I had one of our new partners in the UK here today and he said he’s been absolutely inundated with orders for the Eletre. They’ve had a fantastic year.

I had our partner from Australia here today also, who had an incredibly good time with Emira. They’re doing motor racing with GT-4.

I think the enthusiasm from our customers – old and new – our retail partners, and all the new colleagues that we’ve got around the world can be summed up: people feel that we’re on an exciting journey.

BP: A very public facing plan also tells you that there will be another two products delivered into the market in 2028. Given the fact that the Lotus development cycles are very, very fast – we developed last two cars around three and a half years each – they are well in process, let’s say.

EV design and technology is rapidly progressing within the industry; what has the reception been for the new Lotus launches?

SL: We have incredible technology and incredible build quality when you look at the finished Evija cars.

We just had all the Emeya media reviews; I read a number of the reviews that came in over the last week; four stars, five stars, fantastic media reaction. One of the overriding comments that we read was about fit and finish, the quality and technology – but then also the fact that the car drives like a Lotus. Which is great for us to hear; that the traditional attributes are still there. Even though we’ve got a bigger car in a lifestyle type vehicle, the Emeya still comes with the sense that it handles like a Lotus. That’s just great for us to read.

We have incredible technology and incredible build quality when you look at the finished Evija cars.

I’m very sure that when we get people into the Evija, they’re going to say the same. We’ve designed it like that. It has a chest battery, hydraulic power steering and the best dampers in the business. I’m really sure people are going to have the same reaction when they drive it, that it feels much smaller and lighter than it than it actually is.

BP: We have had particularly good feedback on the Emeya. It really does have a great driving experience. I think that’s the nice thing at Goodwood Festival of Speed; it is dynamic so you can see the cars driven. I think when we can get more people to have access to those cars and drive them, they will see the consistency that runs through their development.

It is a big difference between our smaller to much larger products, but the appeal, engagement, and fun of driving them is very much there, across the ranges.

There seems to be a bigger buzz around EVs at this year’s event?

SL: It seems to me it’s inevitable. These things are coming, it’s a changing shift. There are certainly more people here showing brands and products which are electrified, so there’s a sense of a tipping point.

There’s more of a momentum behind electrification. If you go to Electric Avenue at the event, there were about 30 people around the Eletre; that’s not even our branded stand.

There’s more of a momentum behind electrification.

There’s a plethora of products in there from multiple brands; some of them are new and some of them are very established. So, it does reinforce the fact that this wave is very much coming, if not here already. People aren’t wondering what it is any longer.

What has been your highlight of the event so far?

SL: The most exciting thing is being here with a great team of people. We’re all staying in the same place and feeling the vibe with colleagues; working these events is hard work with long days.

We are trying to do this in a fun way and engage the public. I think if you asked everybody on this stand what’s the best thing about being here, it’s really about getting feedback from people.

I really want to underline that we are still exclusive. We are not selling 350,000 cars a year. Buying a Lotus, when you take one out, you’re not going see one on every street corner. It’s a cool thing to have.

We’ve got 76 years of history behind us; I hope people have enjoyed interacting with us on the stand. We’ve got a friendly team who are happy to chat. Everybody that is on this stand works for Lotus, so no agency staff, everyone works for Lotus.

BP: There are different ways to answer this. I’m interested in very new things because I like the progression of the industry, the progression of design. I’m interested in very old things because they’re utterly fantastic and of their time. I think there are multiple aspects of it.

One vehicle that I will go and look at every year, if there’s one here, is the Lamborghini Miura. If someone wanted to give me something, I would be very happy with that!

I think in terms of the more progressive end of it, it’s interesting to look at some of the technological shifts that are going on, the fact that EV has become more present here is an important thing, for sure.

It’s a great event to see older vehicles, newer ones, and ultra rare – and dynamically it’s nice to see things moving.