Following the change of ownership of British sports car company Lotus, and consequent production delays, deliveries of the Elise S have now started in Australia, ahead of full supply of the entire range plus new models over the coming months.
“Make no mistake about it, the past few months since we took over distribution of Lotus in Australia have been frustrating,” said Glen Sealey, general manager for the brand at independent distributor Ateco Automotive.
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“We had negotiated superb new prices and specifications, there were key new models for the Australian market and, in anticipation of these, customer orders had started rolling into our dealers. Then the change of ownership halted production and only a trickle of cars arrived. But production is now back to normal, cars are ‘on the water’ en route to Australia and, with strong pent up demand, particularly for the new Elise S, we expect strong sales figures in the coming months.”
The S is a new top variant of the Elise line. Full supply of the Evora will resume in coming weeks, along with self-shifting variants critical for the Australian market. The much anticipated Exige S V6 with supercharged 3.5 litre V6 replacing the previous 1.8 litre engine, arrives in time for Christmas and the Antipodean summer holidays.
“The end of 2012 is going to be a very busy time for Lotus,” added Sealey. “But it is a welcome change, one that sets the stage for 2013 being the year Australian Lotus sales match the performance of their unique sports cars.”
The Elise S has a new supercharged engine that boasts an extra 40Nm of torque with significantly lower torque and power peaks claimed to enable the driver to even more fully and easily exploit the “remarkable” chassis abilities with new levels of drivability.
The 2ZRFE engine uses a Roots-type supercharger driven from the crankshaft by a belt for a lag-free performance boost that remains proportional to the engine speed. The new supercharger was developed in partnership with Magnuson and incorporates the latest technology, including the Eaton TVS Twin Vortices Series that reduces noise, vibration and harshness compared to other forms of supercharger.
The Elise S also has an air to water intercooler that improves the density of the air entering the engine by cooling it and, thereby, the volumetric efficiency of the engine. Lotus’ compact, light and efficient design extends to the engine with the intake manifold, intercooler and supercharger all integrated into one light, compact casing.
Also new for the engine is an oil cooler that extends engine life, reduces the heat load on the engine and radiator, increases the oil capacity and reduces under bonnet temperatures.
A revised gearbox has new first and second gears, which allow 100km/h (62mph) to be reached without a dog leg gearchange into third gear, and a higher sixth gear for relaxed and economical cruising.
The changes enable the car to blast from rest to 100km/h in 4.6 sec and on to 160km/h (100mph) in 10.8 sec with a 10% improvement in fuel consumption (7.5l/100km combined) and CO2 emissions of 180g/km.
Both the Elise and Elise S have changes to the chassis electronics with modifications to Lotus’ Dynamic Performance Management system (DPM) providing less intervention in Sport mode and, when it does intervene, smoother and more progressive intervention.
The Elise starts at A$67,990 plus on-road costs ‘down under’. The Elise S is $79,990.
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