‘Dan Balmer, President of Lotus Cars Asia Pacific poses in front of the Emira displayed at the Emira show room in Gangnam.’ Photo courtesy of Lotus Cars Korea

Lotus Cars Korea announced on the 5th that it has officially started customer deliveries of the mid-engine sports car ‘Emira’. The first delivery is of the ‘Emira V6 First Edition’ automatic model, with the V6 manual model and 2L DCT model set to hit the streets of the country in September.

The Emira carries on the lineage of Lotus’s lightweight mid-engine sports cars, including the Elise, Exige, and Evora, and represents Lotus’s final internal combustion engine product. It encapsulates the characteristics that car enthusiasts expect from Lotus, such as eye-catching design, class-leading ride quality and handling, and outstanding aerodynamic performance.

The ‘Emira First Edition’ features a 364 horsepower 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder engine paired with a dual-clutch transmission (DCT), while the ‘Emira V6 First Edition’ boasts a powerful 405 horsepower 3.5L supercharged engine available with a 6-speed manual or automatic transmission. The acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h takes approximately 4.4, 4.3, and 4.2 seconds for each model respectively. The starting prices are set at 145 million won for the 2.0L and 149 million won for the V6, making them competitive against local British prices.

The domestic market response to the Emira, which is positioned as Lotus’s last internal combustion engine car, has been enthusiastic. The ‘Emira V6 First Edition’ has already completely sold out since its launch in March, and the 2L DCT model, also named ‘Emira First Edition’, has been depleted in domestic supply. True to its name as ‘First Edition’, this model will only be specially produced until 2024 and comes with a variety of options, including exterior colors, wheels, brake calipers, napa leather, and Alcantara, provided at no additional cost.

In response to the high interest in the product, Lotus Cars Korea has received an additional small allocation of ‘Emira First Edition’ units consisting of the V6 automatic and 2L DCT models from the headquarters. Considering that it is produced by hand at the Hethel factory in the UK, the limited quantity will hopefully alleviate some of the domestic demand. Purchase contracts will only be available until the end of September, with quantities allocated based on the order of consultation requests.

With the commencement of vehicle deliveries, customer test drives will also officially begin. Test drives can be conducted at the Lotus flagship showroom located on Dosandero in Gangnam and the official Lotus service center in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Test drive requests can be made through the respective contact numbers of the showroom and service center, as well as the official Lotus Cars Korea website.

A representative from Lotus Cars Korea stated, “We are thrilled to finally showcase the newly transformed Lotus on domestic roads under the Vision80 business strategy,” and added, “We appreciate the enthusiasm for the Emira, which has received much love before the test drives. We also ask for a lot of interest in the officially upcoming Lotus hyper SUV, the Eletre.”

‘Emira’

Lee Sang-jin daedusj@autodiary.kr