Lotus plans to expand its Emira sports car lineup with a new “Hyper Hybrid”.
A few years ago, you could hardly go a few minutes without an automaker saying how they were going to transition toward a fully electric lineup. Lotus was one such automaker, as it rolled out the limited-run Evija hypercar, the Eletre SUV and the Emeya sedan…only to run up against disappointing sales figures (in part thanks to 100% tariffs from the US on Chinese-built EVs). Over the past year or so, the company has been rethinking its strategy, with CEO Feng Qingfeng’s most recent disclosure during the company’s second-quarter financial results call that it will not only roll out a plug-in hybrid systems on its cars, but that it will come to the current gas-only Emira as well.
The so-called “Hyper Hybrid” system will roll out to the Emira by 2027 — a development that expands upon his announcement of the system itself after the Q1 earnings call. It should appear in the Eletre SUV first, as it uses the same 900-volt architecture as the full EV, before launching in its sports coupe. Supposedly, this setup is good for up to 186 miles on a charge (using the Chinese CLTC testing method), and can charge from 10-80% in about 12 minutes.
That said, we’re still waiting for more technical details, and this powertrain configuration due with the Emira’s mid-cycle facelift likely won’t represent either of the current engine options. Mercedes-AMG is reportedly stepping away from the M139 engine, for instance. Toyota, which sources the Emira’s 3.5-liter supercharged V6, also may be on the way out since none of the Japanese automaker’s current models use the 2GR-FE anymore either.
Even with much of the Emira’s future sort of up in the air, it is a critically important car for a company that is struggling, to put it mildly. The Geely-owned subsidiary recently laid off 550 staff from its Hethel, UK offices, and while the Emira slipped 64% so far this year, the model does represent a sizable chunk of Lotus’ total sales. In the first half of 2025, Lotus Cars posted a $313 million operating loss, mainly propped up by Chinese sales of the Eletre SUV and Emeya sedan.
As Autocar points out, this isn’t the first time Lotus has flirted with the idea of PHEVs. It did create a prototype of the Evora with a 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine and an electric motor (effectively creating a BMW i8 rival), though the “414E” never actually made it to production.
