Lotus to go electric from 2028, petrol Emira on the chopping block

The Lotus Emira – the last road-going Lotus with petrol power – appears set to be axed within five years, as the company confirms plans to go electric from the end of 2028.

The Emira is the first all-new Lotus in a decade and has been in Australian showrooms for less than a year, but may disappear from showrooms in less than five years.

Lotus has indicated plans to be "fully electrified" across its line-up from 2028 – coinciding with the company's 80th anniversary – by which time it will have at least four electric vehicles in showrooms, including a sports car.

Mike Johnstone, Lotus Cars chief commercial officer, told Drive at a media preview for the new Lotus Emeya electric sedan in New York: “The plan is that all of the product we manage from 2028 will be electrified.”

“Then it’s just a case of any [petrol-powered] inventory across the world being sold, which we tend to match supply to demand anyway.

"So, it will be around the end of 2028 that we’ll be fully electrified."

While Mr Johnstone's comment refers to a "fully electrified" line-up – and does not explicitly say "fully electric" – Lotus is not known to be working on any hybrid or plug-in hybrid vehicles, and has said every new model launched after the Emira will be solely electric.

Lotus has made no mention of the Emira's underpinnings being capable of supporting hybrid technology.

Among the new Lotus electric cars is a sports car planned for 2026, codenamed Type 135, which will be developed in-house by Lotus after a planned joint-venture with Renault's sports-car brand Alpine fell through.

The British car-maker has suggested petrol and electric vehicles will be sold side by side for up to two years.

Lotus Cars Australia chief operating officer Richard Gibbs told Drive: "The Type 135 might co-exist with the Emira. There's no indication that the Type 135 will spell the end of Emira in Australia."

The comment confirms the Type 135 will not immediately replace the Emira, but it indicates the cars will initially be sold side-by-side.

Earlier this month Lotus unveiled the Emeya, a four-door electric sedan designed to rival the Porsche Taycan.

It is the company's third electric car – after the limited-run Evija hypercar of 2020, and the mass-production Eletre large SUV shown in 2022 – and precedes a mid-size SUV due next year under the Type 134 codename, and the Type 135 sports car in 2026.

The UK car-maker has set a global sales target of 150,000 cars per year by 2028. For context, Porsche reported about 310,000 deliveries in 2022, while in 2021 Lotus reported about 1500 cars sold globally.

The four-door sedan follows the high-performance Eletre SUV and the limited-production Evija hypercar.