Lotus Emira no longer marked for death: British-built sports car will live on with hybrid power

The Lotus Emira has received an indefinite stay of execution. Instead of production coming to an end in 2027, as was originally planned, the troubled British firm’s final petrol-powered sports car will be receiving two new powertrains that should allow it to live beyond the end of the decade.

The mid-engined Emira is currently offered with a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine sourced from Mercedes-AMG or a supercharged 3.5-litre Toyota V6. Both versions are available through the Auto Express Buy A Car service, as well as used models that start from less than £60,000.

However the two engines reportedly fall foul of the new Euro 7 emissions regulations that will come into effect at the end of next year. 

Instead of letting that be the end of the Emira, Lotus CEO Feng Qingfeng revealed during the company’s Q2 financial results call that the plan is now to give the British-built two-seater a facelift in 2027 and install two new powertrains: a plug-in hybrid set-up and an “upgrade” on the V6 engine. However he didn’t disclose any technical details about either.

Plug-in hybrid Lotus Emira confirmed

The idea of a hybrid-powered Emira isn’t that surprising to us. Earlier this year, Auto Express learned that Lotus was investigating how to electrify its two-seat sports car. It’s also introducing a new ‘Hyper Hybrid’ set-up that will go into the Eletre luxury SUV and Emeya sports saloon, plus the company’s Porsche Macan rival due to be revealed later this year. 

However, we don’t think that this will be the hybrid system that makes its way into the Emira. Rather than driving thrills, the Hyper Hybrid system is designed to deliver an “EV-centric driving experience”, lightning-fast charging capabilities and a combined range of more than 1,000km (620 miles) thanks to the assistance of a petrol engine. 

Given the packaging constraints of the 4.4-metre-long Emira, where every millimetre counts, the sports car is more likely to mirror the Ferrari 296 GTB and McLaren Artura plug-in hybrid supercars. These use electric motor generators that have been shoehorned in between the engine and transmission, boosting power and harvesting some energy for a modest battery.

This will still require some significant reengineering of the Emira, which Lotus isn’t in the best position to undertake. For starters, the company has just announced yet another round of job cuts. At least 550 people at its Hethel factory in Norfolk, where the Emira was developed and is built, are being made redundant. The company also recorded a net loss of over £230million in the first half of 2025 alone, and a decline in revenue.

Lotus Emira sticking with V6 power 

Lotus has been using the 3.5-litre V6 engine from Toyota in its sports cars for more than 15 years, since the launch of the Evora in 2009. But as mentioned, this motor won’t comply with Euro 7 emissions standards, meaning Lotus will have to find a replacement. 

We suspect Lotus will turn to Mercedes-AMG (who already supplies the car’s four-cylinder engine) to provide a new V6 engine for the Emira. During an interview with Auto Express earlier this year, Mercedes’ chief technology officer Markus Schäfer let slip that AMG was working on V6 engines, which is encouraging.

Buy a car with Auto Express. Our nationwide dealer network has some fantastic cars on offer right now with new, used and leasing deals to choose from...