Autoblog

With less than three months separating us from the official debut of the Lotus Eagle at the 2008 London Motor Show, Car has been able to procure a few more details about Lotus' new 2+2. The latest crop of spy shots shows the Eagle still wearing its form-obscuring camo, but viewed in profile, it's looking more Elise-like than before. The fender terminates into a ducktail spoiler, similar to that on the Elise/Exige, and the doors seem to stretch further back then previously thought to aid ingress and egress into the cramped confines of the rear seats. According to Car, the two back seats are only suitable for children nine years old and younger, or "flexible friends desperate for a lift back from the pub."

Motivation is still expected to come from a Toyota-sourced V6, likely the 3,458 cc found in the U.S.-market Camry, pushing out 262 hp and 248 lb.-ft. of torque to either a six-speed manual or some kind of automatic (!) gearbox complete with paddle shifters.

The Colin Chapman philosophy will be well represented with the Eagle, with extensive use of aluminum in the body structure and an incredibly rigid architecture that will be shored up with a carbon fiber roof. Braking duties will be handled by 350 mm cross-drilled rotors in front, mashed by AP-sourced Lotus four-pot calipers.

Production will begin late in 2008 with sales beginning in the spring of next year. Pricing is expected to start at £45,000 in the UK, slotting in nicely between the Elise and forthcoming Esprit replacement, and sales in the U.S. should begin shortly thereafter.


[Source: Car]