Lotus Theory 1 Concept

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Speaking exclusively to WIRED, Lotus design vice president Ben Payne said: “We wanted to recapture that sense of purity, but not to do a kind of pastiche of an Esprit, because that doesn’t make any sense. So it’s more about the spirit of that car, the logic of the design and how controlled it is in the execution.”

That sense of control is key to all aspects of the Theory 1. Lotus could have given it 2,000 horsepower to match its Evija flagship, but it settled at a more reasonable 987 hp (1,000 PS). It could have let its designers run wild with enormous aero structures, ground-effect fans, and other hypercar paraphernalia, or overdosed on concept car tropes like huge touchscreen displays, artificial intelligence, or a drone that takes off from the rear deck.

Instead, Lotus did what it is best known for and, in the apocryphal words of founder Colin Chapman, it “simplified, then added lightness.”

Payne explained: “There’s been this period of maximalism, and people having to do one-upmanship and go above, above, above. And I think we’ve reached that point where it plateaus in stylistic terms, and also in the demonstration of tech.” He adds, “We’re not in a crazy numbers race with this car.”

Although not crazy by 2024 EV standards, Lotus is still pitching the Theory 1 as a seriously quick supercar. It’s aiming for a range of 250 miles from a modest 70-kWh battery, an all-wheel-drive system with its rear motor bolted directly to the suspension, motorsport-style, a 0 to 62-mph time of under 2.5 seconds, and a top speed of 200 mph. That’s all the usual supercar boxes ticked, but it’s nothing to give Rimac sleepless nights—or indeed get awkwardly close to Lotus’ own $2.3 million Evija.

More important than outright power is weight. Lotus says the all-carbon Theory 1 has a target of sub-1,600 kg (3,500 lbs), or around 300 kg less than the Evija. To further drive the weight-saving point home, the car has just 10 “A-surface materials”—those being the materials you can see and touch without digging beneath the surface—compared to the industry average of 100, according to Lotus. The 10 include cellulose-based glass fiber, chopped carbon fiber, and titanium, as well as recycled forms of glazing, polyester, rubber, and aluminum.

It’s also sensibly sized, as far as modern supercars go, with a width of 2,000 mm (78.7 inches), a length of 4,490 mm (176.8 inches), and a height of 1,140 mm (44.9 inches). Add this relative sensibility to the ingeniously practical doors, three seats, and excellent visibility, and it’s easy to imagine what a production version could look like.


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Even now, with Geely money, i struggle to drum up enthusiasm for any new Lotus concept car knowing how many never see the light of day.
 
Maybe another company did this with there concept car, but I knew I saw that chopped carbon fibre recently used.
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I don't know how they've done it, but even with all that tech and exotic materials, it's still one of the most uninteresting sports car I've ever seen. :lol:
 
Maybe another company did this with there concept car, but I knew I saw that chopped carbon fibre recently used.
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It's called forged composite and it was originally developed by Lamborghini for the Sesto Elemento and later used on the Huracan Performante



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Forged composite - the oriented strand board of plastics. It's impressive that they've made this "technology" seem advanced when really it's just a cheaper/easier/inferior product compared to laid-up CFRP. The only reason you would pick it (and thus give up the directionality advantages and contiguous nature of conventional CFRP) is to make it easier to produce at scale.
 
I actually like this car. I find the concept very fascinating from a design and creativity standpoint. So what if it's not a new Elise because I don't think we'll ever see a car like it again.
 
I'm not a big fan of the exterior. The sharp cutback line of the windows turning back on themselves as they go up to the roof reminds me of Cadillac. The grasshopper doors also look complex and heavy for a door, but on the flipside they do look like they give excellent access to the interior and in particular the central driving seat, without needing a lot of clear space around the car when they open.

Also the huge windscreen is such an integral part of the design, but I can't see them being able to put that form into production because for one thing there's nowhere to put wipers, and nowhere to hide wipers if you do add them. Unless I missed them. So from a stylistic language point of view it looks like a dead end for a production car to me. I'd be surprised if Lotus ever reveal a production car that looks anything like this.

So, not much love from me for the exterior. The interior, on the other hand, looks much more exciting. The clear glass that becomes rear view displays, the seats which are half missing and have crazy haptics, all the latticework, the amount of road and mechanicals you can see because so much of the bodywork is transparent... I think the interior is very innovative and I see a lot of ideas there which would look good on future production cars.
 
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