The new Lotus Emeya Hyper GT goes on sale in the UK, with the range-topping Emeya R boasting 905bhp and costing £129,950.
The electric Porsche Taycan has sold well to businesses in the UK taking advantage of tax breaks on EVs, but the apparent success of the Taycan perhaps hides a harsher reality.
There are currently around 1,000 Taycans for sale in the UK with prices as low as £45k, and a new Taycan S can be bought brand new with a £20k discount.
So it’s going to be interesting to see if the new Lotus Emeya Hyper-GT, which goes on sale in the UK today after being revealed back in September, fares. Will it make a dent in Porsche’s Taycan sales to businesses initially and then crash and burn on the secondhand market? It seems likely, despite the offering looking appealing.
The range-topping Emeya R gets a motor front and back delivering 905bhp and 726lb/ft of torque, enough to get to 62mph in 2.8 seconds, a tick slower than the Porsche Taycan Turbo, and costs from £129,950 – £5k less than the Taycan Turbo.
Sitting below the Emeya R are the Emera and Emera S, and although Lotus hasn’t confirmed power and performance yet for these models it seems almost certain they will match the Eletre SUV’s 603bhp and 0-62mph of 4.5 seconds. But we do know the cost, respectively, from £94,950 and £107,450. The Porsche equivalent – the Porsche Taycan 4S costs – from £96k.
Power comes from a 102kWh battery with official range of 379 miles (take that with a pinch of salt unless you poodle around like your granny all the time) and charging rates up to 350kW (if you can find a suitable charger).
Inside is very similar to the Eletre, with a 15.1″ HD OLED infotainment screen with intelligent EV routing, huge augmented reality HUD, OTA updates, decent boot and room for real adults in the back, clever ambient lighting massage seats, power-assisted doors and intelligent panoramic roof.
If you feel the need to waste an hour or two, the Lotus Emeya Configurator is now live.
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