New Lotus Emeya is here with 893bhp and plans to beat the Porsche Taycan

Lotus has just revealed its first electric saloon car; an 893bhp rival to the likes of the Porsche Taycan, Audi e-tron GT and Tesla Model S, called the Lotus Emeya.

Lotus has dubbed its latest creation a ‘hyper GT’, with the sleek-looking saloon destined to sit above the Lotus Eletre SUV as the flagship of the British maker’s growing electric car lineup.

Speaking of the Eletre, the Emeya shares that car’s Electric Premium Architecture (EMA) underpinnings. The headline figure has to be the Emeya’s 893bhp output, which is achieved courtesy of two electric motors (one on each axle) to provide four-wheel-drive. Like in the Porsche Taycan, the front electric motor is serviced by a single-speed gearbox, while the one at the rear gets two ratios for a sportier drive.

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Lotus says the Emeya will rocket from 0-62mph in under 2.8 seconds – faster than a Taycan Turbo S – and will continue on to a top speed of over 155mph, making it one of the fastest electric cars you can buy. It’s worth noting that a base model will also be offered in the future – as with the larger Eletre – and is likely to produce around 595bhp.

The Emeya features a smaller battery than its Eletre SUV sibling – although at 102kWh in capacity, it’s by no means tiny. Despite the Emeya’s slinky shape – more on that in a moment – Lotus says its range is “broadly the same” as that of the Eletre. The SUV offers a maximum of 373 miles on a single charge – if you can keep your right foot in check, that is.

When the battery does eventually run dry, the Emeya’s 800-volt electrical architecture means a 10-80% charge from a 350kW ultra-rapid charger will only take around 15 minutes.

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Just like the Porsche Taycan, the Emeya takes the form of a slippery four-door coupe. At the front, it gets a slim, split headlight design, while the rear is illuminated by a full-width light bar.

Maintaining airflow has obviously been a key influence on the Emeya’s overall design; it gets the same upward flicks in the bumper as the Eletre, as well as the active diamond-shaped vents that open and close to improve cooling and aerodynamics respectively. 

Perhaps most dramatic is the Emeya’s electronically-deployable rear spoiler , which is similar to the one fitted to the 2,000bhp Lotus Evija hypercar. All of this adds up to a total of 215kg of downforce which, when paired with a sticky set of tyres, should make the Emeya sharp to drive on the road or racetrack in a manner befitting a Lotus product.

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On the inside, Emeya looks very similar to its Eletre SUV sibling, with digital instrument clusters for both the driver and front passenger, as well as a large central infotainment screen. Lotus says the Emeya features a huge 55-inch ‘augmented reality’ head-up display, which spans almost the entire windscreen and projects things like sat nav directions, as well as safety data from the lane-keep assist and blind spot monitoring systems.

Lotus has built its name on producing back-to-basics sports cars and while we suspect the Emeya will be a very long way from featherweight, the British brand says it will feature carbon fibre to save weight as well as “recycled fibres from the fashion industry” to boost sustainability.

We expect more details on the Emeya – specifically range figures, the trim lineup and pricing – to emerge in the coming months. This will all be before it goes on sale next year, with prices likely to start from over £100,000.