While catching up on last week’s news, one interesting story that popped up was from EVO—apparently, Lotus may use Lexus engines in their upcoming Esprit supercar:
The new Lotus Esprit, due in 2012, could be powered by the high-revving, 500bhp V10 engine from the as yet unlaunched Lexus LF-A…This brings the prospect of a flagship, £100K-plus Esprit powered by the compact, 8500rpm V10 – a supercar to take on the Lamborghini Gallardo – as well as a slightly more affordable version powered by the 5-litre, 417bhp V8 from the Lexus IS-F and an entry-level model with a 300bhp Lotus-tuned direct-injection Toyota V6.
Considering that Toyota is already supplying the engines for the Elise and Exige and that Lotus was once rumored to be involved in the LFA’s suspension development, the idea that Lexus might supply Lotus with their F-tuned engines isn’t really a stretch. The bigger question is: should they?
It could be argued that Lexus should keep their IS-F V8 and LFA V10 to themselves, but given the fact that Lexus is expected to lose money on every LFA sale, any way to balance the books has to be viewed as a good thing.
[Source: EVO]