Lotus Emira Lastly Cleared For Sale In U.S. After Three Years

When we first drove the Lotus Emira, we discovered it to be an absolute delight to drive. It’s not low cost, however then once more, neither is the Porsche Cayman GTS 4.0. It’s additionally completely beautiful, which by no means hurts. And with a Toyota-sourced engine and handbook transmission, a minimum of mechanically talking, it ought to be comparatively dependable. One massive draw back, although, was that Lotus needed to look forward to approval from the California Air Assets Board earlier than it may promote the Emira right here. And after a three-year wait, Motor1 experiences it’s lastly been accredited to go on sale.

Technically, Lotus may have already been promoting the Emira within the 36 states that don’t observe California’s emissions legal guidelines, however it selected to attend on CARB approval earlier than it started delivering automobiles to prospects. Motor1 speculates that will have been an intentional transfer to maintain patrons in CARB states from shopping for Emiras out of state, however it doesn’t seem that Lotus has confirmed that idea anyplace.

Now, patrons, a few of whom have been ready since 2021, will lastly be capable to get their automobiles. That’s an extended wait, however we get the sensation that 400 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque, in addition to the Emira’s wonderful dealing with, will go a great distance towards making it definitely worth the wait.

The V6-powered Emira begins at $105,400, nevertheless, if that’s too wealthy to your blood, you’ll be able to go for the less-expensive four-cylinder model that also needs to go on sale quickly. The AMG-sourced four-cylinder makes 360 hp and 317 lb-ft of torque and begins at $99,900. Sadly, should you resolve to go for the four-cylinder Emira, you gained’t be capable to pair it with a handbook transmission. Due to that, we are saying spend the additional couple thousand {dollars} and get your self a three-pedal Emira with the supercharged V6.