Paris motor show 2010: Lotus Eterne super-saloon

The crowning glory of Lotus’s incredible future expansion plans will be this four-door flagship called Eterne.

Set for launch in 2015, it is a £120k-plus saloon designed to rival the Aston Martin Rapide, using mechanicals identical to those of the Elite on a lengthened version of the same chassis.

See the official pics of the new Lotus Eterne - now updated with Paris show picsRead more on Lotus's amazing expansion plans, including full details and pics of the other five new cars

That means it will use a supercharged 5.0-litre V8 with either 550 or 620bhp, believed to be the unit used in the Lexus LS600h, linked to a hybrid transmission comprising two electric motors and an epicyclic gearbox from the same source. There are no details on how the front-mounted KERS stores energy, or how much it can deploy.

Lotus CEO Dany Bahar admits that giving away so much detail about Lotus’s future plans puts the company under considerable pressure.

He admits changes are likely; the market will be the true decider about how quickly the new Lotus models appear. But Bahar insists the reveal-all strategy is the right way forward.

“You can’t compare our situation with others who are more established in the premium market and can reveal their plans slowly,” he says.

“Our aim is to show that the whole brand is going in a new direction now. Sure, there’s a risk. But we have plans and a brand we believe in, and we are only interested in success.”

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