Lotus could be charged with bringing Infiniti Emerg-E and Renault Alpine to production

Despite being down on its luck, it looks like Lotus might be able to turn things around with reports indicating that the light-weight sportscar maker could build both the new Renault Alpine and the Infiniti Emerge-E concept.

Lotus, Renault, and Nissan walk into a bar…sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but in reality it appears that each automaker could be teaming up for what may turn out to be a mutually beneficial arrangement for all parties involved.

As reported by Autocar, Renault is strongly considering a production version of its Alpine A110-50 concept, however the company has expressed that in order to do so would “probably need more than the Renault-Nissan Alliance on its own.” To help facilitate this goal, it appears Lotus might be brought in to provide the basis for the Alpine concept, most likely sourced from its light and nimble Evora platform.

But wait, there’s more. The Evora platform is already utilized in the prototype version of the highly impressive Infiniti Emerg-E supercar concept, which debuted earlier this year at the Geneva Motor Show and also happens to make use of the company’s experimental 414E range-extender drivetrain. And even though the official green light has not been given for a production version of the vehicle, Infiniti is moving forward with development. Adding even more weight to the reports of a collaborative effort between Lotus and Infiniti is the recent admission that the Emerg-E “could be made in Britain,” Lotus’ home and base of operations.

Of course, there are numerous benefits to both models being based off the Evora platform. On top of greater economies of scale, the utilization of a Lotus platform in either company’s cars would without doubt help give Lotus some much needed business given its current financial woes, even if both the Alpine and Emerg-E end up being relatively low volume. In fact, we can’t think of a reason why this wouldn’t work, especially from an enthusiast perspective. Furthermore, with Lotus’ own Evora 414E in development, the funds generated from the production of the Alpine and Emerg-E could help push all three vehicles from concepts to reality. Sounds like a win, win, and win by all accounts.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com