Lotus World Car Concept: A lightweight, safe and affordable people's car

Lotus World Car Concept is an all new undertaking by Lotus. The coupe looks small and is utterly cute. It has a curvy silhouette that will create ripples once it hits the roads. The project for this amazingly designed car was funded by the International Council on Clean Transportation. It was further undertaken by Lotus with the California Air Resources Board, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Lotus World Car Concept

Lotus wanted to create a vehicle packed with an awesome interior, performance and capability, which is similar to that of Toyota Venza. An additional goal was to make sure that the car is cost-effective and weighed less to reduce CO2 addition to the environment. The car will prove to be a people’s car as it will fall in the affordable category and will also come with a promise to deliver world class fuel economy. Once fully assembled, the finished product will weight almost 61.1% less than 2009 Venza.

The placement of driver’s seat is very unique and is centrally positioned. Apart from this, it can seat two passengers that are closely placed behind the driver’s seat. It features a luggage area that has a capacity of 9 cubic-feet and can be used as an additional fourth seat occasionally. The hatch will have a single top hinged door, which will be placed on one of the sides.

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Lotus World Car Concept

Lotus World Car Concept is touted as a People's Car, Colin Chapman Style

The amazing concept will roll on 155/80R13 tires and wheels that will leave an everlasting impression on the road it'll move on. To minimize the frontal area the tires and wheels will be placed outboard of the greenhouse area. This combined effect gives the creation an aero-efficient teardrop shape when it is seen from above.

The beauty will come fitted with a 600cc 50hp engine that lies flat and is wedged in front of the front axle. The engine will be driven with the help of a shaft drive motorcycle transmission. The car will rank high on the performance graph and will jump from zero to 60 mph in 8 to 9 seconds. It will deliver a fuel economy of 84 in the city and 127 on the highway, while touching a top speed of 120mph.

The coupe comes with a lot of crash protection and will keep the occupants safe. It will be made using materials like aluminum, magnesium, high strength boron steel and composites that give it lightweight traits. This gives the Lotus Car a curb weight of as low as 1150 pounds. Magnesium will be used to make the toe-board, dash and radiator support, while composite PET foam n fiberglass will make the floor panels. Most of the basic structure will consist of boron steel that has a high-strength.

The Lotus World Car Concept will surely win a lot of hearts with its performance oriented traits.

Via: Motortrend