Lotus Has Added Lightness with the Exige Sport 350

Lotus Exige Sport 350. All images courtesy of Lotus.

Anyone who knows Lotus is aware that the British Automaker doesn't make its cars fast by dropping a huge V-8 engine under the hood. Instead, the philosophy Lotus has prescribed to is adding lightness to a car to increase speed, not just pouring more horsepower and torque at the situation. The latest example of this idea in action is the new Lotus Exige Sport 350.

There definitely is a replacement for displacement.

The Exige s is already a pretty lightweight car, but Lotus took things further by shedding another 112 pounds. That makes the curb weight for the Exige Sport 350 just under 2,500 pounds. To drop that much weight, Lotus combed through the car for anything that could be ditched or made with lighter materials. Some of the design changes involve an exposed gearshift mechanism and a louvred engine cover.

Power comes from a supercharged 3.5-liter V-6 engine sourced from none other than Toyota. It generates 345 horsepower and 295 lb.-ft. of torque, which both peak at 4,500 rpm. Acceleration from 0 to 60 mph is blistering at a mere 3.7 seconds. Top speed is limited to 170 mph.

Lotus also retuned the suspension, which is supposed to help improve steering response.

See the car in action and hear the roar of that force-fed V-6 in the video below: