Just read through this thread, it seems to me that the Toyota V6 is the weak link in the Emira package for some people, ie BHP/Torque, may be there are contractual or financial reasons why they are using it, or maybe it was a safe bet.
we all know that all Lotus models have steady increases in power through their production runs, and I would say that the AMG option has had it’s power output held back so as not to embarrass the V6 as it would impact sales.
Radford are suggesting future outputs of 500BHP for the V6 although they did not actually say it would be the Toyota unit, I would imagine this would involve great expense and the upgrading of all important internals parts, then there are the gearbox limits to think about.
Thinking out loud, Lotus did not know how much demand there would be for the Emira, and could not throw absolutely everything they had at it in one go, so far it has been well received and if all the deposits translate in to sales things will be looking very good at Hethel. I think the tie up with AMG Mercedes is good news and if the Emira continues to sell well I would not be at all surprised to see a larger displacement AMG engine available for a top of the range model in the next two years or so which would put the cat amongst the pigeons
This would give us three model choices,
The sub £60k 4 pot with sub 400 BHP
The V6 Toyota £70k 400+ BHP
The flagship model at £100k 550+ BHP
Personally I am in the £60k 4 pot bracket and that car would give me everything I wanted.
Although we have had no firm prices as of yet,I personally don’t see the reason for the talked about £10-15k premium for the Toyota over the Mercedes, as other than sound and manual box there is very little in it performance wise, and I wouldn’t think that much money wise either.