"Lotus Reportedly Developing Its Own Electric Sports Car - A Tesla Competitor?" Green Car Advisor

Lotus Reportedly Developing Its Own Electric Sports Car - A Tesla Competitor?

Lotus, which builds the Tesla electric roadster under contract and has said it will spend upwards of $100 million in the next few years developing green car technologies, says it wants to launch an electric sports car of its own.

In a report in London's Financial Times newspaper, Lotus Chief Executive Mike Kimberly says we shouldn't be surprised to "see an electric Lotus shortly. We are working on the technologies that will go behind it."

Indeed, Kimberly said in an interview earlier last year that the company had six electric car projects under way, along with a multitude of hybrid car projects. The context then was projects being done for outside clients, but perhaps Kimberly was being cagey and at least one was being developed for the Lotus brand.

Whether he was talking to the Financial Times about a retail model or merely a concept that will show off Lotus' R&D, design and car-building prowess was unclear.

The report quotes Kimbely saying the Lotus electric car car would "become one of the showcases for the world of what you can do with electric vehicle technology."

If it is to be a retail model - and we hope that's the case - it would likely compete with the Tesla and with the upcoming Fisker Karma.

Lotus, which is owned by Malaysian automaker Proton but remains based in England, also is working, according to the report, on a range extender system for plug-in hybrids.

Click here for Inside Line's take on the report.

John O'Dell, Senior Editor