Lotus Emira 420 Sport Priced From £105,900 With 420 PS, Removable Roof and August Deliveries

Lotus has put the most extreme version of the Emira at the top of the range. The Emira 420 Sport, unveiled at Hethel on 26 May, makes 420 PS from a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder, accelerates from 0 to 62 mph in 3.9 seconds and reaches 186 mph flat out. Pricing starts at £105,900 in the UK, €129,900 in Europe and $122,900 in the United States. Orders open now, with customer deliveries expected from August 2026.

This is the lightest and most aerodynamic Emira ever built. With the optional Lightweight Handling Pack, the 420 Sport drops 25 kg compared with the Emira Turbo and generates an extra 25 kg of downforce. Lotus has also introduced a removable tinted glass roof panel for the first time on the Emira, available across the full model range. For drivers who want a smaller, lighter sports car than a 911 GT3 but a sharper edge than the standard Emira, this is the proposition Hethel has put on the table.

What the 420 Sport Brings Over the Emira Turbo

The Emira 420 Sport is the most powerful production Emira to date. The 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder now produces 420 PS and 500 Nm, sent through a six-speed manual or eight-speed automatic depending on specification. Lotus quotes 0 to 62 mph in 3.9 seconds and a 186 mph top speed.

Lotus engineers have leaned hard on weight reduction. The Lightweight Handling Pack adds carbon fibre, a titanium exhaust, a lithium-ion starter battery, two-way adjustable Multimatic dampers and high-performance tyres. Together those changes shave 25 kg from the kerb weight of the Emira Turbo and add 25 kg of downforce at speed.

Aerodynamics have been reworked across the body. Cooling has been improved without increasing drag, with outboard radiator airflow up 15 percent, central radiator airflow up 14 percent and brake cooling up 10 percent. Exhaust valve airflow rises by 30 percent. On track, where heat and air management dictate consistency more than peak power, those changes should keep the car settled across a session rather than fading after a few hard laps. The redesigned bodywork also nods to the Esprit Turbo, a deliberate reference to a Lotus that defined the brand in the 1980s.

Chassis, Suspension and the Numbers Drivers Actually Feel

Ride height drops by 5 mm on the 420 Sport. Suspension settings have been revised, and the high-performance tyres complete the package. The bonded aluminium chassis carries over, as does the double wishbone suspension at each corner, which means the underlying geometry that made the Emira an immediate critical hit is unchanged. Steering is electro-hydraulic, a choice Lotus has stuck with for the feedback it delivers compared with full electric power steering.

Qingfeng Feng, CEO of Lotus Group, framed the model in the brand’s heritage language. “Emira 420 Sport is for drivers who want the purest, most engaging Emira yet, with greater agility, precision and emotion. It represents the very best of what Lotus stands for: lightweight engineering, exceptional driving dynamics and a deep connection between car and driver”.

Inside, the cabin keeps the Emira’s existing layout but adds 12-way adjustable sports seats that can be specified in a wider range of trims. There are 16 paint choices on the 420 Sport, including a launch-only Tangelo Orange that revives a long tradition of Lotus orange paints. Two new option packs are available. The Carbon Fibre Pack changes the driver display surround, the centre spoke on the steering wheel and the seat back logo surround. The Hand Painted Pack adds Tangelo Orange highlights to the centre console, the steering wheel spoke, the gear lever inner and the air vent surrounds.

The Removable Roof, and Why It Took Until Now

The headline change for every Emira buyer, not just 420 Sport customers, is the removable tinted glass roof panel. Inspired by the original Esprit, the panel lifts out for quick removal and stores in a protective bag behind the seats. With it removed the Emira becomes a true open-top sports car. With it in place the cabin gains overhead light without compromising the structural rigidity of the underlying tub.

Lotus says the architecture means dynamic performance is unchanged when the roof is removed. That is a meaningful claim because most mid-engined sports cars that offer an open variant pay a small handling penalty for the conversion. By engineering the roof as a removable panel rather than a folding mechanism, Lotus has avoided that compromise.

The feature is now available across the whole Emira line-up, including the existing four-cylinder and V6 variants. Existing customers who placed orders before the announcement should speak to their dealer about retrofit availability.

Pricing, Rivals and Who This Car Is For

At £105,900 the Emira 420 Sport sits above the standard Emira but below a Porsche 911 GT3, which now starts north of £170,000. The Cayman GT4 RS, the closest natural rival on power, sits in the same window once options are added. Against a McLaren Artura, the Lotus is meaningfully cheaper. Against an Alpine A110 R, the Lotus is more powerful and considerably more expensive. The car the 420 Sport really lines up against, though, is the Porsche 718 Cayman in its hottest specifications, with the Lotus making a case on weight, character and the option of a true manual gearbox.

Customer deliveries start in August 2026, which is unusually quick for a freshly announced flagship variant. For buyers in a position to order now, that suggests Lotus has already committed production slots and supplier capacity at Hethel. Allocation is likely to favour existing Emira customers and early deposit holders, particularly for Tangelo Orange cars.

The price quoted is a starting figure. Options, taxes and delivery charges are extra, and Lotus has explicitly reserved the right to revise pricing in future based on materials availability, delivery costs, inflation and local taxes. UK buyers should factor in VED on a list price that comfortably exceeds the £40,000 luxury surcharge threshold, which adds a meaningful annual cost to ownership for the first five years.

What Happens Next

Lotus has positioned the 420 Sport as the most focused Emira to date, and it has done so without adding cylinders, displacement or a hybrid system. The car arrives in a market where every sports car maker is being asked to justify a combustion engine, and the Hethel answer is to make the existing one lighter, sharper and more communicative. With the Eletre electric SUV and the Emeya electric saloon now in showrooms, the Emira 420 Sport is the petrol-powered counterweight that reminds buyers what Lotus has always been about.

For drivers thinking about how the sports car class is changing more broadly, our recent reporting on the UK’s biggest driving law shake-up in years sets out what to expect for combustion-engined cars over the coming decade. The Emira 420 Sport is, by Lotus’s own words, “a pure expression of the Lotus DNA”. For buyers who want the recipe before the rules change again, August deliveries cannot come soon enough.