The scintillating Lotus Exige S sports car is set to become a tad more civilized from next year when the British sports car manufacturer introduces an optional six-speed automatic transmission.
Lotus being Lotus, the self-shifter has been calibrated specifically for the Exige S Coupe and Roadster, offers ‘Race’ or ‘Sport’ modes and features steering wheel paddle-shifters for manual changes.
As you’d expect from the famed Norfolk-based manufacturer, fitment of the six-speed auto doesn’t hinder performance – in fact the automatic Lotus Exige S is one tenth of a second faster zero to 100km/h than the manual version, requiring just 3.9 seconds (remember below 4.0 seconds qualifies for ‘Supercar’ status).
And around the Lotus test track in Hethel (where the historic F1 Grand Prix Lotuses were sometimes tested and run-in), the automatic Lotus Exige S records lap times identical to the manual car.
Lotus fans in Australia will need to wait until early next year for local details and prices.
