Joe Duffy Group are proud to announce that we will be opening a Lotus Showroom in the Republic of Ireland. Our showroom will be located Airside Swords and will offer new and premium approved used models. 

It comes as the brand is undergoing a major revamp under its Chinese owner Geely, which plans to turn it into an all-electric premium car maker.

The sports car brand has already launched its last-ever combustion model — the Emira, which comes with a choice of Toyota-sourced V6 or Mercedes-AMG-sourced turbo four-cylinder power — and has already shown its first two electric models.

The first of these was the Evija, an all-electric hypercar with more than 2,000hp and the ability to accelerate to 100km/h in less than three seconds. This, clearly, is a loss-leading halo model, but more significantly Lotus has also shown off its first ever SUV.

The Eletre has five-link suspension at the rear, while standard equipment includes air suspension and electronic dampers. Active ride height, active rear axle steering, an active anti-roll bar and torque vectoring via braking are all available. Lotus hasn’t given a kerb weight for the Eletre yet, but it has claimed that it has designed a car that is lighter — and therefore more agile and more efficient — than its competition. It’s a big car, though — 5.1-metres long, and those are 23-inch wheels filling those arches.

More will follow. The company has already confirmed that it’s working on a low-slung four-door saloon using the same platform as the Eletre, currently known only by its Type 133 code name. Meanwhile, Lotus is also collaborating with Renault’s spinoff brand Alpine to create lightweight all-electric sports cars.

In the meantime, Irish Lotus fans can start fogging the windows of Joe Duffy’s dealership in Airside Retail Park from January.

Conor Kilduff, Joe Duffy Brand Director, said: “Lotus Cars is synonymous with innovation, dynamic performance and cutting-edge technology and we look forward to welcoming the Emira to our showroom in early 2023 followed soon by the all-electric SUV the Eletre.”