Lotus joins race to build a city car

It looks like it’s not only Aston which has an eye on high-performance city cars – Lotus is working on one, too! The sporty firm has branched out to design this electric runaround for the masses. It borrows its 3+1 seating from the Toyota iQ to blend manoeuvrability with the latest wireless technology in order to create what could be the hippest urban runabout of 2015.

With a 20-mile range, and a solar power-assisted charge time of only three-and-a-half hours, the car would simply be docked into a charge point at floor level. But the model wouldn’t be exclusive to Lotus. A spokesman said: “This is a showcase for our expertise and technologies that could be used for a third-party client. It’s not a Lotus city car in the same vein as the Aston Martin Cygnet.”