A Lotus NYO Exige super car, seen at the Goldenport race rack in Beijing in 2018. It looked great in green with darkened windows, black alloy wheels, and red brake callipers. It has an interesting license plate, reading 9N9F1.
Let’s talk about that weird name. We have to go back in time a bit. When Lotus arrived in China in 2011, it has to use a different Chinese name: 路特斯 (Lùtèsī). The original Chinese name for Lotus was 莲花 (Liánhuā).
This name, however, was taken by Youngman-Lotus. This was a joint venture between China’s Youngman Automobile and U.K.’s Lotus Cars. At the time, Malaysia’s Proton was the owner of Lotus Cars. Proton and Youngman agreed that Proton would provide the know-how and complete knock down kits (CKD) for the Youngman-Lotus joint venture.
The Exige S was jacked up and work was underway on the left-rear wheel.
Lotus Cars also agreed that Youngman-Lotus could use the Chinese name of Lotus on cars made by the joint venture. That is how we got the 2009 Lianhua L3 and the 2010 Lianhua L5.
At that time, Lotus Cars didn’t sell cars in China. But when they came here in 2011, that became a problem, so they had to use a new name. The further distinguish Lotus Cars from Youngman Lotus, they added the letters NYO to the badge on Lotus Cars cars sold in China. NYO stood for new.
The Youngman-Lotus joint venture was disbanded in 2015. But the rights to the Chinese Lotus name remained with Youngman. In 2021, Geely bought a majority of the shares of Lotus Cars from Proton.
It was widely expected that Geely would quickly make a deal with Youngman and buy back the name. But that didn’t happen and Lotus China continues to use the 路特斯 name and the NYO badging.
It had gold JR badges on the fenders and rear. It haven’t been able to find a special edition so called, so I assume they are the owner’s initials.
The interior is very basic but it had a radio with a USB port. Surprisingly advanced for the old British brand!
The Lotus Exige S is powered by a 3.5 liter supercharged Toyota engine, good for 351 hp and 400 Nm. The motor was mated to a 6-speed sequential gearbox with paddleshift. Top speed was 274 kilometers per hour and zero to a hundred takes just 4 seconds. When launched in China in 2015, price of the Lotus Exige S started at a crazy 820.000 yuan.
The S came with a huge wing on the back and a diffuser under the bumper. In the background on the left the only Lotus dealer in Beijing at the time. Earlier, they had another shop at the Worker’s Stadium in the center of town.
If anyone knows more about these JR badges, please let me know in the comments below.
NYO branding on the rear, and even on the…
… engine cover.
The Exige and Elise never sold well in China. They were just too extreme for Chinese tastes, and they are bot very rare cars on the road. The new Lotus Eletre, an SUV for that mattre, will surely do bettre.