Colin Chapman spent his career chasing one idea: add lightness. Decades after his death, the company he founded is still doing exactly that, and the Emira 420 Sport is the proof. Lighter, sharper, and now available with a panel that turns it into a convertible whenever the mood strikes. It was unveiled on May 26 as the most powerful, lightest, and most aerodynamically capable Emira the company has ever produced.

It is the kind of car that exists because the engineers could not leave the standard Emira alone. They wanted more response, more downforce, less mass, and a sharper connection between the driver’s hands and the road. So they built it. The result sits at the top of the Emira range and, quietly, makes a case for being one of the most engaging sports cars for sale today at any price.

Less mass, more menace

Plenty of manufacturers add wings and vents for the look. Lotus added them for the airflow. A revised front splitter, reshaped front vents, extended side sills, larger air intakes, a lip spoiler, and a louvered tailgate work together to feed more air where the car needs it most. Airflow to the outboard radiators climbs by 15%, the central radiator gets 14% more airflow, brake cooling improves by 10%, and exhaust valve airflow jumps by 30%. Crucially, none of this comes at the cost of additional drag, which means the car runs cooler and more consistently on track without sacrificing straight-line speed.

The visual updates do double duty, subtly nodding to the Esprit Turbo and reminding everyone that Lotus has been building lightweight wedge-shaped sports cars since long before the current crop of competitors existed. Function first, heritage second, but both present in every line.

Sharper everywhere it counts

Underneath the bodywork, the 420 Sport tightens the formula that already made the Emira a critical favorite. Ride height drops fractionally. Suspension settings are revised. High-performance tires replace the standard rubber. The bonded aluminum chassis and double wishbone suspension carry over, preserving the ride-and-handling balance that defines the car, while the electro-hydraulic power steering continues to deliver the kind of detailed feedback that electric racks struggle to match.

Inside, the cabin has been reworked for dual duty on road and track. Twelve-way adjustable seats, a driver-focused layout, and new carbon fiber gearshift paddles with updated haptics keep the experience tactile and immediate. Director of Attributes Gavin Kershaw described the 420 Sport as taking the Emira’s celebrated foundation and pushing it further, with adjustable dampers, more downforce, sharper responses, and reduced roll, all obsessively engineered to put the driver more in control. The language is marketing. The intent, as stated in the spec sheet, appears genuine.

A roof that disappears

Here is the feature that broadens the 420 Sport’s appeal beyond the track-day crowd. For the first time, the Emira offers a removable tinted glass roof panel, inspired by the Esprit, that lifts out by hand and stows behind the seats in a protective bag. No motors, no folding mechanism, no added complexity, and critically, no compromise to the car’s structural rigidity or dynamic behavior. Lotus engineered the underlying architecture so the car drives identically whether the roof is in place or in the trunk.

Better still, the panel is not exclusive to the 420 Sport. It is now available across the entire Emira range, which means any Emira buyer can have open-air driving for the price of a single option. It is a rare case of a halo variant introducing a feature that benefits the whole lineup rather than hoarding it for the most expensive trim.

Color, carbon, and a paint called Tangelo

Personalization options have expanded considerably. An exterior carbon fiber pack adds the front splitter, side sills, wheel arch vents, side pods, rear spoiler, and diffuser surround for buyers who want the lightweight aesthetic to match the lightweight engineering. Nine wheel designs are offered, including a new 20-inch, 15-spoke, forged alloy wheel in satin dark grey. The color palette runs to 16 choices, anchored by Tangelo Orange, a vivid hue exclusive to the 420 Sport that continues Lotus’s long love affair with expressive orange paint. Two cabin packs round out the options, including a Hand Painted Pack that splashes Tangelo Orange highlights across the console, steering wheel spoke, gear lever, and air vents.

What it means

The Emira 420 Sport carries a particular weight beyond its impressively low curb figure. Lotus has confirmed that its future leans toward electrification and hybrid powertrains under the Focus 2030 strategy, with a hybrid V8 supercar already on the horizon. That makes the combustion-powered Emira, in its sharpest and lightest form, something close to a farewell to an era. CEO Qingfeng Feng called it proof of obsessive engineering and a car built for drivers, and for once, the corporate framing rings true.

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The 2026 New York Auto Show gives automakers a chance to show off the best they have on offer, especially American carmakers. Obviously, it was the perfect opportunity for Chevrolet to show off some futuristic hypercar concepts, the latest Corvette Grand Sport, as well as its fastest car on sale, the Corvette ZR1X. But instead of flaunting a mass-produced version of the ZR1X, Chevy exhibited a limited-edition version thereof, celebrating America’s quarter-millennium birthday.

Chevrolet’s 250-Year Tribute In Person

This Stars & Steel collection treats Chevrolet’s current lineup with a patriotic design pack to celebrate America’s 250th birthday. The treatment spans multiple models, including the Silverado, Colorado, and Corvette, each featuring American flag-inspired decals and “250” markings. GM says it will donate $250 from every Stars & Steel vehicle sold to NPOs that support veterans and their families.

While several examples, like this white Silverado, were present at the 2026 NY Auto Show, the blacked-out Corvette stole all of our attention. Limited to just 250 units across the Corvette range, this particular ZR1X, fitted with the Carbon Fiber Aero Package, shares a similar aesthetic to the $2.6 million example that sold at a Barrett-Jackson in January this year.

The Corvette That Stole Our Attention

The ZR1X displayed at the NY Auto Show had a stealthy look, finished in gloss black with carbon fiber wheels. Contrasting Satin silver striping runs from the trunk to the hood, with some stars, too. Some splashes of red appear on the brake calipers and on the edges of the gargantuan rear wing to commemorate America’s 250th birthday. Inside, the theme follows the red palette, but is much less subtle.

Also on display was the Chevy Corvette ZR1X’s powertrain: a 1,064 hp twin-turbocharged 5.5-liter flat-plane crank V8, dubbed the LT7. With help from an electric motor, the ZR1X has a combined 1,250 hp at its fingertips. In the real world, that allows the all-wheel-drive ZR1X to achieve a 0 to 60 mph time of just 1.68 seconds, making it the quickest production car in the world.

Nearing The End Of The C8 Corvette

A few days ago, GM confirmed the Grand Sport will be the last C8 Corvette model. While limited-run variants that focus on bespoke aesthetic upgrades like this Stars & Steel example will continue to exist, no core models will be added to the Corvette lineup. Knowing this makes witnessing one of the rarest C8 specifications in the flesh just all the more special.

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The Tesla Roadster has been coming “soon” for so long that when Elon Musk announced an April 1st reveal date, the internet couldn’t decide if it was a joke or not. Given the car was first unveiled way back in 2017 with a price tag sitting around $200,000 and promises that have been delayed ever since, skepticism is fair. But a patent quietly published recently, discovered by a patent analyst on X, suggests things might actually be moving. And what it describes is genuinely unlike anything Tesla, or really anyone, has put in a production car before.

One Frame to Rule Them All

Traditional car seats are an assembly of dozens of components, with metal brackets, recliner mechanisms, headrest stalks, and bolster frames, all bolted or riveted together. Tesla’s new patent throws that entire approach out. The design is built around a single continuous composite frame where the seat base, backrest, headrest, and bolsters are all thermoformed as one unified piece. Tesla is calling it a monolithic structure, and it’s the same philosophy behind their giga-casting push – fewer parts, fewer failure points, less weight, cleaner manufacturing. It’s closer in concept to the carbon tub chassis you’d find at the core of a hypercar like a McLaren than anything you’d expect to find under a seat cushion.

Smarter Than It Looks

The engineering goes well beyond just making it one piece. The frame is divided into up to six distinct stiffness zones, each tuned differently for ergonomics and structural support. Rather than a mechanical recliner, a built-in flexible hinge made from fiber composite material handles movement. Four pairs of actuators give the seat six degrees of freedom, and an ECU manages all of it through software, meaning the seat is essentially programmable. Ventilation channels are molded directly in. Airbag deployment paths are shaped into the bolsters. Even the soft trim attaches without separate hardware. All this goes to say that Tesla’s given this seat more thought than just bolting in a plastic poolside chair, a thought we’re sure has entered the minds of many reading this. 

A Seat That Could Change How Cars Are Built

The implications go beyond just the Roadster. If this manufacturing approach scales, it could meaningfully simplify seat production across Tesla’s entire lineup, cutting assembly complexity and weight in one move. For now though, it’s one more sign that the Roadster is closer to reality than it has ever been. And if the April 1st reveal turns out to be no joke at all, this might just be the seat that takes you from 0 to 60 in under two seconds.

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The Number That Started Arguments

From the time it was announced, it was clear the McLaren F1 was never going to be ordinary. A stratospheric asking price of nearly a million dollars, a fixation on weight, a BMW V12 “wrapped” in gold foil, and a never-seen-before central driving position had already elevated it beyond supercar status. Only 64 road cars would be built over its production spanning from 1992 to 1998, out of a total of 106. When it came time to assign chassis numbers, one in particular became a problem.

Father of the F1, Gordon Murray, himself had to referee requests for what would be a very special build slot. A previous owner recalled Murray explaining that several clients wanted chassis 007. In the end, a VIP and close friend of McLaren shareholder Mansour Ojjeh secured the mythical number. Clearly, McLaren had a license to build, with the Bond-inspired build slot taking precedence. To ease tensions, McLaren assigned other customers chassis numbers whose digits added up to seven.

Specification Worthy of the Badge

The VIP owner was Prince Muhammad bin Fahad bin Abdulaziz of the Saudi royal family, who took delivery in 1994 at his residence in Cologny, Geneva. The specification was as deliberate as the number. Chassis 007 is the only McLaren F1 finished in Jet Black with a 10 percent metalflake, paired with a restrained beige and brown leather interior. Only four F1 road cars were built in Black Metallic at all, and this one stands alone in its exact configuration.

The paint itself is deeper than standard black, the subtle metalflake only revealing itself under direct light. Open the dihedral doors, and the cabin continues the theme with warm, understated leather tones wrapped around the now-iconic central driving seat. In an era when many 1990s supercars leaned into bright colors and louder trims, this F1 went the opposite direction. The specification clearly resisted theatrics, in keeping with its 007 inspirations. 

A Life Lived Properly, Documented Thoroughly

Surprisingly, 007 remained well-used through its years in spite of its build significance. Over the course of its ownership by its next three owners, 007 racked up 27,806 miles, which is an impressive amount of mileage for a car such as the F1. Most of those miles were spirited ones at the hands of well-known collector Simon Kidston, from whose care the car is currently being sold. Since 1994, approximately $590,000 has been spent maintaining the car through McLaren’s factory channels, including a recent $50,800 service and a replacement alloy fuel tank at McLaren Special Operations.

It has never been crashed, never fitted with the optional High Downforce Kit, and retains its original colour scheme, numbered luggage set, tool chest, and titanium tools. It is also one of the few F1 road cars to hold a factory-issued Certificate of Authenticity. For a chassis number that caused this much friction before it even existed, the remarkable part isn’t the drama. It’s that three decades later, 007 remains exactly what it should be: well-driven, meticulously documented, and very, very original.

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