Lotus Omega is 1990s forgotten fast sports sedan

Описание: The Lotus Omega is a sports sedan from the vehicle manufacturer Lotus that was created from an idea by Bob Eaton, President of GM Europe, and Mike Kimberley, Head of Lotus Cars.The aim was to build a high-performance sedan with an acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h under 6 seconds in order to upgrade the outdated Opel/Vauxhall image at the end of the 1980s with a special vehicle. Ultimately, a vehicle based on the Opel Omega A was developed and tested in a joint effort between Lotus and Opel in roughly two years. The prototype was presented to the public at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1989, and the final design in March 1990 also at the Geneva Motor Show. An exclusive small series of 1,100 examples was planned for production at the Lotus factory in Hethel ( Great Britain ). Each of the exclusive vehicles received a four-digit vehicle number, which was placed as a plaque on the glove compartment lid and the lock carrier. Distributed through the Opel dealer network, 400 units were reserved for Germany at a price of 125,000 DM each (adjusted for inflation, this corresponds to 120,300 EUR as of 2024). In Great Britain the Lotus Omega was offered as the Lotus Carlton, as the Opel Omega was sold there as the Vauxhall Carlton . Due to the economic crisis at the beginning of the 1990s, the small series was stopped early with the 950th vehicle, which was signed by all workers.The basic model Opel Omega A 3000 24V was manufactured in the Opel main factory in Rüsselsheim in the color British Empire Green and transported to Great Britain. After the transfer, the vehicle was dismantled at Lotus and various parts, including the engine, transmission and bumpers, were sent back to the Rüsselsheim factory.Many parts of the vehicle were revised in various conversion steps. The body of the Opel Omega A 3000 24V was reworked in several places with the plasma cutter, including the fenders, the side walls and the center tunnel, and new metal sheets were welded in. In accordance with the technical requirements of the high speeds, a body kit optimized in the wind tunnel was installed, including a front bumper with massive air inlets for both oil coolers, a long downward rear bumper, round wheel arch extensions, side skirts with door panels, air scoops in the hood and a large rear spoiler .The in-line six-cylinder engine with four valves per cylinder has a displacement of 3.6 liters and, thanks to charging with two turbochargers connected in parallel, achieves an output of 277 kW (377 hp). The maximum torque is 557 Nm .According to conservative factory figures, the Lotus Omega accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.4 s with a top speed of 283 km/h. However, the actual measured performance was up to 4.9 s to 100 km/h and 17.3 s to 200 km/h according to various test reports from car magazines.
The Lotus Omega was considered the fastest series sedan in the world after the Alpina B10 Biturbo (291 km/h) . The Alpina B10 Biturbo nominally outperformed the Lotus Omega in top speed, but the Lotus Omega achieved better values ​​in terms of acceleration and elasticity.