Amanda Millin

May 1, 2014

The connection between the Lotus C-01 (www.lotus-motorcycles.com) and the eponymous sports-car company is only nominal—Lotus licensed its brand name to the motorcycle’s manufacturer—but the bike still has plenty of street (and track) cred. It represents a collaboration between the former Bugatti designer Daniel Simon and the German motorsport fixtures Kodewa and the Holzer Group. If the C-01 bears a resemblance to the light cycles that appeared in the 2010 film Tron: Legacy, it may be because Simon also designed those.

Production of the C-01 was scheduled to begin in April, and the company expects to begin deliveries in August. It plans to limit production to 100 examples, each starting at about $139,000. The bike’s 1,195 cc V-twin engine will produce an estimated 200 hp. Such power should enable speeds and acceleration equal to those of any superbike, in part because the C-01 weighs just 400 pounds, thus embodying the Lotus philosophy of adding speed by subtracting weight.