98 auto italiaOBSCURATI
CURIOSITIES FROM THE AMAZING WORLD OF ITALIAN CARS
BERTONE LOTUS EMOTION
Story by Richard HeseltineTHIS LOTUS-BADGED CONCEPT CAR STARTED LIFE AS BERTONE’S
ORIGINAL PITCH FOR THE NEW BUGATTI EB110B
ertone had lost its
way a little by the
time the long-
forgotten Emotion
concept broke cover
at the January 1991 Detroit
International Auto Show. The
glory days of the Gandini era and
wedge-shaped projectiles
resplendent in highlighter pen
hues had long been consigned to
the past. Bertone had taken a
turn for the, well, ordinary. That,
and a bit of cut ’n’ paste.
Purportedly based on a Lotus
Esprit platform of indeterminate
age, the Emotion wasn’t originally
intended to wear Lotus badges,
either; it could have been a
Bugatti. But more on that later.
First seen publicly in Europe at
March 1991 Geneva Motor Show,
the Turin styling house stated in
its somewhat random PR bumf:
“The rapport with Lotus is
something new for Bertone
despite the fact that both firms
have for dozens of years beenpacesetters in the conception,
design and manufacture of mid-
engined sports cars... [The]
Emotion sets out to take a
second look at the Lotus image
and interpret it freely in a more
modern key.”
While notionally powered by a
turbocharged (and charge-
cooled) 2.2-litre four-banger, andpurportedly capable of over
170mph, the Emotion wasn’t
actually a ‘driver’, but a non-
functional show car. Some
4060mm (159.8in) long, 1900mm
(74.8in) wide and standing
1080mm (42.5in) off the deck, it
represented a bold design
statement on behalf of its
makers, with cab-forward styling
and finely-chiselled flanks, while
the integrated rear spoiler was
also speed-adjustable. There
was, however, no talk of even a
limited production run, and the
one and only prototype was
subsequently mothballed in the
Bertone factory museum until
2015, when the collection was
sold following the firm’s
bankruptcy. During the
intervening period, its original
metallic grey-green hue had
made way for a change of shade
to bright yellow.
According to an Exotic Cars
Quarterlyarticle from the period,
the car was first mooted in 1990,
the aim being to show a ‘plaster’in Detroit, and a ‘runner’ in
Geneva. Bertone’s long-serving
press manager Gian Beppe
Panicco told the magazine: “Soon
after, we had the realisation that
to make a runner would have
cost at least $1m and we were
not in a position at that time to
invest as much as that.”
Could the Emotion have
enjoyed success as a production
car? Who knows? Lotus’s
reaction to the car remains
unrecorded. What has become
clear subsequently, however, is
that the design – or at least part
of it – was initially pitched to
Bugatti when it was setting
about creating what in time
became the EB110. According to
some sources, when Bertone’s
offering was rejected in favour of
one by former design director
Marcello Gandini (whose design in
turn was modified later by a third
party), the mock-up was given a
light makeover which stretched
to a few Lotus badges. Et voila, a
new concept car!