Summary
- The Lotus Carlton was a groundbreaking sedan in the late 1980s, with its low drag coefficient and high speeds achieved without excessive horsepower.
- Lotus played a significant role in the development of the Lotus Carlton, utilizing their expertise in engineering to enhance its performance capabilities.
- The Lotus Carlton faced challenges during production, with a strained relationship between Opel and Lotus resulting in a logistical nightmare, but it ultimately became a highly sought-after and admired car in the industry.
Back in 1987, Opel, the brand thatGeneral Motors used to sell its cars in Europe, launched the Omega; a brand-new rear-wheel drive sedan. In the United Kingdom, GM employed the Vauxhall name forOpel, and the Omega was known as the Vauxhall Carlton to the Brits. The car was fairly big for European standards at the time, but that only meant it was slightly bigger than what we know today as a compact sedan in the U.S.
The Omega/Carlton was a hit and won the European Car Of The Year Award right then in 1987. The car received critical acclaim for a number of reasons, one of them being its incredibly low drag coefficient of just 0.28, which basically meant the car could reach high speeds without using too much horsepower.
The base model was equipped with a 1.8-liter inline-four that made just over 80 horsepower, but even that was enough for a top speed of more than 110 miles per hour. The biggest engine available for the Omega/Carlton at the time was a somewhat dated 3.0-liter inline-six from Opel that only made 156 horsepower @ 5,400 RPM and 169.64 pound-feet of torque @ 3,800 - 4,400 RPM.
But still, that was enough to reach 135 MPH with the Omega, which was pretty fast for a regular sedan at the time. But how did the Omega become the basis for one of the fastest, if not the fastest, four-door sedans of that era?
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All technical specifications and performance data about the Lotus Omega/Lotus Carlton were provided by Stellantis, the current owner of the Opel and Vauxhall brands, Lotus and Hagerty.
The Conception Of A Super Sedan
As luck would have it, GM Europe's former vice-president of engineering, Robert James Eaton, didn't like Opel's reputation of using outdated tech in its cars, such as the 3.0-liter inline-six that only made 156 horsepower, which was too little for an engine that size, even back in the late 1980s. Not only was Mr. Eaton vexed about the brand's bland image in Europe versus the fast BMWs and Audis, he wanted to do something about it. And so did Mike Kimberly, former Lotus CEO. Kimberly, is also the man credited with the idea of creating the only four-door Lotus has ever produced.
Lotus Gets Involved
After GM acquired the Lotus Group in 1986, it was in the perfect position to capitalize its assets to improve the reputation of its suffering brands.Lotus, to this day, is not just a car company but also an engineering consultancy firm that has unique specialties including design, ride and handling, and powertrain development. They are involved with several carmakers in the world, and GM is no exception. One of the first projects GM commissioned Lotus for after its acquisition was to develop the LT5 quad-cam V-8 engine for the then-upcoming Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1, and Chevy went on to earn legendary status.
At the time, Opel was working on a 24-valve head for the old inline-six, but that simply wasn't enough for these two gentlemen in charge. After much testing and engineering finished just a couple of months before the 1989 Geneva Auto Show, they decided to present a car that would, for the lack of a better word, steal the show by being an affordable and blisteringly fast sports sedan.The super sedan in question was the Lotus Carlton, and it did in fact steal the show.
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A Sleeper Super Sedan: How It Came To Be
Lotus did a lot to turn the Carlton/Omega into a sedanthat could match the performance of a Ferrari Testarossa, the ultimate supercar at the time. They did keep the inline-six as a basis, though, primarily due to the inability to fit a V-8 without having the car to undergo major design changes and new homologation by the authorities.
First, they used Opel's brand new 24-valve head on the old straight-six that was re-machined to increase its capacity to 3.6 liters. They then proceeded to stick a pair of Garrett T25 turbochargers with twin water-to-air intercoolers. The transmission had to be replaced to handle that torque output, And with initial resistance from Chevrolet, Lotus was able to use the ZF six-speed manual developed for theC4 Chevy Corvette ZR-1.
Performance And Specifications
Engine | 3.6-Liter twin-turbocharged inline-six |
Power | 377 horsepower @ 5,200 RPM |
Torque | 419 pound-feet @ 4,200 RPM |
Transmission | 6-speed manual |
Driveline | RWD |
0-60 MPH | 5.2 seconds |
Top Speed | 176 MPH |
(Info sourced from Hagerty)
At the time, the only gearbox in GM's catalog that could take the added stresses from the now monstrous engine. The hood received vents for increased cooling of the engine, a wide body kit for a more planted behavior along with big Goodyear Eagle tires fitted on Ronal 17-inch monoblock wheels. The car also received AP Racing brakes, a limited-slip differential, and a full rework of the suspension. 176 MPH was the officially released top speed, but the car was known to go well over 180 MPH according to Lotus, making it the then-fastest regular production sedan in the world.
Birthing Pains
It wasn't all sunshine and butterflies, though. Opel feared the top-dog Lotus-massaged sedan would overshadow their own sports version, the Omega 3000/Carlton GSi. The strained relationship between the two brands resulted in a logistical nightmare in building the world's fastest sedan.
The refusal of Opel to build the Lotus version in their factory lead to completed Omegas and Carltons being shipped from the Opel Russelsheim plant in Germany to the Lotus HQ in Hethel, England. The Lotus team then dismantled the finished sedans almost back to bare shells to carry out their upgrades. After several hundred man-hours, the sedans got a unique Lotus VIN while the surplus parts were shipped back to Opel to be installed in other cars on their assembly line.
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Political Repercussions Of Carlton
The Lotus Carlton was quite expensive by the time Lotus as finished, costing almost four times the price of the standard version, but reasonably priced for the kind of performance it delivered. Its original price tag in the U.K. was £48,000 (about $59,500 in today's money). This was a fraction of the price of supercars of the time that had similar performance, like the Lamborghini Countach, the Ferrari Testarossa, and even the Ferrari F-40.
Lotus pointed out that in 1992,Autocar magazine timed the Lotus Carlton in its 0-100 MPH test in 11.1 seconds, ensuring the Lotus placed second in the challenge, behind only the Ferrari F-40. Amusingly, it wasBob Murray ofAutocar magazine who wrote the harsh editorial on Lotus' new sedan which led to the outrage in the British Parliament.
The PR Disaster
The subject was brought up in an interestingdebate about raising the standard of driving so that people would be qualified to drive the cars they could now afford. In a nutshell, nobody seemed to mind an expensive Ferrari that was capable of 180 MPH, but a blue-collar car that could do the same was just a travesty.
Because of the amount of performance for the price, they also were afraid of people who would use this car to commit crimes. This ironically ended up happening a few years later whena stolen Carlton with license plates “40 RA” was used by a gang to commit several store heists over two months, while outrunning every police car at the time. And it was even rumored to have outrun a police helicopter.
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A Car Ahead Of Its Time
On a personal anecdote, I owned a 1992 Chevrolet Omega 3.0i in Brazil back in the late 90s. GM sold its cars in Brazil using the Chevrolet brand. That version of the inline-six made 165 horsepower @ 5,800 RPM, and 169 pound-feet of torque at 4,200 RPM. It came with a manual five-speed transmission or a four-speed automatic. You don't have to guess which one, I chose as my own.
The Chevrolet Omega was the first production car to ever break the 200 km/h barrier (124 MPH) in Brazil, andit is still fondly remembered today for its luxury, size, and performance. In a way, even 30 years after it first came to Brazil, some still think Chevrolet was never able to recapture the magic of the Omega and come up with a car that was unanimously coveted and admired by all car enthusiasts.
The much improved, much faster, left-handedLotus Carlton saw a production run of 320 units, added by another 630 units of its right-handed twin brother, the Lotus Omega, a total of 950 cars. Far from being the wolf-in-sheep's clothing menace that the British Parliament feared. More of a marketing stunt to boost GM's brands across Europe, this super sedan went down in history as one of the best examples of what companies can accomplish when the right people, i.e. real gearheads come together to make something unique.
The 1990s is arguably one of the high points in automotive engineering,making way for some truly spectacular cars. But if it weren't for the passion and commitment of Robert James Eaton and Mike Kimberly, who stuck to their guns and steered their teams, the Lotus Carlton could never have come into existence. Lotus' creation was the first family car with true supercar capabilities.
A demonstration of grit and passion, and a unique engineering exercise that is lost in the limelight of more popular fast four-doors. Without Eaton and Kimberly, the motoring world would have been left without one of its most prodigal sons.
