The Lotus Type 136 Launch | Interview with Sir Christopher Andrew Hoy & more

I'm here with Sir Chris Hoy

Chris, why do you introduce yourself for the City AM audience? I'm Chris Hoy

I am a former Olympic track cyclist. There was six gold medals back in the day

And I'm here with Lotus for the unveiling of their exciting new bike, the Titan 136

Brilliant. So just give a quick rundown of why you are here today. You mentioned it briefly then, but go into it

Yeah, so today is all about this new bike, which Lotus are unveiling

Lotus has got a rich history in cycling over the years, dating back to 1992, and Chris Borman won a gold medal in Barcelona

the Olympic Games on the Type 108. That was a bike that inspired me as a teenager

And over the years, they've been involved in different iterations of that bike

And this is the latest bike. it's going to be available to anybody in the public that wants to buy one

Previously, these bikes have been very much allocated to professionals racing on the track or the Tour de France

So it's really exciting. And it's, yeah, I can't give too much away right now, but it's, when it's unveiled

you're going to see how radical it is and how exciting it is and what a special bike it is

Brilliant. So why are you obviously, like you said, you can't give too much away, but why are you backing this specific bike in today

So today it's, yeah, I guess what we're going to talk about is

It's new technology, innovation in cycling Lotus are very famous for as well as in motorsport

but it's carrying on this the DNA of the iconic bikes like the type 108, the one that won the gold

medal in Barcelona. Particularly, aerodynamics is a big part of it. It looks quite radical in its design

Electric power involved, so it gives anybody the chance to experience a bike, being able

to ride up hills to go further than they might under their own steam, but choose the

when and how to use that is the key thing here so yeah an e-bike but not an e-bike that you might have

seen before and being in london there's so many e-bikes everywhere but it doesn't seem that there's as

many people that could be using them for it you know what how do you think that could change you

think this might impact people's decision yeah we're already seeing more e-bikes sold than the mechanical

bikes so it's here to stay and it's only going to get more popular and what most e-bikes are i guess are

are big heavy quite cumbersome and the difference with the type 136 it incredibly lightweight it handles like a lightweight racing bike does but you also have the convenience of being able to use electricity that additional power when you need it So you still use your legs you still use your lungs you still getting exercise You know it not like riding a scooter or motorbike where it does all the work for you but it just a more exhilarating experience You get to go further

you get to go higher for the same effort. So it's, in my opinion, it's the best of all worlds

E-bikes are great. They're here to stay. For racing, of course you don't use waters, but for everybody

else, I think it's a fantastic way to ride a bike. I think this poses in competition to the other e-bikes that I've been coming up, you know

It's, like you said, it's very popular these days. How is this ahead of the curve

I think this is, it's combining the technology and the expertise from the racing at the highest level

Olympic level or world level, and applying all the engineering expertise from Lotus

from their engineering and for cars, air dynamical understanding, and bringing it to a package which is usable and accessible and, and

exciting for your average keen cyclist. And the biggest thing about e-bikes

and particularly this one, is you can ride with other people that are better, stronger, more

experienced than you. So you can go out with friends that are right hundreds of miles a week

that normally you wouldn't be left behind on the hills. With this, you can keep up

But you can choose how and when to use the power. You push the button, you have a little extra boost of power, and then you

can switch it off. So you get as much exercise as you want, but you can keep up with anybody

So you think this will be quite ahead in the market then? I think it's going to really, I'm really excited to see how the cycling world is going to respond to this bike

And yeah, it's very much this high end. It's a very premium quality product

But as we see, when you have these halo models, it can trickle down to the lower end of the market

And yeah, there's certainly more to come from Lotus. But yeah, more about that in the future

Thank you so much. Thank you. Cheers. My name is Mike Johnson. I'm the Chief Commercial Officer for Lotus Cars

Fantastic. So give me a bit of a rundown here today. What's going on? Why are we all here

Well, we're here in our prestigious London showroom. It's just opened back in July. And really, it's a kind of totemic statement, really, where the brand's heading

So you can see here today, we've got a number of our new motor products here. We've got the newer mayo. We've got Electra. We've got a mirror

But importantly today, we're unveiling our first bicycle, our first official bicycle for customers, which we've named Type 136

Fantastic. And how is this different to any other E-bytes that have been coming out

I think the first thing really is, for us, this is a kind of passion project

It's something that we've been really close to because we've been actually involved in cycling now for 30 years

So you know we developed the type 108 and the type 110 bicycles These bicycles were used in the Olympics back in 1992 And also in the last few years with the Hope and Lotus product that we been using in the type 110 bicycles These bicycles were used in the Olympics back in 1992 and also in the last few years with the Hoping Lotus product that we been using in the British cycling team as well So for us this isn just about the case of just bringing

out an e-bike, it's really something that's deep in our roots and that spirit of innovation that we

have as a brand is really coming through in this fantastic new bicycle. Fantastic and speaking to Sir Chris Hoy earlier he was saying about how popular

e-bikes have become and you know how incredible this one is. You know, I was talking about London, a lot of people, there's e-bikes everywhere

but maybe perhaps there's not as many people on them, you know. What's the plan hoping for a bigger audience, getting more people around the whole of UK

but obviously London itself to get on board with the e-bikes? Well, for us, it's very much a racing bike, but it just gives you that extra push, really

We were talking about it earlier. It either gives you that opportunity to go on and push a little bit faster

or if you're out with your friends, really, just to kind of leave them, really, and try and go off into the distance

So what it really does is it takes the spirit of innovation, that's within the bicycle itself, an incredibly lightweight bicycle with a fantastic technology

within the e-motor itself. It gives people that just that extra push when they need it

So we're super proud of it. It's something we've been working on for years and we're really delighted to be able to share it with people in London and across the globe

Fantastic. Do you think e-bikes are the future of transportation in London

I think they're part of a mix. I think for us, really, this is very much a performance racing bike

So I don't think it's something that people will necessarily use on their daily commute. But I think e-bikes, electrified cars, as well as other mobility solutions

is that blended kind of environment, really, that will make the kind of progress of people through London a lot cleaner and a lot quicker

Brilliant. And how does this set aside from, you know, in the market, your competitors, what's the niche that Lotus have

I think it's that spirit of innovation, firstly, you know, and the fact that this is something that's very close to us and has been over 30 years

But also, it's a very lightweight bicycle. It's been designed from the ground

up and it also uses an electric motor that was using the Mars landing project. So we're looking

at some technology here that's literally been to space. That's fantastic. Well thank you so much

for speaking to City AM and I'm sure the whole audience appreciate it a lot. So thank you. Best

of luck. this road bike that we're launching here today. Fantastic

So why do you give a quick rundown of what actually is this new bike going out today

What is this launch here? So think of it this way. It's a thoroughbred road bike, through and through a road bike

mechanical road bike. But when you need a little bit of help when you need that little bit of a push it also an e It has the lightest motor system on the market So you don with e quite often you having to carry around a load of weight

and so when the battery runs out, it's really heavy to ride the bike

With this, it's super, super light. As it is fully built up, it's only 9.8 kilograms

So it's not like any e-bike that you can get on the market today

Have you ridden the e-bike? Have you tested it? Oh, loads. I've been lucky to be riding it for months and months

Oh, fantastic. Yeah, it's so much fun. Brilliant. And how is this going to help professional athletes more

You know, what's a step ahead are you giving them? So the benefit here is there are times in our life when we're super at the peak of our fitness

and we can go out and we can ride with any of the benefit. do anything we like and we're feeling really good but there are times when we're

busy you know life gets in the way and there are times when you want to go out

do a big ride with your friends or you want to go and do a cycling holiday but you

not quite you haven't been doing the training this is here just to give you that

little bit of help it's that bit of support so if you need it it's there

fantastic and the name type 136 where is that cover is it quite literally 136 of it

Or where's that come from? So type numbers is, the history of Lotus

has always been naming every model with a type number. And we're fortunate that the Lotus sees bikes

as important as cars. And so it's been given a type number

as all the other cars that are here. So we just, it's a statement of this is as important to us

as it is our cars. And how important do you think e-bikes are

in the future transportation? Really important. By 2026, through about that time, it's widely believed there'll be a big shift of sales

and there'll be more e-bike sales by 26 than there are mechanical. It's an enabler. It opens up the possibilities

for people to ride wherever they want to go. And so it gets more people on bikes, we're happy

And how does this set aside from your major competitors, what sets your head of the game

It's really this dual use. It's both a mechanical road bike and an e-bite

And you can decide how you want to ride it. That's fantastic. Well, thank you so much for speaking to Citi-AAM today

I really appreciate it