Lotus Emira 420 Sport Lands in the UAE

Dubai, 17 August 2026

Lotus has opened orders in the UAE for the Emira 420 Sport, the fastest four-cylinder production car on sale anywhere. It makes 416 hp from a 2.0-litre turbo, hits 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds and tops out at 300 km/h. What it does not have yet is a UAE price — AGMC, which took over as Lotus’s UAE distributor in June, has not published one. So this is a car to put a deposit on and ask questions about, not one to compare on price. Here is what is confirmed, and what a Porsche costs while you wait.

What actually launched

The 420 Sport arrived in the UAE in the first week of August as the new flagship of the Emira range, above the Turbo, Turbo SE and V6 SE. The engine is the AMG-derived 2.0-litre turbo already used elsewhere in the range, turned up to 416 hp and 500 Nm, driving the rear wheels through a recalibrated eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox.

The changes are not only under the bonnet. Ride height drops 5 mm, revised aerodynamics add around 25 kg of downforce, an optional Lightweight Handling Pack removes up to 25 kg, and Multimatic adjustable dampers are on the options list. Inside there is black Nappa leather with perforated Alcantara, exposed carbon-fibre trim, carbon shift paddles, a titanium exhaust and a removable tinted glass roof panel. Lotus also includes its Track Pro app, which logs telemetry on a circuit.

The claim Lotus is leading with is the top speed. At 300 km/h, this is the fastest four-cylinder production car anyone has built — a real distinction, and the reason the car exists.

Price unconfirmed as of 17 August 2026. AGMC has said UAE pricing, ordering details and expected delivery dates will follow. Lotus has published a global figure, but converting an overseas price into dirhams tells you nothing useful about what a UAE car will cost once duty, VAT and local specification are applied — so we are not going to do it. If you see an AED figure for this car online today, it is somebody’s guess.

Lotus Emira 420 Sport specifications

How it stacks up

Since the 420 Sport has no UAE price, the useful comparison is what its rivals cost right now.

The standard Emira is the most useful line in that table. At around AED 315,000 for the 360 hp car, and with the 420 Sport sitting above the Turbo SE and V6 SE in the range, it is reasonable to expect the new flagship to land well north of that — but that is an inference, not a price, and we are labelling it as one.

Against the Porsches, the Lotus case is straightforward: considerably more power and a full second quicker to 100 km/h than a base Cayman, for what will be a good deal more money. Against the Supra, it is a different sort of car altogether — the Toyota is the value choice here by a wide margin.

The used-car angle

Two-seat sports cars are the least forgiving thing you can buy new in this market, and it is worth saying so plainly before anyone puts down a deposit.

They lose value faster than almost anything else, then stop. A limited-appeal two-seater has a small pool of buyers, and that shows up hardest in the first two or three years. After that the curve flattens, and a well-kept, low-mileage example of a genuinely special car can hold steady for a long time. The expensive years are the early ones, which is precisely why buying one at two or three years old is usually the smart move.

But that logic has a limit here. The 420 Sport is a range-topping version with a real claim to fame attached to it — fastest four-cylinder production car built. Cars with a specific, quotable distinction tend to behave differently from ordinary trim levels, and the ones that stay original and low-mileage often hold up better than the volume versions beneath them. If you want one, waiting three years to buy used may not save you what you expect.

The practical middle ground. If what you want is the Emira experience rather than this particular version of it, a used standard Emira is the sensible route — the 2.0-litre car makes 360 hp and reaches 100 km/h in 4.4 seconds, which is not slow, and a two or three-year-old one has already taken the hit that a new buyer is about to. A used 718 Cayman is the same argument in a Porsche.

One UAE-specific thing to check on any used sports car here. Low mileage is common and not always good. A car that has sat in a Dubai parking structure for months at a time can need more attention than one that has been driven — tyres age out, fluids sit, batteries die. On a car like this, service history and evidence of regular use matter more than the number on the odometer.

Thinking about a used Emira or a Cayman instead of waiting for the 420 Sport’s price? Browse inspection-verified sports cars on CarSwitch and see what two or three years off the price actually looks like before you commit to a deposit.