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Originally Posted by yellowboxster01
Why does Lotus now use Toyota motors? Are they owed by the same?
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Lotus has only produced one motor of it's own in it's 60+ years of existance- the Twin Turbo V8 used in the '96 and later Esprits - the 918 engine.
Understand that for most of it's history, Lotus rarely produced more than 1,000 cars annually (vs Ferrari which produces about 8,000/yr.), and you see that it doesn't make a lot of financial sense to make engines from scratch.
Prior to that, all Lotus cars used someone else's engines.
The Formula Two cars built by Lotus in the late '40's/early '50's used a Riley engine. The Formula One cars used a Coventry Climax FWMV V8.
The Lotus Indy cars used first the Cosworth V8, and also the Turbine 'STP' cars (Lotus Chassis). There was even one Porsche powered Lotus 11 (until the Lotus 'demolished' the Porsche factory cars, whereupon Porsche cancelled their contract to supply engines).
The Sevens and Elites used a british Ford L-head (or side valve) engine later replaced by the BMC series-A motor, or optional Coventry Climax engine.
The Elans and Europas used a Kent (english Ford) based motor. Even the '77-'95 Esprits used an engine, though cast by Lotus, was based on the Kent.
The M-100 Elan of the early '90's used an Isuzu Gemini engine.
Even the 1st Gen Elise used a reworked Kent engine ROW - only with the US Market Elise in '04, was a Toyota engine used because it had already passed EPA (Lotus initially wanted the Honda VTEC engine, but Honda could not meet demand, most of the motors needed for internal use) , and Lotus expected market didn't warrant the expense or work of getting the Kent motor certified.
Now, Lotus often produced the Head and much of the internals, tailored the intake/exhaust, and/or re-mapped the software for each of these engines.
Lotus certainly never lacked the expertise to build their own engines - Lotus designed the famed Corvette LT5 engine (hand-built by Mercury Marine), and it was rumored that GM bought Lotus ('84-'95) specifically for their engine and suspension engineering expertise, which GM used extensively in the both the Fiero and the Corvette projects.
So, it's not at all unusual, rather, it's more the 'norm', for Lotus to source their engines elsewhere.