When Lotus first showed the Exige 270E Tri-Fuel at the Geneva Auto Show back in 2008 it was seen more as an engineering project than a concept car. That, however, may change.

Recently the vehicle was put on display at the Shanghai Auto Show in China and interest was so high China’s Lotus distributor is pushing for a production model. Youngman Auto, a joint-venture between Lotus and the Chinese government (that’s how they do things in China), has now made an official request to Lotus in the U.K. to build a consumer version of the sports car.

As the name suggest, the Tri-Fuel Exige can operate on any one of three energy sources: gasoline, bioethanol and methanol. It is, therefore, a three-way FlexFuel vehicle.

And that “green” engineering doesn’t come as the cost of performance either. Quite the opposite actually. The Exige 270E Tri-Fuel (again, as the name suggests), makes 270hp from a supercharged Toyota-sourced 1.8-liter four-cylinder. Lotus estimates the car can hit 60 mph in 3.9 seconds and tops out at 158 mph.

Lotus corporate has not made any claims about the production request but we’ll be sure to bring you news as it develops.

[Source: LotusEnthusiast]