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Lotus Evora makes its North American debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show
The first all-new Lotus since the iconic Elise made its debut in 1995, the Evora enters the sports car market as the world’s only mid-engine 2+2. Powered by a Lotus-tuned 3.5-liter V6 engine producing 276 hp, and weighing just 2,976 lbs. (prototype specification), the Evora promises breathtaking performance. During preliminary testing around the famous Nürburgring, the Lotus chassis development engineers report Evora is extremely agile and great fun to drive – even when clad with the full development disguise that hid the beautiful lines from the prying motor industry paparazzi.
In addition to its excellent performance and exemplary handling, the Evora offers a more refined ownership experience than Lotus’s existing smaller four-cylinder models. Evora’s contemporary cabin is elegantly trimmed and its equipment list includes such high-tech features as an advanced touch-screen multi-media system incorporating a state-of-the-art Alpine satellite navigation and audio system. Because one of the roles of the Evora is to attract new customers to the Lotus brand, much attention has been paid to its ease of use. Wider, taller door apertures and narrower sills make getting in and out of the cabin a less athletic undertaking than it is in Lotus’s smaller sports cars (the Elise, Exige and 2-Eleven), while the design of the cabin itself will accommodate two 99th percentile (6ft 5in tall) American males in the front seats.
The ‘convenience factor’ of the Evora extends to less obvious areas of the car. For instance, beneath the skin the entire front-end structure is a high tech aluminium sacrificial modular sub-frame unit, attached to the main extruded aluminium tub. This modular unit is designed to deform for maximum safety, and to reduce repair costs in the event of a frontal impact.
The Evora has been designed with global automotive regulations in mind, and in preparation for future variants that are planned including a convertible. The Evora will be hand-crafted and built on a dedicated new assembly line within Lotus’s advanced manufacturing facility at Hethel in the east of England. Capacity limitations will restrict production to approximately 2,000 cars a year, ensuring the dynamic new sports car’s rarity and exclusivity.
Mike Kimberley, CEO of Group Lotus plc, has this to say about the exciting new model: “The Evora is the biggest milestone Lotus has achieved since the Elise was born 13 years ago and is part of our bold five-year strategic plan, which includes the introduction of new cars and technologies to many more markets around the world. The Evora also represents Lotus core values of performance through light weight and efficiency and proves that you can have phenomenal performance, fuel-efficiency elegant design and practicality all in a class leading mid-engine 2+2 sports car, which will meet global safety and homologation standards.”
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