Finally dropping the development name, Project Eagle, Lotus today revealed its first all new car in over 13 years, the Evora. Proclaimed as the first mid-engined 2+2 in production, the Evora potentially gives Lotus access to a much wider range of clientele. As a result, Lotus has packed the Evora with amenities and creature comforts such as leather seats, on-board tyre pressure monitoring, air-conditioning, airbags, Alpine multi-media system, satellite navigation, video, Bluetooth hands-free telephone and iPod connectivity functions, reversing camera and more. All of this points to the Evora being more of a ‘lifestyle’ vehicle instead of the race-inspired purist car we have learned to known and love. However, Lotus promises once you’re seated behind its flat-bottomed steering wheel, it feels every bit as exotic and sporting as you would expect a Lotus to be. Despite all of the extra stuff, Lotus has compensated with a light weight inner body structure which weighs just 200 kg (prototype weight), helping to keep the weight of the whole car to just 1350 kg. Add in Toyota’s all-alloy 2GR-FE 3.5-litre V6 producing 280 PS, Bilstein/Eibach suspension, Lotus AP Racing 4 piston calipers with vented and cross-drilled brake discs and this finely appointed everyday pamper mobile turns into a track scorcher capable of sub 5 second 0-60 mph sprints while achieving sub-225 g/km and fuel consumption in the region of 30+ mpg. See press release below for full details.
