Dream Car:Lotus Evora is the first all-new Lotus for 12 years

Lotus 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 2000 cars a year, ensuring the dynamic new sports car?s rarity and exclusivity.


The Evora is powered by Toyota?s all-alloy 2GR-FE 3.5-litre V6 DOHC, with dual VVT-i (?intelligent? variable valve timing) making 252 lb-ft of torque and a six-speed gearbox, good for sub-5 second 0-60 runs. Of course, in the press conference, in proper British style, the only remarks on speed were, "We won't give you the speeds at the moment, because it wouldn't be appropriate, not with so many police around."


Designed ?in-house? by Lotus Design, the sleek and athletic form uses fluid forms and crisp surfaces to communicate velocity, agility and sophistication. Low and wide with modern cab forward proportions, muscular rear haunches and function optimised hip air intakes this is clearly a serious mid engined sportscar that skilfully hides the practicality of its two plus two capability.

Keeping things tight in the corners is a combination of Eibach springs and Bilstein dampers controlling the motions of a forged-aluminum double-wishbone suspension. Slowing down comes courtesy of a set of ABS-enhanced vented and cross-drilled rotors, 13.8" up front, 13" in the back. With 18" wheels up front and 19" at the back, those brakes will probably do a respectable job.

And yet, surprisingly, in that tiny package, there's room for two seats up front and seats/shelves in the back (allegedly ? we still haven't gotten a good look at them), a whopping 5.6 cubic feet of storage behind the engine (shaped to take golf clubs - natch) and many of the amenities we've come to expect in non-Lotus cars. Take, for instance, the Alpine multimedia system with 7-inch touch screen, sat-nav, DVD capability, and iPod connectivity. Heck, you can even do Bluetooth phone calls. And let's talk a minute about that gauge cluster. Awfully red isn't it? With red back-lighting on the buttons and red information screens, it makes quite a statement.

Lotus's Evora production line is now in place and busy building the 43 'verification prototypes' required before proper production can begin.It runs parallel with the firm's line for Elise,Exige and 2-Eleven, and includes all of the tooling and equipment necessary for making the new car. All they're waiting on, at the moment,is parts.

It will take about four days for a car to go from one end of the line - where its engine, chassis and three major aluminium extrusions are bolted together - to the other,where it's trimmed finished,poloshed and tested. Almost all operation are performed by hand;Hethel is one of a dwindling number of the world's factories where men and women still make cars,and it's heartening to see.