First Lotus Evora 400 drives off the assembly line at Hethel
- Hand Made at the Lotus HQ in Hethel, England
- First customers to receive their cars in August 2015
01 July 2015 – In a small celebration with a selection of senior management, manufacturing and engineering staff, the first new Lotus Evora 400 has driven off the assembly line at Hethel.
Jean-Marc Gales, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lotus plc, says, “Today is a very significant stage in our long term plan, which we set-out more than a year ago. With the first Evora 400 coming off the line, we have achieved a key milestone for Lotus.”
Jean-Marc Gales continues, “None of this would be possible, of course, without the confidence and commitment of our workforce who, with great skill and talent, hand build every Lotus car at Hethel.”
The new Lotus Evora 400 laps the Lotus test track at Hethel six seconds faster than the previous Evora S in a time of 1 minute 32 seconds. Combining high performance with the legendary Lotus benchmark handling, it is faster and dynamically more capable than the previous Lotus Evora leading to greater agility and a more involving drive.
Maximum speed is 186 mph (300 km/h) and acceleration 0-60 mph is just 4.1 seconds (0-100 km/h in 4.2 seconds). Over two thirds of the Lotus Evora 400 is new, including its supercharged and charge-cooled mid-mounted 3.5-litre V6 engine producing 400 horsepower and 410 Nm of torque. A new aluminium chassis incorporates a new interior and the lightweight composite body has changed significantly both front and rear.
The new Evora 400, which was revealed at the Geneva Motor Show in March, will enter production for European markets in the summer and deliveries will commence in August this year. China and North American markets will receive the Evora 400 as a 2017 model year in early 2016.
The first Lotus Evora 400, finished in metallic black is destined to be a promotion car for Lotus.
Lotus Evora 400 International pricing including local taxes where applicable:
- UK (Pound Sterling) – £72,000
- Germany (Euros) – €96,000
- Japan (Yen) – ¥13,200,000
- USA (Dollars) – $89,900 (excluding local sales taxes)
- China (RMB) – 1,318,000
Official fuel consumption figures and CO2 emissions figures are not available at the time of going to press. They will be provided on the Lotus website www.lotuscars.com as soon as they are available.
About Lotus
Group Lotus plc, wholly-owned subsidiary of DRB-HICOM, is based in Norfolk, UK, and has three operating divisions: Lotus Cars, Lotus Engineering and Lotus Motorsport. Lotus Cars builds world class, high performance sports cars including the award-winning Evora, the iconic Elise and the stunning Exige.
Lotus Engineering provides comprehensive and versatile consultancy services to many of the world’s OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers and is an internationally recognised automotive engineering consultancy. Lotus Motorsport builds and develops vehicles for GT racing with the Evora GX, GTC, GT4, and GTS, in addition to racing vehicles such as the Exige V6 Cup, Exige Cup R and Elise Cup cars.
SOURCE: Group Lotus PLC
