And the name is… EVORA

Lotus has revealed the name of its new two-plus-two sports coupe which featured on the cover of last week’s Auto Trader magazine.

The car, the first all-new Lotus since the Elise debuted in 1995, is called the Evora. A teaser photograph of the car was released under the mid-engined coupe’s project name, Eagle.

Powered by a Lotus-tuned 3.5-litre V6 engine producing 280 horsepower, and weighing around 1350kg, the Evora promises supercar performance.

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’ smaller sports cars (the Elise, Exige, Europa and 2-Eleven). The front seats will accommodate two 6ft 5in occupants.

The car’s entire front-end structure is a high-tech aluminium “sacrificial” modular unit, attached to the main extruded aluminium tub.

It’s designed to deform for maximum safety, and to reduce repair costs in a frontal impact.

The Evora will be hand crafted and built on a dedicated new assembly line within Lotus’ Hethel factory in the east of England.Capacity limitations will restrict production to about 2000 a year.    

“The Evora is the biggest milestone Lotus has achieved since the Elise was born 13 years ago,” says Lotus boss, Mike Kimberley. “[It] 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 two-plus-two sports car, which will meet global safety and homologation standards.

“We will continue to research, develop and produce lighter, more efficient vehicles which are linked to our extensive and well-regarded work on all aspects of future fuels, alternative engines and electric and hybrid vehicle solutions for the future.

“We all have an environmental responsibility to future generations, and the Evora is another example where Lotus is seen to make significant steps towards improving the efficiency and sustainability of the motor car.”