The first all-new Lotus since the iconic Elise made its debut in 1995, The Evora enters the sports car market as currently the world’s only mid-engined 2+2.

Powered by a Lotus-tuned 3.5-litre V6 engine producing 205kW, and weighing 1350kg (prototype specification), the Evora is intended as a performance car. During preliminary testing around the famous Nürburgring, the Lotus chassis engineers claimed it was "extremely agile" and "great fun to drive" — even when clad with the full development disguise that hid the bodywork from the prying motor-industry paparazzi.

Because one of the roles of the Evora is to attract new customers to the Lotus brand, attention has been paid to 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 — while the cabin itself will accommodate two 6ft 5in tall American males in the front seats.

The ‘convenience factor’ 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 unit, attached to the main extruded aluminium tub. This modular unit is designed to deform for 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 future derivatives are planned, these including amongst others, a convertible.

The Evora will be hand-crafted and built on a dedicated new assembly line within Lotus’ manufacturing facility at Hethel in the east of England; capacity limitations will restrict production to approximately 2000 cars a year.

“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," reckons Mike Kimberley, CEO of Group Lotus.

"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 sportscar, which will meet global safety and homologation standards.”

Due to arrive in Lotus showrooms from early 2009, the order book is now open in the UK and across continental Europe, with markets around the world to start taking orders in due course.

Mike Kimberley concludes: “This year Lotus celebrates its 60th anniversary and it is fitting that 2008 is also the birth of the Lotus Evora, a fantastic addition to the Lotus range. The Lotus Evora represents Group Lotus, a company that is at the forefront of the automotive industry, in a changing world where priorities of efficiency, economy and environmental impact go hand in hand with performance, design and individuality. I think Colin Chapman would have approved.”