► New 2015 Lotus Evora 400 enters production
► Starts from £72,000, a substantial increase
► UK deliveries start in August 2015
Lotus has started building the new Evora 400 at its Hethel, its most ambitious model yet. The heavily revised 2015 Evora will start from £72,000 in the UK, confirming a move upmarket for the flagship Lotus model.
It’s a sizeable jump compared with the outgoing Evora, which until recently started from around £55,000, and the supercharged Evora S from £62,000.
Lotus pricing strategy: the background
The price hike shouldn’t come as a surprise. When CAR’s editor Phil McNamara interviewed Lotus chief exec Jean-Marc Gales in autumn 2014, the new boss explained that future Lotus road cars would see ever-greater reserves of power and handling prowess, and would undergo a commensurate increase in price as a result.
‘I’m going to take the price point up, absolutely,’ Gales told CAR. ‘Because there’s one rule in our business: with more power comes more price. We will increase the price of the new Evora and derivatives of Exige that we will launch because they will have outstanding performance. The price point will automatically move up.’
Expect the Evora 400 to remain the high watermark for now, however. ‘In terms of the most expensive Lotus, it’s going to remain the Evora for some time,’ Gales said.
‘If you want to turn around the company, your cost base needs to go down and your revenues need to go up. And that’s exactly what we’re currently doing.’
The complete interview with Jean-Marc Gales is in the January 2015 issue of CAR magazine. You can read further information from the interview here.
2015 Lotus Evora 400: a recap
The new Evora 400 replaces all other Evora models – both supercharged and non-supercharged. It’s the fastest and most powerful Lotus production model yet, with 400bhp and 302lb ft from its 3.5-litre supercharged V6. That 55bhp jump in power over the old Evora S comes partly from a new supercharger and the addition of an intercooler, along with a new ECU.
Narrower and lower sills make it a little easier to limbo into than before while losing nothing in the way of torsional rigidity, and once inside you’ll find better air con and less fiddly switchgear. And on the outside, a thorough restyle makes it look a whole lot more aggressive than before.
The Evora 400 is a full six seconds quicker around the Lotus test track at Hethel than the Evora S it replaces. The extra pace comes partly from bigger, more powerful brakes but also from a ruthless weight-saving programme that has seen 22kg trimmed from the old car’s kerb weight despite the addition of the new intercooler and larger brakes and oil coolers. Top speed is 186mph, with 0-62mph done and dusted in 4.2 seconds.
Lotus Evora 400 equipment and on-sale dates
All Eovra 400s comes with sat-nav and automatic air conditioning. Options include cruise control (£300), lightweight forged wheels (£2,000) and an alcantara or leather trim upgrade ( £2,500).
Should you want an Evora with an automatic gearbox, you’ll pay £2000 more than manual models.
Deliveries in the UK start from August 2015. The Evora 400 will also be sold in Germany (priced at €96,000), the USA ($89,900 before local taxes), Japan (13,200,000 yen) and China (1,318,000 RMB). Lotus has targeted sales of 3000 cars (across all its model lines) in the 2015-16 financial year.
A convertible version of the Evora is forecast in the near future along with, believe it or not, a raised crossover version. Gales told us a lightweight, track-focused derivative will also join the range. Read the full story on the 2015 Lotus Evora 400 here.