Lotus goes up against BMW by building the world’s fastest electric hypercar
The iconic British sports car builder, Lotus, under its new Geely ownership, is making a determined comeback since its heyday in the sixties and seventies when models like the Elan featured in Bond films.
This week Lotus announced its all-powerful all-electric Evija which is set to become the world’s fastest production road car despite its electric credentials.
Reminiscent of the BMW i8 except that it does not carry a 1.5 litre 3-cylinder petrol piggyback engine, the Evija has been designed and engineered in the United Kingdom and will be produced at Hethel, UK, the home of Lotus since 1966.
Describing it as a hypercar, Lotus said the Evija is a technical tour de force, illustrative of the thinking and ingenuity which is part of the Lotus DNA.
With a target output of 2000 PS, it is the world’s most powerful production road car. A maximum of 130 will be built.
A select group of around 350 VIP guests attended the Evija launch in London recently.
Chief Executive Phil Popham, and Russell Carr, Design Director, presented the striking two-seater EV hypercar to the audience. Popham described it as a bold statement of intent showing the company’s ambition under the stewardship of Geely.
“Evija will re-establish Lotus as a leader in terms of engineering and design. It is a hypercar that is built ‘For The Driver’,” said Popham.
Carr commented: “The Evija is beyond anything Lotus has ever done… beyond anything I’ve ever done. We have created something beautiful, something new, dramatic and unique.”
The Evija is the most powerful and dynamically accomplished road car in the history of Lotus and sets a new standard for driving performance. It is the first all-electric British hypercar and the first Lotus with an electrified powertrain.
The car’s full technical detail can be viewed on the Lotus website at https://media.lotuscars.com
