Lotus Evora GTE Launches, Australian Debut Under Consideration

LOTUS EVORA GTE

This is no run-of-the-mill special-edition Lotus. No, this is the most powerful road-going Lotus ever produced.

If the Evora S is what the Evora should have been from 'day dot', then the GTE is something else again. It looks tougher and it hits harder, but most importantly, it will help Lotus bridge the gap between today and the first of its all-new models in 2013.

As with the track version that led to the road car's development, power for the GTE is provided by a 3.5 litre supercharged V6 producing 330kW. That's a huge 124kW greater than the regular Evora, and even 72.5kW more than the already impressive Evora S.

Performance figures haven't been revealed, but it's a safe bet that if the Evora S knocks over the 0-100km/h run in 4.8 seconds, and with weight down to 1245kg, the GTE should be close to an even 4.0 second - maybe even better. 

Production numbers for the Evora GTE haven't been confirmed either. The original plan, Lotus boss Dany Bahar said, was to produce no more than 25 and sell them only in China. 

Within days, Lotus had received 114 orders in China, and dozens of complaints from would-be buyers in other markets.

"In response we decided that the only logical step from a business perspective was to increase production and widen our reach," Bahar said.

As for a local debut, Lotus Australia spokesperson Edward Rowe said that it could be sometime before we see the Evora GTE on our roads.

"There are a number of homologation issues that need to be resolved before a date is able to set for an Australian launch of these two exciting new models [Evora GTE and Exige S]," Mr Rowe said.

"We are working with Lotus to ensure that this work is done as quickly as possible.”