2009 Melbourne Motor Show – The Supercars – Lotus

There was an air of excitement surrounding the Lotus stand as the minutes counted down to the launch of the new Evora, the first truly all-new car from Lotus in over a decade.

As the smoke and lights display was deployed to full effect and the silk sheet was slipped back, revealed was the only Lotus Evora in existence, its Arctic Silver body shining under the spotlights. This is one beautiful car.

The Evora is the first model in the Lotus line-up to not use the Lotus tuned Toyota 1.8 litre DOHC four as found in the Elise and Exige models, but instead uses a 3.5 litre all-alloy V6. With variable valve timing on both the intake and exhaust cams, the engine produces 206 kW (276 hp) at 6,400 rpm. With this kind of power and a kerb weight of just 1350 kg the Evora reaches 100 km/h in five seconds flat.

The real surprise in seeing the Evora 'in the metal' for the first time is in its classy style, the beautiful curve of its haunches, and the gleaming finish and build-quality (it is a real step up from Lotus’s current line-up). If the production model can match the Evora on show, it will really heat things up in the premium sports segment.

There has been a lot of news about the Evora filtering in over the past couple of months, but the golden piece of information from today’s launch was that the Australian pricing was announced.

The two-seater models will come in at $162,990 and the 2+2 variant slightly more at $169,990, this puts the new Evora in at the top slot as Lotus’s most expensive.

The Lotus stand was a much larger offering this year compared to previous Australian Motor Shows with five cars representing the entire model lineup on display:

Elise Supercharged - 163 kW (218 hp)

Elise S 100kW (134 hp) – At just $69,990 it's still Lotus’s best seller in the Australian market.

Europa SE 165 kW (222 hp) – Looked stunning in Ice White, features a uprated engine with 18 kW (25 hp) more power than the base Europa S.

Exige S 162kW (218 hp) – In Arctic Silver with the Exige Performance Pack, giving up rated brakes, Variable Slip Traction Control and improved power to 179 kW (240 hp).