GUTTER CREDITSofficially unveiled on July 16, the Lotus
Evija is the only car in our quartet that does not
have its sights set on the 300 mph target. It’s
geared for a more daunting goal—to recharge a
once revered brand that has been stuck in idle
the last few years. And while all-electric hyper-
cars have recently been the industry’s debut du
jour as part of the new carbon-conscious gestalt,
Lotus intends for its version to be the most pow-
erful production car yet, delivering just shy of
2,000 hp.
The project—comprising 130 examples start-
ing at approximately $1.9 million each—was
made possible once the British marque fell under
control of Chinese automotive conglomerate
Geely in 2017. Funding soon came full-throttle,
and production is slated for next year.“What better way to showcase the signifi-
cant investment that Geely made in Lotus than
to build a sports car that would be on the lead-
ing edge of technology and move the company
into a segment it hadn’t been before,” says Phil
Popham, CEO of Lotus Cars. Popham and team
gave Robb Report exclusive insights prior to the
premiere. “We have a 70-year history of being
first to market with many technologies in engi-
neering, and the Evija is not only a statement
that we are back, but it will inform the design
language of Lotus sports cars moving forward.”
The aesthetic vernacular of the carbon-fiber
model builds off past successes while incorpo-
rating unconventional design cues. “We took
many class victories at Le Mans in the 1950s
and early ’60s due to our low-drag cars; aero-
dynamics has always been important to Lotus,”
says Russell Carr, head of design. “For this proj-
ect, we were driven to look at different ways to
manage airflow, and one of the key ideas was to
make the body ‘porous,’ which means that the
air not only goes over the surfaces of the car but
through it. This gave us a new sculptural oppor-
tunity—it looks like it was carved by a glacier.”
The battery-fueled power train turns out
nearly 1,254 ft lbs of torque and enables the
3,704-pound, four-wheel-drive coupe to crush
zero to 62 mph in under 3 seconds, reach 186
mph in less than 9 seconds and cruise roughly
250 miles per charge (plug-in time takes as little
as 18 minutes). Overengineered? Perhaps. But
then, Evija—Hebrew for “living one” or “first in
existence”—is carrying a lot of hope on its mono-
coque chassis, as it brings Lotus from potential
sunset into a promising new day.ROBBREPORT.COM 101
“The body [is]
‘porous,’ which
means that
the air not only
goes over the
surfaces of the car
but through it.”
officially unveiled on July 16, the Lotus
Evija is the only car in our quartet that does not
have its sights set on the 300 mph target. It’s
geared for a more daunting goal—to recharge a
once revered brand that has been stuck in idle
the last few years. And while all-electric hyper-
cars have recently been the industry’s debut du
jour as part of the new carbon-conscious gestalt,
Lotus intends for its version to be the most pow-
erful production car yet, delivering just shy of
2,000 hp.
The project—comprising 130 examples start-
ing at approximately $1.9 million each—was
made possible once the British marque fell under
control of Chinese automotive conglomerate
Geely in 2017. Funding soon came full-throttle,
and production is slated for next year.
“What better way to showcase the signifi-
cant investment that Geely made in Lotus than
to build a sports car that would be on the lead-
ing edge of technology and move the company
into a segment it hadn’t been before,” says Phil
Popham, CEO of Lotus Cars. Popham and team
gave Robb Report exclusive insights prior to the
premiere. “We have a 70-year history of being
first to market with many technologies in engi-
neering, and the Evija is not only a statement
that we are back, but it will inform the design
language of Lotus sports cars moving forward.”
The aesthetic vernacular of the carbon-fiber
model builds off past successes while incorpo-
rating unconventional design cues. “We took
many class victories at Le Mans in the 1950s
and early ’60s due to our low-drag cars; aero-
dynamics has always been important to Lotus,”
says Russell Carr, head of design. “For this proj-
ect, we were driven to look at different ways to
manage airflow, and one of the key ideas was to
make the body ‘porous,’ which means that the
air not only goes over the surfaces of the car but
throughit.Thisgaveusanewsculpturaloppor-
tunity—itlookslikeitwascarvedbyaglacier.”
Thebattery-fueled owe tnout
nearly1tbotudate
3,704-pound,oweedvcpeocrh
zeroto 62 mphinunder 3 condreach186
mphinlessthan 9 secondsandcruisegy
250 miles per charge (plug-in time takes as little
as 18 minutes). Overengineered? Perhaps. But
then, Evija—Hebrew for “living one” or “first in
existence”—is carrying a lot of hope on its mono-
coque chassis, as it brings Lotus from potential
sunset into a promising new day.ROBBREPORT.COM 101
“The body [is]
‘porous,’ which
means that
the air not only
goes over the
surfaces of the car
but through it.”