Lotus Evora: Hot Ticket For 2009
Motoring Channel Staff - 2/December/2008
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Lotus Evora
The lavish interior of the Lotus Evora has been key to
attracting new drivers, as has its 'green' credentials
Lotus's Evora is attracting more celebrities than
the Lamborghini Gallardo, which is saying a lot
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Melbourne, Australia — The new Lotus Evora has been confirmed as one of the drawcard exhibits at the 2009 Melbourne Motor Show. The Brisbane and Adelaide Motor Shows have been cancelled for 2009 but despite the short-term contraction of car maker's marketing budgets,
Melbourne appears to be on track for a solid showing in the first
quarter 2009. The Lotus Evora is the bespoke sports car company's
new 2+2 model that is larger than the Elise and is powered by a
3.5-litre Toyota derived motor that outputs 206 kilowatts of power. Jonathan Stretton of Lotus Cars Australia says "We are delighted to confirm that the Lotus Evora will make its
Australian – and southern hemisphere – debut at the Melbourne Motor
Show in February 2009, where we believe it will be the star of the show." Lotus makes use of a 6-speed Toyota-sourced gearbox for the
1350kg Evora, which is claimed to be sporty and economical with CO2 emissions of less than 225g/km and
fuel consumption of around 7.8L/100km (30+ MPG). It will accelerate from zero to 100km/h as quickly as Aston Martin's V8 Vantage but will cost half as much. The vehicle's performance figures are as follows:  Power: 206kW @ 6400rpm
Torque: 342Nm @ 4700rpm
0-100km/h: 5.0 seconds
Top speed: 257km/h
One
of the main aspects of the car that is getting people (and especially
celebrities) interested in the new Lotus Evora is the interior, which
will be roomier and more prestigious than previous Lotus models and
will be loaded with cutting edge in-car technologies. Lotus
Cars Australia says it already has a "significant number of expressions of
interest" for the Evora and that final specifications and Australian
pricing will be announced at the Melbourne International Motor
Show. "It
is a very important car for Lotus in Australia and is also the biggest
milestone for Lotus globally since the Elise was born 13 years ago," continued Jonathan Stretton. "The
fact we are one of the first international markets to have the Lotus
Evora on display shows the commitment that Lotus pays to the Australian
market," says Stretton. The order books for international buyers opened a couple of weeks ago and already
scores of celebrities are putting down deposits to buy one, suggesting this
will be one of Lotus's most popular cars ever made. American TV
personality Jay Leno, musician Jay Kay and supermodel and
car enthusiast Jodie Kidd have all ordered one, as have Boris Johnson (the outlandish Mayor of London) and pop stars
Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, JLo and even the Foo Fighters front man Dave Grőhl. Hollywood
stars like George Clooney, Kevin Spacey and Patrick Dempsey have
put money down on the exotic British sports car as have 007
agents Daniel Craig and Pierce Brosnan. Most telling is that two out of the three Top Gear UK presenters have put their orders in
with Richard Hammond and James May both on the official list. In
other Top Gear news, SBS in Australia has finally put the UK version
of Top Gear back on air. The Australian version wasn't the smash hit
SBS was hoping for and has been labelled by many industry commentators
as hurting the Top Gear brand. Related Links:
- Lotus Exige S (Road Test)
- Lotus Evora (2009)
- Lotus Project Eagle (2009)
- Lotus Elise SC (2008)
- Lotus Europa SE (2008)
- Lotus Exige Sport 240 (2007)
- Lotus
Europa S (2006)
- Type 72 Lotus
Elise (2002)
- Lotus
Elise (2001)
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