LOTUS PRICES THE EVORA FOR AMERICA AT $73,500

Lotus Cars USA has finally released the necessary information relative to its new Evora. For those of you who've been attempting to do calculations based on the Evora's £ or € pricing, that chore is now over. Lotus wants you to fork over $73,500 for a base Evora in America. The price could quickly rise with options; a statement which is terribly true for the Evora's main competitor, the Porsche 911. Moreover, had the Lotus Evora been priced lower than $71,230 (2.5x the average purchase price of cars in the USA this year) then it would have been eligible for The Good 12 v3.0. Alas.

Up to this point, the Evora doesn't seem to be quite as quick as Lotus believes. It's nowhere near as powerful as its competition or basically any other $70,000+ automobile. Barely surpassing the German gentlemen's agreement in top speed, the Evora certainly isn't about to set a fire in your belly with its straight line ability.

Read all Lotus-related stories here

However, everybody who's been given an opportunity to drive an Evora has enjoyed the experience to the fullest. The greatest car magazine in the world, England's evo, just named the Evora as Car Of The Year. So before you look at the very unflattering Numbers below, realize this important fact: the Lotus Evora is far more than the sum of its parts. Nice styling, a Toyota V6, relatively luxurious, rather light in weight - and yet, when all is accumulated, the styling and the engine and the luxury and the architecture combine to create a nearly perfect car.

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73,500 - price, in USD, of the 2010 Lotus Evora

276 - total horsepower generated by the Evora's 3.5L V6

258 - maximum torque, measured in pound-feet, available at 4,700rpm in the Evora

2,976 - weight of the Evora, in pounds

1:28.4 - laptime of the Evora around Bedford Autodrome's West Circuit in evo's hands

57,850 - price, in USD, of the 2010 BMW M3

414 - total horsepower generated by the M3's 4.0L V8

295 - maximum torque, measured in pound-feet, available at 3,900rpm in the M3

3,704 - weight of the M3, in pounds

1:25.9 - laptime of the M3 around Bedford Autodrome's West Circuit in evo's hands

78,800 - price, in USD, of the 2010 Porsche 911 Carrera

345 - total horsepower generated by the 911's 3.6L flat-six

288 - maximum torque, measured in pound-feet, produced by the 911's 3.6L

3,075 - weight of the 911, in pounds

1:24.1 - evo laptime of the Porsche 911 in Turbo form on the Bedford Autodrome's West Circuit

61,500 - price, in USD, of the 2010 Porsche Cayman S

320 - total horsepower generated by the Cayman's 3.4L flat-six

273 - maximum torque, measured in pound-feet, produced by the Cayman's 3.4L

2,976 - weight of the Cayman S, in pounds

1:28.1 - evo laptime of the Porsche Boxster S, Cayman's twin, on Bedford Autodrome's West Circuit

80,790 - price, in USD, of the 2010 Nissan GT-R

485 - total horsepower generated by the Nissan's twin-turbo 3.8L V6

434 - maxmium torque, measured in pound-feet, available from 3,200rpm in the GT-R

3,814 - weight of the GT-R, in pounds

1:23.6 - laptime of the GT-R around Bedford Autodrome's West Circuit in evo's hands

LOTUS DESIGNS THE FUTURE OF URBAN TRANSPORT CIRCA 2014

Four seats. Zero gallons of gasoline. 15 miles of range when fully amped. Characterful and cute without being overtly weird.

What vehicle are we discussing? A publication known as Automotive Engineer asked Lotus what the city car of 2014 would look like. Actually, AE wasn't just interested in the appearance but in the vehicle as a whole. Thus, the 15 mile range; approximately twice the length of 51% of personal car journeys in the UK. Electric power is an obvious must when discussing the future of urban transport - it has been the obvious future theory for decades. Lotus's design boss doesn't want prospective buyers to look at their '14 Future Car and think, "Wow", unless the second glance is just as appreciative.

Don't think for a second that Lotus could draw or design or say whatever they wanted in reference to this car without being accountable. Contract development is a huge part of Hethel's business. One could easily imagine seeing this car pop up on an auto show stand in 2010 or 2011 as a Renault or Hyundai or Chrysler..... or Tesla.

If at that time one of those firms discovered that Lotus hadn't done its homework, the sports car-maker's reputation would be sullied. This is an accurate vision of what Lotus believes to be the future of urban transport for 2014. Will it be produced? There's plenty of reason to doubt that. Could it be produced? Absolutely.

WHAT IS THE DODGE ELECTRIC VEHICLE?

Lotus is as much an engineering firm as they are a mass manufacturer of automobiles. The Elise, Exige, and Europa all stem from the same aluminum tub; not one of them contends for sales crowns in any nation.

So when Chrysler LLC comes to Lotus for engineering work, of course Lotus agrees to take on the project. You may be very familiar with some of Lotus' work while much of it goes un-praised. For instance, as was made clear in pictures earlier this month, the Tesla Roadster is oh-so-very-much a Lotus Elise made to work with electric-power only. The weight of extra batteries forced changes that Lotus is adept at making.

Read about the Chrysler EV and Jeep EV here

As Chrysler rolls out a trio of EVs, the Dodge version is oh-so-very-much a Lotus Europa made to work with lithium-ion battery technology that should offer a range up tp 200 miles. Along with range comes extreme speed - the Dodge EV can hit 60mph in less than five seconds and travel upwards of 120mph. Thank 480 lb-ft of torque for impressive off-the-line quickness. 

Around the time Tesla's Roadster becomes a more frequent sight in wealthy communities in SoCal, Chrysler LLC wants to have 100 of these EVs in the hands of government, business, and Chrysler fleets. That's before 2010; before the Chevrolet Volt rolls in to mass production of 10,000 units in its first year.

Tesla is asking over $100,000 USD for their Roadster. Were Dodge to build an EV just like this one, it'd be expected to cost significantly less even if Chrysler had to lose money in the process.