Lotus Evija: 2000bhp hypercar stars at Concours of Elegance

The new Lotus Evija has been shown   at London\'s Concours of Elegance, as the company gears up to begin customer deliveries in 2021.

The hypercar\'s second public appearance - following a debut at last week\'s London Concours - comes following the company\'s announcement that deliveries have been pushed back five months as a result of the pandemic. As exclusively reported by Autocar, lockdowns, travel restrictions and quarantine rules hampered the firm\'s ability to continue the model\'s testing programme, which will   recommence as restrictions ease.

More recently, Lotus ended its technical development partnership with Williams Advanced Engineering, which had seen the two forms collaborate on the Evija, citing "delivery problems". Hethel added that "the end result will be a better product" as a result.  

Claimed to be the most powerful production car in the world, the 1973bhp electric hypercar   is sold out for its initial 2020 production run.  

A video   of   the newly   designed configurator show how the ordering experience begins for buyers. Autocar had a chance to play with the high-tech configurator, and meet the team behind it, earlier this year.

The Evija   is being built in at a refurbished facility at Lotus\'s   headquarters   in Hethel, Norfolk, called Factory 3. Work on the facility, which is a former Lotus Engineering building that was once home to the Vauxhall Lotus Carlton,   is now near completion.   Each of the 130 Evijas will be hand-built there.  

Lotus has told Autocar that all of the Evijas due to be built this year have already been sold, although it hasn\'t given an exact figure.

“With our new factory ready, we are ahead of the pack in the emerging EV hypercar segment and 100% ready for some healthy competition," said Lotus boss Phil Popham, an indirect reference to the likes of the Pininfarina Battista that have so far remained quiet on sales.

Dynamic testing of the car got underway earlier this year at Lotus\'s   Hethel test track, which sits adjacent to the Evija production facility.  

Gavan Kershaw, director of vehicle attributes at Lotus, said: “Physical prototype testing at speed is a landmark moment for the Evija and hugely exciting for everyone involved. Our aim is to make sure it’s a true Lotus in every sense, with exceptional performance that’s going to set new standards in the hypercar sector.”  

While most track testing will be done at Hethel, Lotus claims it will use other demanding European circuits, too. "Over the coming months several prototypes will cover many thousands of miles and hundreds of hours of driving assessment, including on public roads" the maker said in a release.  

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