This race-inspired hardcore version of the Lotus Evora was Lotus’s star attraction at the weekend’s Pebble Beach show in California.
The Lotus Evora GTE Road Car Concept takes its inspiration from the new Evora GTE racer, which competes in the new GT2-replacing GTE category in Le Mans Series racing.
See a pic of the new Lotus Evora GTE - now updated with Pebble Beach pics
The Road Car Concept remains a one-off at present and Lotus is remaining tight-lipped on its production chances. Officially, Lotus describes it as not “merely a paint scheme or homage to a race car – this is a serious race car that makes for a very serious road car”.
Lotus CEO Dany Bahar has said previously the current range of Lotuses would be fully improved and updated, and a flagship Evora would be a logical product launch to bridge the gap between the current range and Lotus’s new five-strong range of sports cars.
The concept is powered by a race-developed 420bhp version of the standard Evora’s 3.5-litre Toyota engine. The V6 unit is mated to a sequential AMT racing gearbox.
It sports a series of muscular styling upgrades over the standard Evora, including a body kit with a more aggressive front-end and a large fixed rear wing. Lightweight forged alloy wheels with centre lock hubs wrapped in Pirelli P-Zero Corsa tyres also feature.
Also displayed by Lotus is a Matte Black Final Edition of the Exige, a special limited to just 25 units and conceived to commemorate the end of 1.8-litre, four-cylinder-engined Exiges in North America.
The Exige’s Toyota-sourced engine is no longer widely available due to its failure to meet European emissions regulations.
Each Matte Black Final Edition gets a power hike over the standard Exige to 257bhp, black Alcantara sports seats, an increase in standard equipment and sports seats.
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