Lotus Evija

It certainly looks like a super car

Chinese automotive group Geely bought a controlling stake in 2017 of Lotus. Making money has been an issue with Lotus, selling premium sports cars in a tiny segment. How could the company fix that issue? An obvious route is bring out an SUV and that has been penned in for 2022. In the meantime it will be going upmarket with a super car, due out in 2020.

The name is Evija (E-vi-ya) and it's electric with a range up to 250 miles (of course the range is affected by how you drive it). Only 130 will be made, which is how such cars retain a stronger resale value with their exclusivity. The pricing is from £1.5 million to £2 million. It delivers 2,000 ps and 1,700 Nm of torque, enough to send it to 60 mph in under 3 seconds and have a top speed of over 200 miles per hour. Lotus says the car can be charged from zero to 80 percent in 12 minutes using a 350kW charger, a full charge taking only 18 minutes.

The first thing that came to my mind is the Evija is well above the rest of the Lotus range in price and quality. Does the marque have the cachet to make this leap to another level of sports car? I'm sure the quality is there but people do buy into what a brand represents. If it was, say a Mclaren, I wouldn't even be asking this question. In answer, I think Lotus does carry sufficient prestige to make this happen, although the market will ultimately decide.

Summary: Lotus should still make more modestly priced sports cars but it cannot make a business case in that segment alone. It has to branch out. With a super car and later an SUV, the foundation has been laid for a successful financial future. It now has the backing of the Geely Auto Group to make that happen.