Company HQ: Hethel, Norfolk, UK
Core activity: High performance sports cars and high technology engineering consultancy
Employees worldwide: 1,700
Active markets: 41

Group Lotus plc, is based in Norfolk, UK, and has three operating divisions: Lotus Cars, Lotus Engineering and Lotus Racing.

Lotus Cars builds world class, high performance sports cars including the award-winning Evora, the iconic Elise, the stunning Exige and the road / track orientated 2-Eleven. Lotus New Era, the future product line-up, was unveiled in Paris on 30th September 2010 featuring the new Esprit, Elan, Elite, Elise and Eterne.

Lotus Engineering provides comprehensive and versatile consultancy services to many of the world’s OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers and is an internationally recognised automotive engineering consultancy. Global facilities include those in the US, Malaysia, China and offices in Germany and Japan, with rapid expansion in new territories such as South East Asia. Lotus is a global high-tech company, expanding rapidly and committed to driving forward technology for both Lotus Cars and its Engineering clients, spearheading research into such areas as hybrids, electric vehicles and renewable fuels.

Lotus Racing operates the motorsports activities of Lotus and includes the strategy to return the Lotus name to a great number of series including endurance racing with GTE, GT4 and single-seater racing with GP2, GP3 and IndyCar. In 2012 the Formula One Team will be rebranded from Lotus Renault GP to Lotus F1 Team as part of Lotus’ on-going commitment to the sport and increased focus leveraging popularity of F1 to raise the profile of the brand globally.

www.lotuscars.com

The Evora GTE road car: The most powerful production Lotus road car ever built. Simple.

Group Lotus Chief Executive Officer Dany Bahar takes time out to explain exactly what the Evora GTE road car is all about.

So Dany, what’s the story behind this car?

It’s an interesting one actually, originally we designed the Evora GTE road car to celebrate our successful return to Le Mans this year – the end goal was to create the ultimate road car racer. Initially we introduced this to the Asian market with our partners in China as a ‘taste of Lotus’ however the response was so great that we received 114 orders from China alone. This justified us looking in to speeding up the process of bringing this car to other territories. We showed a concept at Pebble Beach and then the production intent car at the Motor Show in Frankfurt. As well as preparing the cars for delivery to China we’re currently working on homologating this car to meet European and US regulations – Lotus fans in these territories are really keen to get their hands on this car.

How is the Evora GTE road car different to the standard base Evora?

First I’ll give you the stats - that’s what most people are interested in when they see this car. It produces over 444 PS from a re-tuned 3.5l V6 Lotus Evora engine, making it without doubt the most powerful Lotus road car ever built. But despite its extreme roots, the Evora GTE road car also delivers a comfortable and refined driving environment to complement its high performance driving characteristics.

Like all our cars its hand built using Lotus lightweight principals but with the GTE road car we’ve extensively integrated carbon fibre throughout the exterior and interior of the car – this is the main contributing factor in the 105kg weight reduction versus the base Evora. This gives the GTE road car a more attractive power to weight ration.

It has all the attributes you’d expect of an endurance racer including a sequential AMT (Automated Manual Transmission) racing gearbox and lightweight and forged alloy rims with centre lock hubs shod with Pirelli P-Zero Corsa tyres.

The GTE road car also looks different, what are the main aesthetic changes?

The main thing most people notice immediately is that carbon fibre has been used for all the bodywork modifications including the front and rear bumpers, the rear wing and the doors. But like many things it’s what’s on the inside that counts and the interior of the GTE road car has benefited from a serious race-themed makeover. Leather and carbon fibre dominate the cabin and lightweight Recaro carbon fibre seats give the driver and passenger a sense of security and comfort that mean that any driver of the Evora GTE can really go the distance as they take to the wheel of this extraordinary car.

What kind of person buys a car like this?

That’s a good question, so far the response has been incredible and we almost have too many orders – mostly from new customers, people who haven’t owned a Lotus before but are looking for something different, something out of the ordinary. What’s unique about this car, is not just that it’s a serious race car – it’s a serious car. People get so excited when they see and especially hear it for the first time. It’s a very special car and will appeal to a very special type of driver – and they won’t be disappointed. Ask team owner Gerard Lopez, he certainly enjoyed his track time in mine.