A look inside the new Lotus Evija production facility | GRR
Get ready to see the world’s most powerful series production road car explode into life in the summer. That’s the promise from Lotus this week as it puts the finishing touches to the new assembly hall in Hethel, Norfolk, where the 2,000PS (1973bhp) all-electric Evija hypercar will be built.
“With our new factory ready, we are ahead of the pack in the emerging EV hypercar segment and 100 per cent ready for some healthy competition,” said Lotus Cars CEO Phil Popham.
The new assembly hall is next to the Lotus test track where each of the 130 Evijas to be hand-assembled will be tested before delivery. Lotus says series production and first customer deliveries begin in the summer, with the first year’s production allocation of the circa £2m hypercar already assigned.
The Evija throws down the performance gauntlet to electric hypercars like the Rimac and Pininfarina Battista, as well as conventionally powered car like the McLaren Speedtail, Aston Martin Valkyrie and AMG One. Lotus says the Evija employs its two thousand metric horsepower to get to 62mph in under 3.0 seconds and (more significant) goes from 0-186mph in under 9.0 seconds. The top speed is past 200mph.
You can get a taste of the performance from the latest video showing a prototype leaving the new hall and taking to the track.
The Evija is the first new Lotus since the Evora 12 years ago and the first Lotus to be developed under the stewardship of majority shareholder Geely, which also owns Volvo. Creating the first electric Lotus has involved 20 contractors including electric powertrain specialists Williams Advanced Engineering.