Lotus’s Electric Dream Comes True: 1st Batch Of Hotly Anticipated Evija Hypercars To Be Delivered Later This Year

A general view of the atmosphere at the launch of Lotus London, the first flagship in Europe for Lotus cars, on July 27, 2023, in London, England. Lotus said in August 2021 that it will launch four new pure electric models over the next five years - the first of which was the Eletre SUV. DAVE BENETT/GETT IMAGES FOR LOTUS.

The much anticipated first fully electric hypercar from the British automaker Lotus Cars will roll off the production line and into the hands of its waiting customers soon.

“The first customer deliveries of the Lotus Evija, pronounced “E-vi-ya”, will start later this year,” said a company spokesperson to Zenger News. The deliveries will come over four years after the car was first unveiled in 2019. 

The Evija was the first wholly new car launched by Lotus after it joined hands with Chinese automaker Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd (OTC:GELYF) in 2017. Though it was expected to enter production a year later at Hethel, it faced several delays. 

A general view of the atmosphere at the launch of Lotus London, the first flagship in Europe for Lotus cars, on July 27, 2023, in London, England. Lotus said in August 2021 that it will launch four new pure electric models over the next five years – the first of which was the Eletre SUV. DAVE BENETT/GETT IMAGES FOR LOTUS.

“The Evija is the start of a new design language for Lotus, which will evolve and reappear on future cars,” said the Lotus Cars page in a Tweet in 2019.

Priced at about 1.5 million euros then (roughly $1.63 million today), the Evija is one of the most expensive EVs in the world according to Topspeed. It boasts the most potent car to enter series production with 2,039 PS of power and a torque of 1,704 nm. 

The brand expects to make not more than 130 examples of the two-seater car, the development updates on which have thinned since 2021. 

However, in October 2022, Lotus announced a special Evija Emerson Fittipaldi edition to honor the Brazilian F1 driver who drove a Lotus 72 to win several titles including the Drivers’ Championship for himself and the Constructors’ Championship for Team Lotus. The company then said that just eight examples of the edition would be built and all are sold already. 

“The legendary Fittipaldi was at Hethel last weekend to unveil the sold-out, limited-edition Lotus Evija Fittipaldi.,” said the Lotus Cars page in a Tweet in October 2022.
 

A general view of the atmosphere at the launch of Lotus London, the first flagship in Europe for Lotus cars, on July 27, 2023, in London, England. Lotus said in August 2021 that it will launch four new pure electric models over the next five years – the first of which was the Eletre SUV. DAVE BENETT/GETT IMAGES FOR LOTUS.

Lotus has a long history of cars built on remarkable performance. The original Tesla Roadster was based on the Lotus Elise. Once delivered, the Evija will be up against the new and upcoming Tesla Roadster and the Rimac Nevera. 

Lotus said in August 2021 that it will launch four new pure electric models over the next five years-the first of which was the Eletre SUV. The spokesperson confirmed that the announcement for the second one of the four promised vehicles- a Lotus E-segment four-door sports GT- will be later this year.

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Edited by Judy J. Rotich and Newsdesk Manager