Live: Lotus Evora GTE

August 2011

Could this become the ultimate road-going Evora? Lotus has revealed a hot Evora-based concept car, at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

Called the Lotus Evora GTE Road Car Concept, it's based on the Evora GTE racecar, which recently competed in the Le Man 24 hours. It uses a tuned version of the mid-mounted 3.5-litre Toyota V6, producing 420bhp and although there are no exact performance figures, expect it to be significantly quicker than the Evora S - capable of hitting 172mph flat-out.

Power is fed through a race-spec sequential gearbox and transferred to the road via lightweight forged alloys and Pirelli P-Zero Corsa tyres - all signs that this is a far more extreme machine than any existing Evora.

The styling has been dramatically altered with a deep front splitter, stripes on the bonnet and roof and fixed spoiler stuck to the boot lid.

There's no word on whether the GTE Road Car Concept will make production, but a short and  production run seems likely, based on the success of rival models - like the Porsche GT3 RS.

Also on show in Pebble Beach was a special edition of the Exige. Limited to 25 examples and created exclusively for the North American market, the Exige Matte Black Final Edition gets a power upgrade to 257 bhp, a Matte Black paint finish and black Alacantara sport seats.