Lotus Evora convertible

The Evora is looking to put the wind up its rivals! Lotus has confirmed that the fixed roof version – already in production and scheduled to go on sale on May 2 – will be joined by a convertible in 2011.

Similar to its less-luxurious mid-engined sibling the Elise, the Evora convertible is likely to feature a removable fabric panel that can be left at home when the weather allows. This does away with the need for expensive and a heavy electric folding mechanism, meaning it should be every bit as sharp to drive as the hard-top. The extruded and bonded Aluminium chassis will be stiffened too, to compensate for the absence of a roof and keep body flex to a minimum.

Behind the occupant’s heads is the same Toyota-derived 3.5-litre V6, tuned to produce 276bhp. Performance will be scintillating with the 0-62mph sprint dispatched in around five seconds and a top speed of 160mph.

But if that’s not enough to get your pulse racing don’t worry – rumours suggest that as well as the convertible variant, a more powerful supercharged version is under development too. And with close to 400bhp it should be able to keep pace with exotic offerings from Ferrari and Porsche.

Lotus has also fleshed out some of the pricing the imminent hard-top version. Prices will start from £47,500 which will buy you a 2+0 car without any rear seats fitted, and the two extra chairs and the price jumps to £49,875. To celebrate the car's launch, the first 200 cars in the UK will cost £58,460 but come with every conceivable extra.