Ateco cuts up to $46K from Lotus Evora

LOTUS importer for Australia and New Zealand Ateco Automotive has completed its repositioning of the Malaysian-owned British sportscar brand with an expanded Evora coupe range offering increased value equivalent to a claimed saving of up to $46,000.

A six-speed automatic transmission is now offered on the naturally-aspirated Evora – which has a mid-mounted, Toyota-sourced 3.5-litre V6 sending 206kW to the rear wheels – and the range is now topped by the supercharged 257.5kW Evora S.

The Evora range now opens at $20,000 less, with the entry-level 2+0 coupe being dropped in favour of the more practical 2+2, which costs $119,990 plus on-road costs when fitted with a six-speed manual transmission.

The 2+2 – claimed to be the world’s only production mid-engined four-seater – was previously priced at $146,990, representing a dollar-for-dollar reduction of $27,000.

What’s more, Ateco says it has added a further $18,000 of value across the Evora range with the inclusion of almost all previously optional equipment as standard.

Left: Evora IPS. Below: Evora GTE Road Car Concept.

That list includes leather-lined interior with deep-pile carpet, heated seats, cruise control, parking sensors, bi-Xenon headlights, tyre pressure monitoring and a seven-inch touch-screen entertainment system incorporating satellite navigation.

The only options remaining are paint colour and the fitment of heated electric, power-folding mirrors.

Ateco general manager for Lotus Glen Sealey said the price cuts and value-add reflected the strong Australian dollar and the company’s ambitions to grow the brand Down Under.

He also said the repositioning was intended to ensure local dealers have a “strong and viable business” in preparation for the rollout of next-generation products – the first to arrive being the new Esprit in late 2013 – that were unveiled at Paris last year.

The newly-introduced automatic Evora – priced at $124,990 – will bring new customers to the brand and is expected to be the range’s volume-seller.

It features what Lotus dubs Intelligent Precision Shift transmission, a Toyota-derived unit with customised firmware, paddle-shift and sport mode.

Naturally-aspirated Evoras produce peak power of 206kW at 6400rpm and maximum torque of 350Nm at 4700rpm.

Hauling its 1380kg mass from 0-100km/h takes a claimed 5.1 seconds for the manual and 5.5 seconds for the 54kg heavier automatic, with respective top speeds of 261km/h and 250km/h.

Combined fuel consumption and CO2 outputs are 8.5 litres per 100 kilometres and 199 grams of CO2 per kilometre for the manual, 9.1L/100km and 208g/km for the automatic.

For the $139,990 previously asked for the entry-level Evora, customers now get the forced-induction S flagship variant that debuted at the 2010 Paris motor show, its V6 force-fed by a Harrop supercharger with Eaton Twin Vortex compressor.

The result is 257kW at 7000rpm and 400Nm at 4500rpm, enough to dispatch a blast from rest to 100km/h in a supercar-like 4.8 seconds on the way to a 277km/h maximum speed.

The extra performance and weight over the naturally-aspirated manual Evora (the S weighs 1kg more than the automatic) results in a still relatively-frugal 10L/100km, with CO2 output pushed out to 235g/km.

Meanwhile, Lotus unveiled its race-inspired 313kW Evora GTE Road Car Concept at Pebble Beach last week, an aggressive-looking beast based on the brand’s Evora GTE endurance racer and fitted with a sequential racing transmission and weight-saving forged alloy wheels featuring centre-lock hubs and wrapped in Pirelli P-Zero Corsa rubber.

As GoAuto has reported, Ateco also repositioned the harcore Exige to offer customer savings of more than $31,000 and buyers of the Elise roadster stand to save $23,000.

Mr Sealey told GoAuto he expected to double annual Lotus sales in Australia to 100 over the next 12 months.

2011 Lotus Evorapricing:
2+2	$119,990
IPS (a)	$124,990
S	$139,990