What's all this about?

Lotus has added three options to the Evora 400 brochure, all of which are about saving weight. Choose them all and another 25kg comes off the car's frame, making for an Evora that can (with two pre-existing options) weigh just 1,353kg. And that's in a mid-engined car with 406hp.

So how do I go about ending up with 300hp/tonne?

Ah, worked that out yourself, did you? Very good. Right, an Evora 400 starts at 1,395kg, or 291hp/tonne (see, we can play at being clever-clogs, too). Pre-existing, no-cost options for the car included the deletion of the air conditioning system and the rear seats for a '2+0' configuration, which between them lop 17 kilos off the kerb weight. What Lotus is offering now, as additional items, are: the Carbon Pack (£6,500), which is inspired by the hardcore Evora Sport 410 model and which sees the front splitter, roof panel, rear wing centre, rear diffuser finisher, front access panel and wing mirror caps finished in carbon fibre for a 5kg saving; a titanium sports exhaust (£5,500), trimming another 10 kilos; and a lithium-ion battery (£1,350), also saving 10kg.

You mean to say it'll cost £13,350 to lose a further 25kg?!

Yes. Yes, we do mean that. And Evora buyers can order all of these items right now. There is one weight-adding extra, though.

Oh yes? What's that?

A cupholder and central oddments tray. This has been standard fit on US and Canadian cars, and now it is introduced here in Europe and also over in Asia as an option.

And how much weight does this add back in?

The grand sum of 120 grams.

Matt Robinson - 19 Aug 2016