We want Lotus to succeed, we really do. It’s to the company’s misfortune that “beleaguered British sports car maker” alliterates so well. But although it is still selling tiny numbers of cars, you can’t accuse Lotus of lacking confidence—using this weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed to introduce a roofless two-seater based around its familiar component set, and with a stratospheric price tag.
No argument that the Lotus 3-Eleven is seriously quick. It uses a 456-hp version of the supercharged Toyota V-6 that does duty in the Evora and Exige, and the company says it is a massive 10 seconds quicker around a lap of the Hethel test track than the recently updated Evora 400. Two versions will be available, a track-only “Race” version featuring a six-speed sequential gearbox and a street-legal “Road” model with a conventional manual transmission. The Race version is claimed to have a 0-60 time of just 3 seconds and a top speed of 174 mph. The street legal Road version has slightly taller gearing and can reach 180 mph.
We’ve (almost) been here before—the 2008 Lotus 2-Eleven was an Elise-based lightweight sports car with four-cylinder Toyota power—but the 3-Eleven is far quicker and startlingly more expensive. It’s based around a strengthened version of Lotus’s familiar aluminum tub and the bodywork is made from a new composite material that’s claimed to be 40 percent lighter than standard fiberglass. We’re told that it will weigh less than 190 pounds and that, in the road-going version, a passenger seat will be an option. In Race form the aerodynamic package delivers a claimed 474 pounds of downforce at 150 mph.
However, this level of performance costs big. We have no U.S. pricing yet—or even confirmation whether the car will be coming here—but in the U.K. the 3-Eleven Road will be £82,000 [$129,000] and the Race is a towering £115,200 [$181,000]. That’s a steep figure for a car with cheaper and better-equipped siblings sharing most of its mechanical componentry. Production starts early next year, and will be limited to 311 cars.
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