Lotus Evija (Type 130)

Yep, that's more or less the unfortunate part for me.

Tech is advancing so quickly that we get a mega-super-hyper-car every two or three months. A crazy hypercar used to be something to marvel at, and we seldom got one, so it was big deal - occasionally for two or three years. Now, bizarrely the hypercar market seems flooded. So rather than being car mag pin-ups, they're just eliciting an "oh another one" from me. Which is a shame. The top tier of any hobby or interest should still be...of interest to the people who can't afford them.

A watch collector should still be fascinated by and enjoy a million dollar watch they're never going to own. As a car enthusiast I should still find something of interest in a hypercar. It should still stir me.

The rapid pace of exceedingly quick and ridiculous cars is so consistent now that it's lost that impact on me. All-electric even more. It guarantees we don't have to wait around for "first sound and firing up of _______" videos. It means there's nothing pretty, chrome, polished, gorgeous under the hood to look at. There's nothing interesting to even talk about power-plant wise beyond efficiency numbers and pure output. Electric cars are fine, but emotionally stirring? Not so much. An electric car will never have an incredible unique exhaust noise, etc. The kind of stuff you talk about for decades after the car's release. It'll be another electro-whining vehicle with face-melting performance.

This kind of thing just leaves me a little cold. If you want to get me impressed or intrigued, I find stuff like the Singer Porsches to be immensely more interesting or stirring to my soul :D
My initial post was an observation (with added garnish a la Dotini) that I sense a growing...hmmm...what's the best word...disillusionment maybe? with the ever-exponential hypercars. While I've been feeling this way for a few years now, I haven't until recently noticed too many folks in the same boat. Hypercars are only useful to the rich if the plebs give them attention for, otherwise whats the point? Nothing worse than poor people thinking your selection in exotica is uninspired.

The top echelon of performance cars have always waxed and waned along with the wider macroeconomic situation. We are in the midst (tail end, IMO) of an economic boom, and supercars, hypercars, and record classic car prices are very prominent examples of ongoing asset bubbles. This period isn't the first time where you have that top level of cars coming out from left and right. Look at the economic booms heading into the late 80s and then the following one as the computer revolution reached mainstream in the mid-90s. There were tons of cars coming out that was supposed to compete at that top level. We all remember Ferrari F40 and Porsche 959 in the 80s, and McLaren F1 in the 90s. What about Jaguar XJ220? Bugatti EB110? Cizeta-Moroder? Vector? Others?

We will always remember the seminal, landmark cars, while those that made less of an impact will be forgotten. That is true now as it was in the past. We'll talk about the first supercar to get sub-3 seconds 0-60 (like we talk about first supercar to exceed 200 mph), or the first to successfully implement a hybrid powertrain, or whatever other firsts and superlatives. I suspect that in 30 years time, assuming internal combustion engine cars are still a thing, we'll look back at this period with fondness for just the amount of performance sold, and pick out a couple highlight supercars/hypercars of today that stand the test of time to revere.
 
I don't mind 1000+ HP hypercars, but the Evija feels like just another rebodied Rimac C2 to me. And for being a Lotus, it's still not lightweight enough. I was expecting truly revolutionary tech, maybe a supercapacitor + flywheel setup, or the batteries being used as a stressed chassis member to save weight and better packaging. This just looks way too generic, and as others have said will be forgotten once the next 1000+ HP electric hypercar rolls around.
 
I don't mind 1000+ HP hypercars, but the Evija feels like just another rebodied Rimac C2 to me. And for being a Lotus, it's still not lightweight enough. I was expecting truly revolutionary tech, maybe a supercapacitor + flywheel setup, or the batteries being used as a stressed chassis member to save weight and better packaging. This just looks way too generic, and as others have said will be forgotten once the next 1000+ HP electric hypercar rolls around.
I guess it just needs to sell enough, to make the next project viable.
 
The Evija looks so good under natural light at Pebble Beach! :drool:

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It looks pretty good, but it's not a "WOW!" to me. And it's a Lotus? At 3800lbs and a bajillion hp that you'll use... when exactly? I thought Lotus was about doing more with less, as in low weight, modest power. Maybe the 'modern' Lotus isn't following that same mantra. So then it just becomes another hypercar with a different brand name and a ton (probably literally) of batteries. I echo some of the posts here voicing their opinions on the hypercar thing. To me it's getting crowded and not very innovative or unique. There's a couple of 'hypercars' I'm looking forward to though, one being the Toyota GR SuperSport or Hypersport or whatever they call it. That one because it's seemingly their TS050's Le Mans winning chassis and engine/hybrid with a sleek, street car body. Another is the Mercedes Project 1 or 1 (whatever name again) because it's powered by a modified version of their F1 powertrain. The Valkyrie as well because it's a lightweight car designed by aero genius Adrian Newey and has a screaming 11k+ rpm V12. Imo, those are unique because they don't follow the mold of the current hypercar of powering it up to 1500 or more horsepower or using super amounts of batteries.
 
I will go with Aston Martin DB9 due to the weak...rear-end of the Evija. Current Ford GT and NSX would also place higher.

The Evija's rear end is absolutely fantastic. The DB9 is a great looking car, but the Evija is in another league.
 
The Evija's rear end is absolutely fantastic. The DB9 is a great looking car, but the Evija is in another league.

I think I'm seeing the light, but the rear does not check out as well as all the other angles. I would say it disappoints in that regard. It seems to work better with the lights on.

edit: I quite like the Pininfarina Battista.
 
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The Evija Configurator is now live. I only just realised how much this looks like a McLaren now.
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Configured a second Evija in Lotus logo colours because I assumed I won the lottery and can easily afford two Evijas.
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Evija X, the ultimate version of the Evija seen testing at the Nurburgring, possible setting a record time.

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A Lotus spokesperson contacted Motor1.com with the following official statement: "The Evija X is an all-new technology concept from Lotus. Based on the Evija road car, it is the ultimate expression of Evija and has been testing on multiple racetracks in multiple countries in the last weeks.

We have made great progress, successfully meeting all our objectives, and learning about the challenges of lapping the Nürburgring Nordschleife. The Lotus engineering team continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible with the Evija and the world’s most powerful EV powertrain."

We can see the Evija X name on the windshield and our photographers told us Lotus rented the entire Nurburgring track yesterday to let this prototype unleash its full potential. A helicopter was accompanying the supercar and was probably filming the attempt.



It then promptly broke down.

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A one-off example of the Lotus Evija electric hypercar built as a time attack special was spotted at the Nürburgring on Tuesday in a likely attempt at setting a new lap record for an electric vehicle.

According to the photographer, Lotus had the racetrack booked to itself for the whole day and a notary on hand to time any runs. The automaker also had on hand a helicopter to film the run from the air.

But during a lap, the car came to a stop and needed to be transported out on the back of a flatbed truck. It isn't clear what the cause of the breakdown was.

 
Evija X, the ultimate version of the Evija seen testing at the Nurburgring, possible setting a record time.

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It then promptly broke down.

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That's cool and all, but when is the actual production vehicle coming out?
 
That spoiler is taller than a... erm, something that's tall. (I don't know, but it's the tallest I've seen on a car outside of Pikes Peak)
 
That's cool and all, but when is the actual production vehicle coming out?
Sometime this year was the last info. Maybe getting pushed back again, as around this time last year, the official IG account reportedly shared multiple cars had started production.
 
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Looks like a potential Pikes Peak entry.
That's what i was thinking. I don't know if there are any official or non-official 'Ring records for non-production cars, even electric ones, that would garner any column inches. Pikes Peak makes much more sense. The Ring is a reasonable facsimile for testing for PP.
 

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