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Lotus Evora roadster to follow 400 coupe to US market

Lotus is in the midst of resurgence, and that includes a renewed assault on the US market. The new Evora 400 is coming to America, and though the new 3-Eleven won't be certified to drive on American roads, the company has confirmed that it will be offered here for use on track. But that's not all. According to Automotive News, Lotus is preparing to follow up on the aforementioned Evora 400 coupe with an additional roadster variant. Instead of a folding roof mechanism, the open-top Evora will incorporate two carbon-fiber roof panels able to stow behind the front seats. Otherwise it's expected to be mechanically identical to the coupe, with a 3.5-liter supercharged V6 packing 400 horsepower and a series of other enhancements over the preceding Evora S. Lotus was forced to withdraw the Evora – the last model it offered in the US – from the American market last year after it no longer complied with federal regulations. Bringing the new Evora 400, and its upcoming roadster variant, to the US will necessitate fitting it with a new smart airbag – something which Lotus confirmed to Autoblog it is preparing to do. According to spokesman Alastair Florance, "the Evora 400 will arrive in the market as a 17MY and will be fully compliant with FMVSS 208, including the smart air bag element." The coupe is expected to arrive here in December, with the yet-to-be-unveiled roadster to follow six months later. The news confirms what we heard earlier about the company's future plans. Those also include a new SUV being designed principally for the Chinese market, and an even more radical 4-Eleven to follow at some point in the future. Related Video:

Lotus opens the 2013 Formula One season with the launch of the E21 [w/video]

Lotus has broken the seal on the 2013 Formula One season, launching the E21 car at its factory in Enstone. With the regulations this year quite similar to those of last year, there are no dramatic changes in form compared to the E20. After some teams lobbied to be able to cover the stepped nose with a "vanity panel," Lotus retained the configuration, the team's technical director saying that the panel would add more weight and didn't make sense to put on the car unless it also added performance.
Beyond that, the E21 is said to be an comprehensive advance in its details - the suspension gets a new layout, the Coanda exhaust and the passive double DRS system are evolutions from last year, the front wing is "a continuation of concepts" from 2009.
After securing fourth in the Constructor's Championship last year, this is the chassis that drivers Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean will use to try and move the team up a place, which would mean beating one of the big three teams over the course of the season. The quietly and impressively consistent Räikkönen managed third in the Driver's Championship, and we're sure he wouldn't mind a move up in the standings, either.

The black and gold Lotus Evora Sport 410 GP Edition is heading to America

Few race teams have such deeply iconic liveries as Team Lotus. From the Gold Leaf cars from the late 1960s to the bright yellow Camel cars that lasted until the early 1990s, arguably none is more iconic than the John Player Special cars that brought world championships to Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti. Now that same sleek black and gold paint scheme can be had on the new Lotus Evora Sport 410 GP Edition. Even better, it's heading to America. While the GP Edition isn't anything more than a special paint scheme, what a wonderful design it is. The livery is based on the John Player Special Team Lotus cars that competed in Formula One between 1972 and 1986. The black paint is accented with gold stripes along the hood, fenders, doors, and rocker panel. Gold Evora Sport 410 logos adorn the rear while a "Word Champions" emblem flanks the engine cover. The Evora Sport 410 is the lighter, faster version of the thoroughly reworked Evora 400 that we drove last year. Lotus says it's the fastest road car the automaker has ever built. It hits 60 miles per hour in 3.9 seconds and tops out at 190 mph. They US version has been specially curated by Lotus engineers in order to be both light and meet federal crash test standards. Unfortunately, Lotus is only building 150 total each year for worldwide markets. Related Video: