New Lotus Evora 400 Options Complicate and Add Lightness

Not quite Colin Chapman’s way, but hey, close enough.

byWill Sabel Courtney|
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Lotus founder Colin Chapman is widely quoted as having said something along the lines of, "Simplify, then add lightness." Whether he said that exact phrase or not, that philosophy has guided the car company bearing his name for decades. The latest round of options Lotus has announced for the Evora 400, though, only fulfill the promise about halfway. Carbon-fiber trim, titanium exhausts, and lithium-ion batteries all certainly add lightness, but none of them could really be called "simplification." 

The Carbon Pack for the Evora 400 might look familiar to Lotus cognoscenti; many of the parts come straight from the Lotus Evora Sport 410. The pack includes such hand-made carbon-fiber parts as a new roof panel, a chunk of the front spiltter, the center of the spoiler, and the front access panel, among others; add (or subtract) it all up, and the Carbon Pack package results in a total weight loss of 11 pounds over the stock version. It's not cheap, though; those lightweight panels will add $10,000 to the car's bottom line.

The hood panel of the Lotus Evora 400 with Carbon Fiber package

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If that's not light enough for you, Lotus also now offers a $8,000 titanium exhaust and a $1,690 lithium-ion battery as weight-savings options on the Evora 400, each of which subtracts about 22 pounds from the car's curb weight. Check the box for every weight-saving option on the list, and the Evora 400 weighs in at 3,060 lbs for Stateside customers. 

The exhaust of the Lotus Evora 400

Of course, that figure would be 3,069.75 pounds, were it not for the cupholder Lotus now makes standard equipment on every U.S.- and Canada-bound Evora 400. Because while we may value lightness, we also value our Big Gulps. 

It's a cupholder. In a Lotus.

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