Lotus 3-Eleven not certain for Oz

The Lotus 3-Eleven unveiled at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last year is set to be one of the most affordable supercars in Australia – if it can get past ADR approval.

Production of the 3-Eleven will commence in February, says Lotus, with customer deliveries taking place in March. Australia is one of the markets slated for the 3-Eleven, but the importer has told motoring.com.au today that the car is currently facing ADR homologation hurdles and is not certain to go on sale here in road-going form.

While those homologation issues are unresolved the importer cannot put a price on the 3-Eleven for the road, although it's just been announced that the car is going on sale in the UK starting from £82,500. Any fixes required for the 3-Eleven to gain ADR approval will have to be factored into the price local consumers pay, a spokesman told motoring.com.au.

The race version will cost buyers £116,500 in the UK. Both versions will be available in Australia, provided the ADR problems can be sorted. Otherwise the race version alone will be offered to Australian consumers – and on the obvious proviso it's never registered for the road.

As we reported last year, the 3-Eleven is powered by a 3.5-litre supercharged V6 that has propelled the lightweight sports car around the Lotus test track at Hethel in a time of 1:19.5. Its 0-60MPH acceleration time of 3.3 seconds for the road-going version places it firmly in the supercar camp. Lighter by 35kg and producing 50hp more, the race version knocks 0.4 seconds off the road car's time.

In race trim the 3-Eleven weighs 890kg and develops 460hp (343kW), versus 925kg and 410hp (308kW) for the road-going model. The V6 in the race version drives through a competition spec Xtrac six-speed sequential transmission, whereas the road version comes with a close-ratio six-speed manual gearbox featuring a performance clutch assembly and oil cooler. Transferring the torque to the rear wheels of the road car is a Torsen-type limited slip differential.

AP Racing four-piston calipers with grooved/ventilated four-wheel disc brakes and Öhlins dampers are all fitted as standard, as are the forged aluminium wheels, wrapped in Michelin Cup 2 225/40 ZR18 (front) and 275/35 ZR19 (rear) tyres.

The 3-Eleven will be limited to a production number of just 311 units for global markets, making it a very rare specimen in Australia – assuming the Lotus makes it here.

"The Lotus 3-Eleven is a game-changing car, not only in terms of what has come before it from within our own rich heritage of sports cars, but also in terms of anything else comparable brought to market by any other manufacturer," said Jean-Marc Gales, CEO of Group Lotus.

"Extreme, focused and phenomenal are all words that have been used to describe the 3-Eleven. This is a car that exists within an extremely rarified performance envelope – it offers both hypercar performance and handling. Nothing else provides a sensory overload of this nature, and all packaged under £100,000."