Lotus Evija electric hypercar postponed

The ups and downs of the corona-coaster continue to affect car-makers and it appears Lotus is the latest victim.

First customer deliveries of the game-changing all-electric 2000hp Lotus Evija were originally penciled in for late this year, but Lotus chief Phil Popham has told

Just 130 examples of the high-tech circa-$3 million hypercar will be produced by the small British sports car brand, whose money troubles are seemingly over thanks to its cashed-up new owner, Geely.

The Chinese auto giant also owns Volvo and has replenished Lotus' bank balance to the tune of almost $3 billion, which will help the brand launch more sports cars after the Evija.

Lotus Evija in detail

Its flagship supercar, the Lotus Evija is designed to put the British car-maker back on the dream-car map, with several exotic features including a carbon-fibre tub, active aerodynamics, twin venturi tunnels under the rear of the car and a quad-motor set-up that will see it accelerate to 300km/h in under nine seconds.

At least three Lotus Evijas will be coming to Australia and all customers are being notified of the delay.

“We have lost five months of testing, mainly in continental Europe,” Popham told the UK website.

“We have missed hot weather testing in Spain. It’s not as simple as moving everything to the right as you have to book facilities and there’s a queue, with everyone in the same boat.”

Despite the delays, Popham explained the extra time has not been wasted, allowing the engineering team to squeeze slightly more power out of the already ballistic 1470kW/1700Nm machine and fine-tune its aerodynamics.

The Evija EV will be a bona-fide track weapon, says Lotus, with super-sticky Pirelli Trofeo R tyres on light-weight magnesium wheels (20-inch front, 21-inch rear),and aluminium AP Racing brakes with carbon-ceramic discs.

Tipping the scales at just under 1700kg, the Lotus Evija gets an F1-style DRS (drag-reduction system), adaptive spool dampers, cameras instead of wing mirrors and a 70kWh lithium-ion battery pack developed by Lotus’ technical partner Williams Advanced Engineering.

It will also boast the ability to accept 800kW fast-charging when the technology becomes available (350kW is the existing DC charging infrastructure ceiling), which would ultimately correlate with an 18-minute charge time for the car’s full 400km range.

The current Lotus range include the Elise, Exige and Evora, all of which are old vehicles in automotive terms. Lotus is planning a reborn Lotus Esprit, which is understood to be powered by a hybrid V6 powertrain. The new sports car is set to go up against the iconic Porsche 911.