Lotus Evora S more details revealed

Lotus will unveil a beefed-up version of the Evora sportscar at the Paris motor show next month.

The Evora S is fitted with a supercharged 345bhp 3.5-litre V6 engine that's 69bhp more than the standard car. That means the Evora S hits 60mph in just 4.6sec, 0.3 seconds faster than the normal Evora, and the top speed is 172mph 10mph faster.

However it's not just a power increase that marks the Evora S out, says Lotus. The suspension has been tweaked to cope with the extra power, improving the handling, claims the company.

The Evora S comes with a sport pack as standard, which has a 'sport' button that allows the driver to sharpen the throttle response, raises the rev limit and changes the dynamic stability control settings.

Lotus also says the Evora S gives customers a taste of things to come.

'The Evora S is a natural progression for us but more than that, it's a taste of what people can expect from the next generation of Lotus cars,' said chief commercial officer Andrea Prillmann. 'It retains core Lotus values such as performance through light weight but it also give more than that.

'It's the perfect combination of top performance, style and comfort.'

Also on show in Paris will be an Evora with an automatic six-speed gearbox. The Evora IPS (Intelligent Precision Shift) option allows the driver to switch between manual paddleshift and automatic drive modes.

The automatic gearbox affects performance slightly. The auto Evora covers the 0-60mph dash in 5.3 seconds, and top speed is 155mph.

Prices for both the Evora S and the automatic version will be revealed closer to the Paris motor show on September 30.

More Lotuses at Paris show
Lotus is expected to unveil two further cars at the Paris motor show.

Details of the new cars are sketchy, although Lotus is promising that 'the impact from Paris will be big', sparking rumours that a new Lotus Esprit could be on the stand.

At a press briefing in Malaysia in June, Lotus's Malaysian owners, Proton, said the brand would move upmarket, based on a new motto: 'Tomorrow's luxury sports car, today.'

To illustrate this new direction, the company was tipped to unveil one new car at the Paris motor show. However the news that two new cars could be on the stand suggests there might be two versions of the Esprit one 'luxury sports car' and possibly one that's more hardcore.