Lotus Unveils Evora S and Evora IPS

The upcoming Paris Motor Show is going to be extremely important for Malaysian-owned British sportscar manufacturer Lotus.

The company is preparing to go into a whole new direction, in order to achieve a profit and be able to compete with upmarket automakers like Ferrari, Lamborghini or Aston Martin. In order to do so, the company is preparing more than just its lightweight sportscars.

The automaker has already now revealed two new versions of the popular Evora, aimed at satisfying both the performance enthusiasts as well as those who want something a bit more simple to drive.

For those that want more power out of the model, there's the Evora S. Those who want one less worry when driving the car will be able to get the Evora IPS, equipped with a six-speed automatic gearbox.

"You don't realise what you were missing from your driving experience until you get behind the wheel of the Evora S," said Danny Bahar, Lotus CEO. "It's the next level of Evora experience. It communicates with you better, the suspension setting has been fine tuned for added power and control so it responds even more to direction. It's an instinctual car, the experience is pure. We were proud of the Evora but we're even prouder of the Evora S, I feel like it does the true Lotus experience justice. The really great thing is that as we move forward the standard Evora should also benefit from some of these developments."

This hardcore Evora will boast a special Sport button, which in a blink of an eye modifies the throttle response, activates a bypass valve in the exhaust system, but also raises the rev limit and changes the dynamic stability control. The brakes have been upgraded in the Evora S, while the active exhaust can help you make the car sound calm and composed in one second, and like a brute in the other.

But besides these other changes, the biggest one is under the bonnet, where the Toyota-sourced 3.5-liter engine can now output 345 HP and 295 lb-ft of torque. For those keeping track, it's an upgrade of 69 HP and 37 lb-ft over the standard Evora. This means a 0 to 62 mph time of 4.8 seconds and a top speed of 172 mph.

For those that want their driving experience to be a bit more comfortable, Lotus has revealed the Evora IPS, standing for Intelligent Precision Shift. Essentially this designates the new six-speed automatic gearbox that has been fitted to the compact sportscar.

"The Evora IPS is set to broaden the appeal of the Evora and reach out to a slightly different market," said Bahar. "We hope it will be popular with established automatic locations such as Asia, the Middle East and the US. It's been a long time since Lotus created an automatic and we've spent a great deal of time refining this one to make sure that it perfectly complements the Evora drive experience."

The transmission has two modes, either full automatic, with the driver changing gears with the buttons on the center console, or manual, when the driver uses the paddle shifters behind the steering wheel.

The Evora IPS is still capable of outputting 276 HP and 258 lb-ft of torque from the 3.5-liter V6, so it's still going to offer one intense ride, even without the manual gearbox. What's better is that even with the bulky automatic, the car weighs almost the same as the regular Evora and 2 pounds less than the Evora S.

Look forward to both the Lotus Evora IPS and the Evora S at the upcoming Paris Motor Show, alongside other new Lotus models.