Lotus is calling it an "all new supercar", but let's not kid ourselves. The Evora 400 is a bodykit, an engine upgrade, and a reworked interior designed to keep the lights on in Hethel.
That's not to say the refreshed Evora isn't nice. It's the closest thing we've got to anything substantial from Lotus in ages and it seemed to have focused on the right stuff, given the aging platform and budget constraints it's saddled with.
The front and rear ends have been redesigned to make it look meaner and give it some aerodynamic edge. The new engine cover obscures the same 3.5-liter Toyota-sourced V6 with a new supercharger (and it's charge cooled), a new exhaust, intake, and ECU tune that boosts power to – you guessed it – 400 HP. In addition to the 55 HP jump, torque is up as well, with 302 pound feet (from 295), and a half-second lopped off the 0-60 time, now down to 4.1 seconds.
Lotus says it has a new aluminum chassis for improved ingress and egress, now outfitted with 19-inch front and 20-inch rear wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot Super Sports, and the aluminum tub has been tweaked to make the sills lower and thinner.
Overall weight is down by 48 pounds, despite larger brakes, an upgraded leather interior with a wider seat, and a reworked HVAC setup. An LSD comes standard on the manual model and there's still an option for an automatic. Sales are slated to begin this summer in Europe, with the U.S. getting the Evora in late 2016.