Nobody ever said “simplifying and adding lightness” was cheap. Besides, look how sexy that carbon fiber is. Here’s why I bring this up: the Lotus Evora 400, apparently a very good track car, can get even better for about 125 percent of its normal price.
A $10,000 “Carbon Pack” swaps some trim pieces for carbon fiber with a claimed weight savings of 11 pounds. Another $8,000 gets a titanium exhaust and $1,690 unlocks a lithium-ion battery option, which save 22 pounds each.
(Update: I was initially led to believe the battery and exhaust saved 22 pounds together, but in fact they save 22 pounds a piece.)
That’s $19,690 for a 55 pound weight reduction. But wait! Call now and Lotus will remove the air conditioning and useless rear seat for free, bringing the total diet to 93 pounds.
Let’s do the math: 19,690 divided by 93, so... $211.72 per pound lost? Of course that soars to a steep $596.67 per pound if you decline the A/C and seat delete. Seems like you might get a better deal by taking a dump before every drive and keeping the fuel level low.
Or forget the carbon fiber and take the free “luxury item” removal!
Put another way, it’s very expensive to put a passenger in your lightweighted Evora.
Now I can’t imagine anybody spending $20,000 on a weight reduction is going to be interested in a cup holder, but if you are, the Evora is now available with one of those too. At the cost of money and more significantly, a quarter pound.
The standard Evora is a little under $100,000. With a 3,153 pound curb weight Lotus claims it can snap off a 0 to 60 sprint in 4.1 seconds and go on to a top speed of 186 MPH. The lightweighted 2,983 pound spec has the same 400 horsepower and 302 lb-ft of torque, but the company does not seem to have thrown down any new performance figures yet. Any guesses? How many tenths would you pay twenty grand for?