Lotus has unveiled its 3-Eleven, describing it as “one of the quickest road cars in the world” with a top speed of 180mph (290km/h) and able to reach 0-60mph in 2.9 seconds.
Showcased at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2015, and due to go into production shortly, deliveries of both road and race versions are due to start from March 2016 – with Lotus limiting production to just 311 worldwide.
CEO of Group Lotus, Jean-Marc Gales commented: ”The Lotus 3-Eleven is a game-changing car, not only in terms of what has come before it from within our own rich heritage of sports cars, but also in terms of anything else comparable brought to market by any other manufacturer.
“Extreme, focused and phenomenal are all words that have been used to describe the 3-Eleven. This is a car that exists within an extremely rarefied performance envelope – it offers both hypercar performance and handling. Nothing else provides a sensory overload of this nature, and all packaged under £100,000.”
Manufactured with a standard lightweight carbon composite bodywork, the Lotus 3-Eleven Race model has a dry weight of 890kg, maximum power of 460hp, 0-60mph in 2.9 seconds and a top speed of 180mph (290km/h); whereas the Road model has a dry weight of 925kg, 410hp, 0-60mph in 3.3 seconds and tops out at 174mph (280 km/h).
Prices are expected to start at £82,500 for the Road version (including VAT and on the road costs) and £97,083 excluding VAT for the Race version (£116,500 including VAT).
Gales continued: “To say that this car is the fastest road car that Lotus has ever produced only tells half the story. There are few cars on the market that can match the 3-Eleven, in looks, speed or lap times – it will reward those that are prepared to take the reins of the highest performing Lotus road car ever.”
Lotus 3-Eleven driver, Marc Basseng said: “The 3-Eleven is the perfect car for a fast lap at the Nürburgring and is a sub-7 minute car in favourable conditions; a time like this puts the 3-Eleven firmly into hypercar territory and I cannot wait to drive the production version in a few months.”
