One-of-one Lotus F1 Evora GTE is for sale
In the week that Lotus became a single entity again, we're reminded of the good old days...
Lotus just wouldn’t be Lotus if it weren’t confusing the world with almost every move. Having embarked on a bold new electric era, it’s already having to row back towards hybrids - and while it certainly isn’t alone in that, of all the performance brands, surely Lotus had the biggest U-turn to execute. Much to the delight of anyone who thought it stupid in the first place...
This week, a little more confusion reigned, but hopefully in a way that should result in a simpler future. The headline could only have come from Hethel (or Wuhan): ‘Lotus becomes one global company following completion of Lotus UK acquisition.’ You read that right. Having bought Lotus, Lotus is now one worldwide Lotus. Basically, it means that the Lotus we know and love in Norfolk - sports car manufacturing and Lotus Engineering - is now a formal part of Lotus Technology, the wider global operation. Or, to put it another way, Lotus is now ‘one integrated global business under a single corporate structure’, with the Focus 2030 strategy front and centre. Again, why this wasn’t the case previously is hard to understand (i.e. it was a purely financial machination), but then this is Lotus we’re talking about. Financial machinations are in its blood.
The most recent foray into F1 wasn’t exactly straightforward, either, though the Lotus F1 Team - formerly Lotus Renault GP - had a way to ensure that all eyes were on them for the 2012 season. Because it had signed Kimi Raikkonen. Always a star attraction on the grid, this was just a few years since his F1 title with Ferrari, and a real coup for the team on his return to the championship. Having Raikkonen race alongside Romain Grosjean in a black and gold F1 car felt very right for the newly rejuvenated Lotus.
It was an ideal arrangement for the road cars, too, the colour scheme as evocative as they come for Lotus. On the face of it, this Evora looks like little more than a nicely done homage to the Grand Prix cars of the time, but there’s rather more to it than that. It isn’t black, for one thing - it’s actually entirely carbon bodied. Hard to imagine there are many of those. As for the body itself, note how it’s somewhat leaner and meaner than a regular Evora - well, that's because it’s actually one of the 20 GTEs ever built.
Another Lotus that never quite fulfilled its true potential - what was meant to be a 450hp road racer got the look but not the powertrain - the GTE is an exceptionally rare Evora. Each and every one must be unique, but this one is extra special. Because as well as the colour scheme and as well as the carbon, it’s been signed by Raikkonen and Grosjean. You can bet Kimi doesn’t give out signatures all that willingly, so this feels pretty notable. Furthermore, while registered in 2015, this Evora was built (and most likely signed) in 2012, used by Lotus as its GTE show car for the Geneva show that year. In case its one-of-one spec wasn’t interesting enough, it’s a real bit of Lotus’s remarkable history. The Lotus history that’s always quite tricky to keep track of...
Now, with one owner having covered fewer than 10,000 miles, it’s for sale. At £150,000, making this GTE by far the priciest in the classifieds. But then a privately sold car, without the carbon, the provenance or such little use, is the best part of £100,000. The story and the tiny production run make them proper collectors’ items. And that seems very unlikely to change, whatever the future holds for a newly integrated Lotus.
Only a couple of one owner GTEs left now.
ETA - it's weird to think that non WDC Grosjean will now probably be remembered in F1 for just as long as WDC Räikkönen - and this car has both signatures!
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I think they had the whole lot in stock for years. They all used to be lined up around the back.
I think they had the whole lot in stock for years. They all used to be lined up around the back.
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