Lotus has announced the official Hethel lap time of its new Evora 400, showing how much faster is the new car compared to the old one.

The new Evora 400 lapped the Hethel test facility track in 1 minute 32 seconds, no less than six seconds faster than the time achieved by the previous Evora S model, with Gavan Kershaw, Technical Manager for Lotus Motorsport at the wheel.

“Our commitment to reducing weight to create a lightweight and efficient supercar has paid off. The extra 55 hp in conjunction with the 22 kg weight reduction and the tremendous traction from the limited slip differential (LSD) lead to benchmark handling”, said Jean-Marc Gales, CEO of Group Lotus.

The Evora 400 uses the same supercharged, mid-mounted 3.5-litre V6 with before, only now it makes (you guessed it) 400hp and 410Nm (302lb-ft) of torque, allowing it to reach 60mph from a standstill in 4.1 seconds and on to a top speed of 186mph (300km/h).

The new Evora 400 is entering production in the summer with the first deliveries in Europe scheduled for August. North America will receive the new Lotus as a MY2016 model in this autumn while the first deliveries in China are expected in early 2016.

If Lotus has to build a crossover in order to continue making sports cars like this, we are right there with them.

PHOTO GALLERY