Lotus Evora Tries Out Police Uniform in the UK

Lotus has loaned a brand new Evora to the boys in blue at the Central Motorway Police Group (CPMG). The police-liveried version of the British sports car was officially revealed at this week's Autosport International Show at Birmingham’s NEC. Once its show duties are over, the sports car maker will hand the keys of the Evora to West Midland's police officers who will then trial the car for a two week test period.

Gino Rosato, Director of Corporate Operations at Lotus comments: ‘Lotus is proud to take part in this and similar initiatives to help create a safer road culture for our customers and other road users. We believe that you do not have to compromise fun for speed and to that effect we build sportscars that are fun to drive within legal limits! We will be working with Officers from CMPG to teach them how to get the best from the Lotus Evora at our test track to ensure that any high-speed activity is as safe and effective as possible.”

PC Steven Rounds from, CMPG said: “The Lotus is a visually stunning machine which offers us the opportunity to engage with the public, reinforce and promote the life-saving messages of road safety.”

New Lotus Evora Priced from $149,990 in Australia

Lotus has confirmed Australian pricing for its all-new Evora sports car a few months ahead of the coupe's market launch scheduled for the third quarter of 2009. The entry level two-seater version of the Evora will be priced at $149,990 AU (recommended price before statutory and delivery charges) which is about $119,000 US or €85,000. Bizarrely, there seems to be some kind of a new law in Australia that prohibits official websites from publishing new car prices -we're not kidding- so unfortunately we can't compare the Evora's price to other sports cars sold Down Under.

Along with the Evora 2+0, Lotus will also sell a 2+2 seater version of the coupe that will be priced from $156,990 (again, recommended price before statutory and delivery charges). Rear seats aside, this version adds a host of luxury appointments both standard and optional including Alpine audio system, reversing camera and cruise control.

Both models are powered by a Toyota sourced 3.5-liter V6 engine producing an output of 206kW (that's 276 in good ol' horsepower) and 342Nm of torque. The naturally aspirated V6 is matted to a 6-speed manual gearbox while Lotus also offers a sportier, close-ratio transmission. For those that insist on buying a sports car for all the wrong reasons, an automatic version is in the company's future plans.

With the stick shift, the Evora goes from standstill to 100km/h (62mph) in just over five seconds while returning an average fuel consumption of 8.7l/100km (combined highway/urban cycle).