Lotus Evora

Nicknamed "Project Eagle" during development, the Evora is a British sports car manufactured by Lotus which launched on 22 July 2008 at the British International Motor Show.

The Evora is the first Lotus built on an all-new vehicle platform, unlike the earlier Exige (launched in 2000) and the Europa S (launched in 2006) which both shared the platform of the 1995 Elise. Other cars will follow - according to Lotus, two more vehicles will share the same platform as the Evora.

With the Evora, Lotus has tried to improve practicality, in order to make the car appeal more to a mainstream audience. The interior is larger (as well as the exterior), and it should allow taller persons to fit more comfortably (the Lotus is notoriously "snug"). It also has a decent boot: cooled, and big enough to fit a set of golf clubs (although Lotus claims this was not intentional).

Despite aiming to be a more mainstream car, performance hasn't dropped: 0-60mph can be reached in 4.9 seconds, the top speed is 261 km/h. All this, while still claiming an average fuel consumption of 8.69 liters per 100km - impressive!

I'll leave you with a set of wallpapers, and this bit of trivia: did you know that in July 2011, Lotus Cars donated two Evora S models with special equipment to the Carabinieri (the Italian gendarmerie)? Not only will Lotus take care of the maintenance, they also provided training for the drivers.