Lotus has officially announced that its recently-unveiled Evora sports car will be joined by a convertible version. The model, which Lotus marketers believe will have an eight-year shelf life, will be joined by a convertible version late in 2011 to increase its appeal. That’s about three years after the coupe launches.
The car is expected to be built in limited numbers, or 2,000 annually more specifically, alongside the Elise at the automaker’s Hethel assembly shop in Norfolk, England. Because of the car’s mid-engined layout, we doubt the convertible top will be more than a panel that needs to be manually removed and stowed on the car or left at home, although if anyone can pull such an engineering feat off, it’s Lotus .
The Evora’s suspension and central chassis will also underpin the upcoming V8-powered Esprit replacement, which is also due to come to market by 2011.
Before the convertible, however, more powerful versions of the Evora coupe are expected by 2010, as per Autocar reports, including a 320 horsepower version and a supercharged 400+hp S variant. The base car has nearly 280 horsepower, delivered by Toyota ’s slightly tweaked 3.5 liter V6.
