Lotus Evora - Top Gear’s Sports Car of the year

The boys at Top Gear have already announced the Ferrari 458 Italia to be both their "Super car of the year" and "Car of the year", but there is another sports car being recognized by the automotive journal for one of their annual awards. The all new Lotus Evora is poised to take the sports car market by storm as the world’s only mid engine 2+2, powered by a Lotus tuned 3.5 Liter Toyota V6 that produces a very potent 276 HP and weighing in at just 2,976 lbs. the Evora is guaranteed to shake things up a bit.

Even if it’s not on sale yet, the 2010 Lotus Evora has just been announced as the Top Gear Magazine’s best Sports Car over the last 12 months. According to the English magazine’s Editor, Conor McNicholas, "[The Evora] is pretty quintessentially British, fast and handles like a dream. Evora takes Lotus to a new place in terms of quality, but more importantly delivers a sports car rush that puts other marques to shame" not to mention at a fraction of the price. The Lotus CEO, Dany Bahar, continued by saying that "I am particularly pleased that the Top Gear team commented on the huge improvements in quality at Lotus, confirming that the Evora is an exciting supercar that can also be used for every day driving." This is only the latest award in what is becoming a long list of automotive accolades.

Press release after the jump.

Press Release:
Lotus Evora Wins BBC Top Gear Magazine Sports Car of the Year 2009 Award

The Lotus Evora was selected by Top Gear magazine and online teams as the best Sports Car of the last 12 months.

The Top Gear Awards, now in their 10th year, searched for the most exciting and innovative sports car of this year. The awards are not only well established, but are also truly global, running across 24 international editions and Top Gear websites in the UK, US and Australia.

Conor McNicholas, Editor of BBC Top Gear magazine commented "It’s pretty, quintessentially British, fast and handles like a dream. Evora takes Lotus to a new place in terms of quality but more importantly delivers a sports car rush that puts other marques to shame."

Dany Bahar, CEO of Group Lotus plc said, "I am delighted that the Evora has won the Top Gear award for Sports Car of the Year 2009. Top Gear is very well regarded around the world and it is a fantastic achievement for all who have worked on the Evora to win such a prestigious award.”

Dany continued, "I am particularly pleased that the Top Gear team commented on the huge improvements in quality at Lotus, confirming that the Evora is an exciting supercar that can also be used for every day driving."

This accolade adds to the awards haul for the Evora, which includes:
Autocar magazine "Britain’s Best Driver’s Car 2009"
Car magazine "Performance Car of the Year 2009"
European Aluminium Awards 2008 - Overall Jury Prize - Lotus Evora Aluminium Structure
EVO magazine "Car of the Year 2009"
iMotor - Overall Winner - Most Rated Car of 2008
Lotus Evora: 205 g/km CO2
32.5 mpg (8.7 litres / 100 km) - Combined Cycle
22.8 mpg (12.4 litres / 100 km) - Urban Cycle
43.5 mpg (6.5 litres / 100 km) - Extra Urban Cycle