About Lotus Evija 1972bhp Electric Hypercar

Before we look at the look of Lotus's first hyper-car, the power of Lotus's first hyper-car, or why Lotus thinks it could kill Bugatti and Co., let's look at the name. Which four-wheeled Unobtanium would dare to show its square face in Casino Square or in an air-conditioned Abu Dhabi garage, with no countdown word jumble on the back?

They have deciphered Huayra, Rimac and Koenigsegg. Now relax your cheeks and stretch your lips around it: Evija. No, not "ee-vee, yahh," like a Made In Chelsea mannequin laughing at a Nissan Leaf. It is "Evv-eye-ah". Could have sworn that she was one of Game of Thrones' underage Stark children, but apparently it means "the first that exists." Roughly translated, it means "live, breathe" in Hebrew. And it starts with the letter E, which should make the lotus purists happy. Nothing else about the Evija.

Welcome to the age of the electric hypercar and the first British market player. It remains to be seen whether this will be a long chapter in the history of very fast cars or a strange dead end on the road to future forms of power and performance. However, Lotus does not wait to see which direction the tech wind is blowing and then collects its China-funded chips.

The newest group giant, which is launching a Lotus Moon Shot in the top league of Exotica, is Geely, China's third-largest car maker and supporter of a resurgent Volvo, start-up car dealer Lynk & Co and the new London black-cab company. And what does the portfolio have in common? A plunge into electrification. From Polestar to hybrid cabins to rural Norfolk, where all 130 Evijas are built, Geely wants to conquer the world with the belief in batteries. And it has fallen victim to Lotus against upstarts like Rimac, Pininfarina and Tesla.

While you're still staring, I'll reveal what we can possibly about the non-greasy parts. The first time the Internet talked about Lotus's mystical "Type-130" project, it was about a nice performance of over 1,000 hp. Four-figure horsepower has quickly developed from Bugatti and Koenigsegg to the minimum requirement that a newcomer must be taken seriously.

And when it comes to electric hypercars, the numbers are really bananas. The Rimac C_Two promises 1.888 hp. Pininfarinas Battista completes this on 1,900 hp. It is the end of the known car tuning. As long as the processors master the math, you can pretty much name your output power. And hell with what the tires can do.

According to Lotus, the goal is to become the most powerful production car in the world with 2,000 hp or 1,972 hp. The torque of about 1,700 Nm (1,253 lb ft - more than twice the power of a McLaren Senna) is transmitted between all four wheels, since it is an all-wheel drive. The first 4x4 street legal from Lotus is not the long-discussed SUV.