Lotus Evija
Lotus is experiencing quite a renaissance since the Geely Group took ownership three years ago. The Chinese auto giant has big plans for the British marque - investing around $100m at the historic site in Hethel, near Norfolk in England to include, opening in August 2021, a new production centre for making sports cars. Plans also involve a bespoke facility built on a former World War Two RAF site where Lotus engineers will hand build small-edition specialist cars, starting with the exciting $2.1m Evija electric hypercar. To understand more about the “Evija effect”, I caught up with Lotus design director Russell Carr.
Russell Carr, Lotus design director with the Evija
Nargess Banks: This is arguably a new dawn for Lotus under the ownership of Geely and with two new facilities in the making at Hethel – one customized to create purely hypercars. You’ve been here for almost 30 years, so you must have seen some great changes.
Russell Carr: Yes, it has been a very different company throughout the 30 years. I came here from the aesthetic side of things, but you quickly learn about engineering and technology at Lotus as we work closely together. In the early days, we were a consultancy working with various other car companies, which then evolved. The main thing is that we all have a real passion for designing sports cars here, with the last couple of years allowing us to expand on this.
Lotus cars will learn from the Evija halo car in terms of sculpture and surface treatment
NB: The Evija is a brave and exciting product in terms of technicality, engineering, materials and design. You must be pleased with what you’ve achieved.
RC: Absolutely. I always tell people that you need to see the Evija personally. Because it is a low sports car, the relation to you is so important, so when you move around the car you see it from different perspectives. To drive? I can only partially imagine what it will be like to drive so much electric power.
NB: This is your first hypercar and your first electric car at the heart of which is a pioneering electric engine and a technologically advanced carbon fiber tub. How did the two assist you in exploring new forms and design?
RC: The combination of the tub and powertrain has huge advantages - it opens up all sorts of possibilities. The classic Lotus aluminum chassis simply wouldn’t have been flexible enough for the Evija; it’s great, but you are limited to what you can do in terms of design. To optimize the aerodynamics of the car, you need to create space between the elements, but when you have a bespoke tub and a flexible powertrain you can be adaptable with the basic packaging, which was the case here. The tub is stiff, yet the flexible carbon material can be molded to shape - molded around the engine.
Tunnels run through each rear quarter, expressed through the slim light graphics
NB: The electric powertrain set up must have helped free design from the constraints placed when using a combustion engine in such a powerful car.
RC: In an electric vehicle, there’s less cooling requirements, therefore there isn’t the need for multiple radiator coolers. So, on the Evija we only have four coolers, two of which are horizontally placed in the corners of the car. This really impacts on design.
NB: The Evija design is very much a visual expression of its electric speed, especially with the Le Mans-inspired venturi tunnels and the dramatic rear light graphics. How do you translate the raw driving dynamics of this car to design?
RC: We always set ourselves objectives to guide and inspire the team. We look at aviation, nature, our history and our brand philosophy of low weight, aero efficiency and driving dynamics. Design, naturally, has to support all this but also, as you say, express it visually. You could argue that you can go back to the basics of designing sports cars, but we wanted to create something visually intriguing. So we looked at current Le Mans cars to see what they’re doing: you look through these cars and I wanted to develop this concept for the Evija. We worked closely with our aero team, using their guidance and data to fundamentally help how we designed the tunnels.
The Evija Interior follows a classic sports car driver-focused theme with plenty of sporty tactile ... [+]
NB: And how did you come up with the slim rear light graphics that express this?
RC: That’s a good story. One of our young designers sketched taillights that looked like thin ribbons following the shape of the exit duct in a sort of triangular form and we really liked his idea. So we worked with our engineers to see how thin we can physically make our lights and miraculously both legally and technically we were able to achieve these slim taillights. They help make the car memorable and distinct.
NB: Having visited the Lotus site recently, I got a real sense the employees are much more than workers – it feels like a family at Hethel. What do you look for in your design team?
RC: They need to be creatives, of course, but I’m looking for people with lots of ideas, sketches in biro on pieces of paper drawn in a pub, for instance, rather than flashy renditions. They need to be passionate about sports cars, be interested in other forms of design, take what they do seriously and have a sense of fun.
The electric Lotus Evija hypercar on its world tour in the UAE
NB: And have a passion for Lotus, this is after all a very unique, emotive brand?
RC: Absolutely. I grew up at a time when Lotus was the Formula 1 team, Colin Chapman (founder of Lotus Cars) was a legend himself and Lotus was the default toy car for my generation growing up. It is a real privilege to work here. The Chapman family no longer own the company but are very present, are close-by running the classic team. Plus, Lotus has passionate fans, not all owners either. Then there’s the equally interested press with really strong views. There is a lot of pride but also responsibility placed on us.
NB: Apart from the Evija, Lotus also has a new sports car in the pipeline, though under wraps at this stage. In general, how has the hypercar and the huge investment by Geely helped with future products here at Lotus?
RC: The Evija is our halo product and we won’t be doing any copying and pasting, but the design and technology will naturally impact on our family of cars. The Evija will influence our design language in terms of surface treatment and aerodynamics. We want to try new things but keep a sense of continuity with our past products - our rich heritage.
Carr and his team have explored the theme of design as an expression of performance with added drama
NB: Would you say being distinct is fundamental to Lotus design?
RC: Yes, it is important for our products to have sustainability and our challenge is to remain enduring. We want to reach a bigger audience yet retain something unique. Our cars need to be special and engage the heart. A Lotus car is not a rational purchase.
Read more about the Lotus Evija electric hypercar here; see my list of the most exciting and progressive cars of 2019
