Evora Launch Edition Register

[Jonathan Ashcroft]

On 28/09/2021 at 02:39, phil flash said:

There's another development car you can add to your list - AU09 CYV with Oyster interior. It was at Snetterton 14th June 2009 at the Lotus day...

oh ..   and there was this.  It went round quicker than some race cars ..s ....   

Hello, I came to this forum trying to figure out if my car is an LE. Then I saw this picture of it. AU09CYV is mine and I have owned it for 6.5 years. It has all the packs and the Evora badge on the dash yet no sign of an LE badge. This confused me as I don't understand how you could buy a car at launch with all the packs and not have an LE? I was going to do a certificate of provenance to find out but then bought an old type 83 elite which I'd rather know a bit more about first. 

[phil flash]

In which case you may be interested in a few other photos I took at Snetterton on 14/6/2009.

[Rambo]

And knowing Phil as well as I do I suspect there was more to interest him in photo 2 than the lovely Evora 😉

[Jonathan Ashcroft]

Great, thank you Phil. Think it's aged pretty well! Wheels now black instead of anthracite and I've given it the sport racer look along with black rear light surrounds and a 2bular valved exhaust. Inside just the gear knob change. 

3 hours ago, Jonathan Ashcroft said:

Hello, I came to this forum trying to figure out if my car is an LE. Then I saw this picture of it. AU09CYV is mine and I have owned it for 6.5 years. It has all the packs and the Evora badge on the dash yet no sign of an LE badge. This confused me as I don't understand how you could buy a car at launch with all the packs and not have an LE? I was going to do a certificate of provenance to find out but then bought an old type 83 elite which I'd rather know a bit more about first. 

Do development cars pre date LE then?

[Rambo]

The answer to that is yes. 

Looks like your drivers seat is a bit saggy? Could do with a bit of TLC before it gets too bad. I like the gearshift knob. Did the same with mine. So much more contemporary than that OEM lump of black plastic 🤔

And 2bular, yes, yes, yes 👍

Edited February 10, 2022 by Rambo
Added 2bular comment after posting

[Jonathan Ashcroft]

It is a little although looks worse as I've just been conditioning the leather so it is ultra shiny. I'm getting the Elite retrimmed completely so might look at getting the evora done again in a higher quality leather than the standard stuff which was always a little on the anaemic side.

[Rambo]

Good idea, although I like the lightness. Mine is all black. Let us know how you get on

[phil flash]

On 10/02/2022 at 16:29, Rambo said:

And knowing Phil as well as I do I suspect there was more to interest him in photo 2 than the lovely Evora 😉

What me? Surely not ...

[EuropaSman]

@LOTUSMAN33 is this another Evora to add to the list? Presently advertised on Autotrader and at the time of writing is discussed over on the "Evora market watch, for discussion and to help those searching!" thread.

 

 

[LOTUSMAN33]

Thanks Mark, I’ll get this one added as not on the list 👍🏻
 

We have 41 cars now and 10 development vehicles.

[phil flash]

Quite a few to go then ... "The Evora Launch Edition made up the first 450 (200 destined for the UK) production Evora's." 

[EuropaSman]

According to the letter that came with the Certificate of Provenance for my Evora there were only 88 UK Launch Editions and 235 Launch Editions worldwide including the UK ones.  For the UK there were 8 press cars and 17 dealer demos followed by stock and customer cars.

[Celica]

On 21/02/2022 at 20:17, EuropaSman said:

@LOTUSMAN33 is this another Evora to add to the list? Presently advertised on Autotrader and at the time of writing is discussed over on the "Evora market watch, for discussion and to help those searching!" thread.

 

 

This was listed on lotus for sale section but not on there or autotrader, assume sold? 

[EuropaSman]

Missing presumed sold I reckon.

[Rambo]

11 hours ago, phil flash said:

Quite a few to go then ... 

But the important ones are at 4 and 18 on Dave's master list 😉

[windymiller]

11 hours ago, EuropaSman said:

According to the letter that came with the Certificate of Provenance for my Evora there were only 88 UK Launch Editions and 235 Launch Editions worldwide including the UK ones.  For the UK there were 8 press cars and 17 dealer demos followed by stock and customer cars.

on my cert it states my car was no 40 out of 87 launch editions in 2009 tho so were some le's 2010 ??or all 2009

[EuropaSman]

@windymiller My letter from Andy Graham is dated December 2015, so it could be that he updated the statistics. All Launch Editions will have been MY09 I assume.

My car is No. 28 by VIN, one after the first customer delivery at the factory .

[windymiller]

so as has been said stats state 200 le's were to be for the uk market but so are we actually saying there were only 88/87 ?

[Celica]

I have a copy of the letter dated 2021 or could be 2020 and it states 87 LE for UK

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Did the chassis number format change have any relevance to this, or did production of the LEs straddle both systems?

[Rambo]

3 hours ago, windymiller said:

so as has been said stats state 200 le's were to be for the uk market but so are we actually saying there were only 88/87 ?

I think so. It makes the LE an even rarer beast 👍

[phil flash]

Somebody had better tell Bibs that his definitive document is wrong..  I was quoting from that.  

It may have been the intention of Lotus that never came to fruition ..  not unusual.

[kkv444v]

I have compiled a list of a few cars over the years, including EP and VP vehicles, which I will share when I have a moment. The "development" section of the register seems mainly made up of press and factory (possibly management) cars, though; what criteria has been applied to put them in that section? Only the top two are definitely prototypes.

It is worth noting that by the end of 2009 only 100 Evoras were taxed in the UK, and 194 by the end of 2010. None of the evaluation prototypes would be included in those numbers as they were not registered with the Evora name.

[LOTUSMAN33]

Yes please share your knowledge so the register can be corrected, the early cars were provided by members and online research with most no longer being registered anymore so assumed development.

Dave  

[kkv444v]

A few for starters:

EP01 = AU08 JNK. Silver. RHD. 01/08/2008. Scrapped.

EP02 = AO57 EYU. Blue. RHD. 01/02/2008.

EP03 = AO57 EYV. Black. LHD. 01/02/2008. Scrapped.

EP06 = AU08 GHA. Silver. LHD. 01/03/2008. Scrapped.

EP08 = AU08 DSY. Grey. LHD. 15/04/2008. Scrapped.

EP09 = AU08 DSZ. Black. RHD. 15/04/2008.

EP12 = AU08 EEB. Canyon Red. LHD. 01/06/2008.

EP18 = AU08 DSX. Green. LHD. 15/04/2008. Exported.