There are some cars that you’re happy to accept that you’ll never witness in real life. They’re simply too rare, too powerful, too expensive to ever be seen away from private collections, manufacturer exhibits or Instagram. Some cars you just don’t find while browsing the PH classifieds – until today, the Lotus Evija was definitely classed as one of them. 

It is, after all, the most powerful production car ever made, with more than 2,000hp. It also cost at least £2m. And while exact production numbers are hard to come by (the Lotus website would suggest that it’s still available to order), there’s never going to be very many. The original plan was for 130, because it’s the Lotus Type 130. But it wouldn’t be a surprise if fewer than that currently exist. Because, away from your phone, have you ever seen one? 

Count this as quite a find, then. It’s an Evija for sale at Lotus Silverstone (aka Woodcote and Copse), among the Elises, Exiges and Emiras as just another Hethel sports car for sale. It’s been photographed in the same way, written about in the same way, presented in the same way as any other Lotus that would come through the door. Except, of course, it’s anything but. Just when it seemed like new supercars might not excite quite like the classics, there’s this thing. And it’s breathtaking.

Even in a plain studio setting, the sheer drama of the Evija is impossible to deny. The Carved By Air design philosophy made for one of the most stunning supercars of recent years, those dramatic apertures throughout the body pretty much unprecedented. It’s the supercar you imagined as a kid: hundreds more horsepower than seemed imaginable, a truly wild exterior, and an interior like a race car. 

This one runs even further with that theme, known as the Ironman spec thanks to the red and gold. Lotus purists might also see it as a Gold Leaf homage; either way, there’s going to be absolutely no missing it, in any situation. A bit of Googling suggests this was Lotus’ own car, which would account for the 8,000 miles. It’s probably the highest mileage Evija in the world. As a 2024 registered car, the first MOT will be needed next year. 

It would have to be assumed that the POA must be around the £2m mark the Evija was originally meant to cost. While the market for EV hypercars has been cooler than was probably once anticipated, the Evija remains a car that can rival anything in the world for presence and attention-grabbing theatre. To say nothing of the 2,000hp. Perhaps the range and charging might be annoying; maybe the power would prove too much; and there would have to be some courage involved, surely, as there is for all groundbreaking supercars. But an Evija promises an experience like no other – and you’d beat a wait with a secondhand one. See you at a PH track day…

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