Lotus has just announced the introduction of the Evora Cup car, which will compete in its own spec series in 2010. Stripped-down and powered-up, the Evora Cup car weighs just 2,645 lbs and features a larger 4.0-liter V6 engine that makes an impressive 395-hp.

The race car is built to FIA GT4 specs and will be eligible to run in many international racing series, as well as in the Lotus Evora Cup, which will take place at several racetracks throughout Europe in 2010, with plans to expand the series for 2011 already in place.

Lotus is supporting the series with €100,000 ($160,000) in prizes. As for the car itself, it will cost £120,000 ($175,000).

The Lotus Evora Cup car will first be shown at the Autosport International Show in Birmingham, England this weekend, with full details being released at the Geneva Auto Show in March.

Those interested in the series can find out more at: http://www.lotusevoracup.com/

Official release after the jump:

On display at the Detroit Auto Show, Lotus showed its new flagship sports car, the Evora, alongside another rare British auto, the Morgan AeroMax. The AeroMax sports a BMW sourced 4.8-liter V8 engine and can accelerate to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds. It retails for a whopping $180,000.

A filing by Lotus at the U.K. Patent Office has revealed that the British sports car maker is working on a dual-clutch transmission. The quick-shifting unit is reportedly a lighter unit than anything on the market and is a simpler design although you’d never guess it from the details of the patent filing, shown above and listed after the jump.

It’s hard to tell from the drawings as well, but this is a seven-speed setup with seven-forward gears and one reverse gear.

News of a dual-clutch setup from Lotus is exciting, as the quick shifting and fuel-efficient transmission technology certainly fits with the company’s overall philosophy. The option of a dual-clutch automatic transmission setup will also make Lotus models more accessible to even more drivers, something that will no doubt help Lotus sell more units.

No doubt camps within the manual-transmission-loving Lotus faithful will resist this new technology. The good news, however, is that it allows the automaker to become a bit more mainstream while retaining the brand’s hard-core identity.

It’s possible that this new dual-clutch setup could be for the upcoming Evora, which is currently only offered with a manual transmission. Alternatively, this setup might not be for Lotus at all, as the company’s engineering division is constantly working on new innovative products for other manufacturers throughout the world.

[Source: UK Patent Office via Jalopnik]

Read the Lotus dual-clutch transmission patent filing after the jump:

To help celebrate the brand’s return to the pinnacle of motorsports, iconic British sports car maker Lotus has just announced the release of the Exige S Type 72. As the name suggests, it’s inspired by the Type 72 F1 car, which was driven by drivers like Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi, Ronnie Peterson and Jacky Ickx, who took it to 20 victories between 1970 and 75, with two Driver’s World Championships (in ’70 and ’72) and three Constructors’ Championships (in 1970, ’72 and ’73).

Lotus has just announced the appointment of Donato Coco as the company’s Director of Design in what seems like the latest step in transforming Lotus into Ferrari. Coco, you see, comes with an excellent record of employment, which includes a stint at Ferrari as the Italian automaker’s Director of Design and Development, where he worked on a few minor hugely important models like the California, 599XX, 458 Italia, F430 Scuderia and the Spider 16M. Previous to Ferrari, Coco started his career at Citroën where he rose to the top spot in the French automaker’s design department.

Lotus CEO Danny Bahar, himself a recent hire after running Ferrari’s marketing division, said that, “The appointment of Donato Coco as the new Director of Design for Lotus puts even more prominence on design within Lotus and strengthens the already talented team. We have a very busy few years ahead of us as we are working on a new strategic business plan which will include the introduction of an all new range of Lotus cars and expansion of our third party design work.”

The current head of Lotus Design, Russell Carr, will continue on in his current position, working on both in-house Lotus projects as well as ones for outside parties.

Coco will work with Carr to design new Lotus vehicles like the upcoming Esprit flagship, as well as eventual replacements for the Elise and Exige.

Along with these hires, Lotus has made known its plans to emulate Ferrari’s success story by creating a strong bond between its road and street cars. Along with joining Formula 1 and announcing a race car version of the Evora, Lotus is also rumored to be considering entries into the Indy Racing League and American Le Mans Series. Should we also expect the British sports car maker to follow the Ferrari marketing philosophy and start selling its name to go on everything from laptops to lingerie?

Official release after the jump:

Lotus has just confirmed its driver lineup for the 2010 Formula One season with both Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen signed on to pilot the new Lotus cars on the team’s rookie season and the brand’s return to F1.

Lotus has officially announced that its new Evora sports car will be priced from $73,500 – plus a hefty $1,175 shipping cost. The car will go on sale in the first quarter of 2010, and is currently touring the entire Lotus U.S.A. dealership network.

To help promote the 2010 Evora, Lotus has publicly announced a U.S. tour for its new flagship sports car. The Evora will be visiting all 44 Lotus dealerships over the next four months starting today, November 13th with simultaneous displays at Lotus Motorsports, Inc. in Boston, MA and Park Place Limited in Bellevue, WA.

Lotus fans can rejoice as the automaker has now officially confirmed that the Esprit project will go ahead. This halo car will be a part the company’s upcoming seven year plan, that will be laid out by new CEO Dany Bahar in the upcoming weeks.

After winning the Dewar Trophy for Technical Excellence earlier this year, Lotus is really hauling in the hardware overseas for its new four-seater Evora sports car. In August the U.K.’s AutoCar named the Evora the “Driver’s Car of the Year,” while CAR magazine announced it as their “Performance Car of the Year.” Now Lotus can handily claim what is arguably the U.K.’s top trophy, “Car of the Year” by none other than EVO magazine.

Along with its announced plans for Formula One next season, British sports car maker Lotus is also looking at expanding its racing efforts to include IndyCar, GT and Le Mans racing. Newly appointed company CEO Dany Bahar made the announcement to employees, stating that Lotus is studying expanding its racing efforts under a new corporate outlook.

Contrary to popular reports (our own included) there will be at least one foreign automaker at the Tokyo Auto Show. Lotus has announced its attendance and the British sports car company will unveil what it calls the Exige Scura, a special edition vehicle along the lines of the Exige S 260.

Lotus is set to return to Formula 1 next year and with a dedicated group of followers and the media circus that surrounds any British F1 team, the company has released some of its plans and ambitions for the 2010 season, along with the first full-sized wind tunnel model.

Lotus F1 Racing Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne said in an interview-style statement that while the team as huge challenges ahead of it with such a short preparation time, it hopes to have a full vehicle ready for February testing.

As for the car, Gascoyne says the Lotus team is working with Fondtech for the aerodynamics, Xtrac for the gearbox and a deal with Cosworth has been arranged for the engine company to supply engines. Gascoyne also comments that the team is working with technical experts in Malaysia. In fact, the Malaysian connection is a big part of the Lotus team with financing coming from both the country’s private sector as well as through the Malaysian government. In return, Malaysia intends to use the team as a marketing expert to help promote the country on the world stage. In addition, Lotus has a long term plan to set up an engineering center at the country’s Sepang race circuit.

With a long and storied history in motorsports and Formula 1 there are a lot of expectations behind the Lotus team, but Gascoyne says they have to be realistic. “We are a new team and we are starting our development late,” he said, “so it will be an achievement just to get two cars on the Bahrain grid. I hope by the middle of the season we will have established ourselves as the best of the rookie teams and then continue to make forward progress for the rest of the year.”

As for the driver’s Lotus is entertaining several offers and no doubt trying to poach some experts from other teams. One of the leading candidates is rumored to be long-time Toyota driver Jarno Trulli.

Official release after the jump:

Lotus’s new CEO and Proton, the company in charge of British sports car maker, have announced their ambitions to increase the company’s profile and have it compete with exotic Italian automakers. In a recent interview Proton Holdings managing director Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir said that the launch of the new Evora model was the start of big things to come.

Along with a limited edition Exige S 260 model for 2010, Lotus has made upgrades to the Exige S 240 this year. Much of the car remains the same, although changes have been made to the bodywork to improve the cars aerodynamic efficiency.

According to a report by LeftLaneNews, Lotus has been spied testing a version of its Exige, powered by the same V6 engine that can be found in the new Evora.

Lotus displayed its Exige Cup 260 race car at the Frankfurt Auto Show. The race-ready version of the Exige is powered by the same 257-hp supercharged 1.8-liter 4-cylinder as the street car, while weighing just 1,958 lbs.

Lotus displayed its Evora Type 124 endurance racer at the Frankfurt Auto Show.

Lotus is returning to Formula One racing with a team run by the Malaysian government and a group of Malaysian investors.

The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile selected the Lotus F1 Team to replace the withdrawing BMW team in the 2010 season. Lotus will be the 13th team, restoring the brand as an F1 constructor for the first time since 1994. Lotus confirmed the news at its press conference at the Frankfurt Auto Show.

The team will be headed by Tony Fernandes, founder and chief executive officer of Malaysian-based Tune Group, owner of Air Asia airline. Though the ownership is based in Malaysia, the team will initially be based in Norfolk, England, just ten miles from the Lotus factory.

The BMW Sauber team was appointed the 14th team, ready to step in should another team withdraw, though the FIA says it may increase the grid to 28 cars. In a news release, the FIA said BMW Sauber had an “application of high quality” and would be competitive even without the support of the manufacturer.

[Source: FIA]

Official release after the jump.

Lotus is on a motorsports roll as of late, releasing racing versions of the Elise, Exige 260 and now this, the company’s flagship Evora model. Called the Type 124, this race-prepped Evora gets a 400hp version of the Toyota Camry’s V6 motor, mated to a six-speed sequential transmission.

Lotus’s engineering department is constantly working on new projects that will make cars not only faster, but also more efficient. The company’s latest project is the Lotus Range Extender Engine, a hybrid drivetrain that serves as an off-the-shelf solution for existing automakers looking for a hybrid engine for a mini-car.

By designing this new engine from scratch, rather than using existing parts from an existing engine, Lotus engineers were able to re-think the entire process. As a result, the Range Extender Engine is far lighter and simpler than existing hybrid powerplants.

Using a 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine, mated to an electric motor, the Range Extender Engine weighs just 124 lbs. This was achieved by using a monoblock design where the cylinder head and block are one piece, eliminating the need to a head-gasket (and 16 other parts), improving the engine’s strength and reducing weight. The exhaust manifold is also an integrated part of the monoblock, eliminating 18 more parts.

As for power output, the engine makes 47hp at 3500 rpm and 79 ft-lbs of torque at 2500 rpm.

“Most series hybrid vehicles that are currently being developed will use adaptations of existing, conventional engines which are therefore compromised in the efficiency that they can achieve, designed as they are for a wide range of operating conditions,” says Simon Wood, Technical Director of Lotus Engineering. “Designing the Lotus Range Extender purely for use in series hybrids has allowed us instead to develop an optimized engine that has high thermal efficiency, low fuel consumption, multi-fuel capability and a 35 kW peak output from a 1.2 liter, low cost architecture over the precise operating range required by a series hybrid drivetrain.”

Lotus will official debut the Range Extender Engine at the Frankfurt Auto Show next week alongside the 2010 Elise Club Racer and the 2010 Exige Cup 260.

Official release after the jump:

Along with the Exige Cup 260 model that Lotus just announced, the British sports car maker will also debut a new Elise Club Racer at the Frankfurt Auto Show on September 15th.

As expected, Lotus has announced the release of a cup car version of the new 2010 Exige 260. Powered by the same 257-hp supercharged 1.8-liter 4-cylinder as the street car, the race-ready Cup version weighs just 1,958 lbs, making for what will no-doubt be an outrageously good track machine. Lotus says the Exige Cup 260 can hit 60 mph in four seconds flat.

While the real stars of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance are the vintage autos, the Concept Lawn is a special place where future show-stoppers are put on display. While some of the models are actually concepts, many are rare coachbuilt models and a few are full-production cars.

While Lotus’s philosophy of making its cars as light weight as possible has obvious benefits on the race track, owners of non-supercharged Elise and Exige models can attest to the fact that the tiny Toyota-sourced engines don’t always deliver the sort of thrust one might hope for.

To help remedy this situation Lotus has just announced a new factory engineered, warrantied and 50 state legal supercharger kit. Using the same supercharger and intake manifold as found on the Elise SC, this kit also includes high flow fuel injectors and a reprogrammed ECU which can be bought and installed at any authorized Lotus dealer in the U.S. and Canada.

Compatible with any  Toyota 2ZZ-GE engine the Lotus supercharger kit boost engine output from 189hp to 218hp and torque from 133 ft-lbs to 155 ft-lbs. Torque also comes on earlier at just 5000 rpm (as opposed to 6800 rpm in the naturally aspirated mode) to deliver a stronger powerband.

“Lotus Elise and Exige owners are genuine driving enthusiasts and that’s what has attracted them to Lotus cars in the first place,” said Lotus Cars USA, Director of Operations Arnie Johnson. “They will fully appreciate the dramatically enhanced driving character these Lotus Supercharger Kits will bring their vehicles and the peace of mind from a fully warranted, factory engineered kit.”

Official release after the jump:

Lotus CEO Mike Kimberley has announced his retirement as the head of the U.K. based sports car maker due to medical reasons. The 70-year-0ld Kimberley has been suffering from severe back pain, underwent surgery in 2008 and has now been advised by his doctors to resign his position.

“Sadly, it is on doctor’s orders that I am stepping down but I will leave confident that Lotus is in great shape with a strong management team fully supported by our shareholder in Malaysia,” Kimberley said in a statement. “It’ll be very hard to leave knowing that there are such exciting times ahead but I’ll take with me many very happy memories. I want to extend my thanks to the company’s shareholder for their unfailing support, my management team and the wonderful staff both at Hethel and at our various operational locations throughout the world. Most of all I want to thank our Lotus customers and loyal fans worldwide for their support over the years.”

Kimberley started his career with Jaguar in 1953 and has since worked in the automotive industry for 56 years. He joined Lotus in 1969, leaving in 1992 to pursue other opportunities with companies like General Motors and Lamborghini, before returning to Lotus in 2006.

Since then Kimberley has over seen the production of the Evora, as well as the expansion of Lotus Engineering, a world renowned high-tech engineering firm.

Kimberley will officially retire on tomorrow, July 17th.

Official release after the jump:

If you are traveling to Italy any time soon Hertz now offers the ability to rent an exotic sports car. It may surprise you to learn, however, that these exotics are not of the Italian variety; they are British.

Hertz has just signed a deal with Lotus that will see a fleet of bright yellow Elise SC models offered as a part of the Hertz Fun Collection.

“I am delighted that Lotus Cars has entered into this agreement with Hertz, giving us the opportunity to make our stunning world class sportscars available to the rental market,” said Michael J. Kimberley, Group Lotus plc CEO. “The iconic and multi award winning Lotus Elise and the stunning Lotus Exige are the perfect fun rental cars for those who desire exclusive and high performance motoring.”

This is not the first time a rental car agency has offered Lotuses, however, as several years ago select Enterprise Rent-A-Car locations in cities like L.A. and Las Vegas offered the Lotus Elise at a more than reasonable price of $200 a day.

The Elise SC may not sound overly powerful at 218 horsepower but thanks to the car’s light weight it can hit 60 mph in 4.4 seconds. It’s also quite good on gas using just 20/26 mpg (city/highway). And because it’s a small car it’s easy to drive around those tight Italian roads. Just remember to pack light, the Elise doesn’t offer a lot of cargo room.

Official release after the jump:

Lotus Cars USA has announced that it has signed on as the Title Sponsor of the grassroots Lotus Challenge Series. Started in 2008 by Jim Navarro and other Lotus enthusiasts the series held eight races in its first year with six in California and two at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump, Nevada – the home of the Lotus Driving School.

For 2009 the series has expanded to 10 events in the western U.S. (including races at Streets of Willow, Buttonwillow, Laguna Seca and Infineon) with four additional events in Texas.

“The Lotus Challenge Series is a very well run organization that’s expanding through providing Lotus owners a fun, safe and positive environment in which to enjoy their Lotus vehicles and improve their driving skills,” said Lotus Cars USA, Inc. Director of Operations Arnie Johnson. “What Jim Navarro, Tom Hughes, Jack Fried, Robb Bonanno and all of the participants in the Lotus Challenge Series are doing is fostering tremendous enthusiasm and goodwill for our treasured Lotus marque. We’re extremely proud to support the expansion of the Lotus Challenge Series as the title sponsor and show some of our most devoted Lotus owners how much we appreciate them.”

The Lotus Challenge Series is comprised of several classes for both street cars like the Elise and Exige, as well as track-only vehicles like the Exige Cup Car 255 and the 2-Eleven.

For more info visit the Lotus Challenge Series website here:

http://www.lotuschallengeseries.com/

[Photo Credit: Lotus Challenge Series]

Official release after the jump:

While the new Lotus Evora has already launched in Europe, the official release of the car in the U.S. has yet to take place. Normally we wouldn’t have the full U.S. specifications until that time, but a three page tech sheet from Lotus has leaked out with all the juicy details.

And while so often the U.S. market gets the shaft when it comes to high performance cars, it appears as though Lotus won’t be watering down its new flagship when it makes its debut stateside.

The Evora will be powered by a Toyota V6 engine and output is rated at 276hp at 6400 rpm, while torque is 258 ft-lbs at 4700 rpm. The car will weight just over 3,000 lbs (3,047 to be exact) and thanks to a six-speed manual gearbox will be able to hit 60 mph in just 4.9 seconds. 100 mph will come in 12.3 seconds. There is no mention of an automatic transmission, but one is expected to be offered. A sports transmission with shorter gears is an option.

Lotus also gives braking distance figures for the Evora with its four-piston AP Racing calipers at each corner with front 13.8-inch rotors and rear 13.1-inch rotors. It will stop from 60 mph in 110 feet and from 100 mph in 290 feet.

The car will come straight from the factory with a staggered wheel fitment, with 18-inch rollers up front and 19-inch wheels in the rear. A set of forged rims, which weigh 7.1 lbs less (in total), will be available as an option.

As expected ,with the fuel-efficient Toyota engine, as well as the light-weight Lotus chassis, fuel-economy is impressive with 22.8 mpg in the city and 43.5 mpg on the highway for an average of 32.5 mpg.

See the full spec sheets after the jump:

[Source: LotusEnthusiast.net]

In press release issued by Lotus Cars, the British exotic car maker takes issue with recent reports that a new Formula 1 team for 2010 will run under the banner of Team Lotus. The new team, however, says that’s not the case.

Team Lotus will return to Formula 1 after a 16 year absence… sort of. While two cars scheduled to run in the 2010 season will proudly wear the Lotus name, the team will actually be owned and operated by Litespeed, a U.K.-based Formula 3 team.

The upcoming Lotus Esprit may be powered by a 500hp Lexus V10 according to a report in the U.K.’s EVO magazine. Lotus has a long time partnership with Lexus parent company Toyota, using its Celica-sourced 1.8-liter 4-cylinder engine for the Elise and Exige, as well as its the Camry-sourced 3.5-liter V6 for the Evora. According to EVO this relationship extends not just to the Toyota powertrain department but also to the Lexus division – and Lexus just so happens to be readying its LF-A exotic with a 500 horse V10. There is also the possibility that the IS-F’s 417hp 5.0-liter V8 could be an option, as well as an entry-level 300hp direct-injection V6 motor. 

When Lotus first showed the Exige 270E Tri-Fuel at the Geneva Auto Show back in 2008 it was seen more as an engineering project than a concept car. That, however, may change.

Lotus has confirmed that it will introduce a Purist Edition of the Elise for sale in the U.S. this year. The philosophy behind this new model is to bring the Elise back to what it was when it first crossed the pond and landed on U.S. shores.

Those engineers over at Lotus have received a pat on the back by industry experts in the U.K., as the company was recently awarded the Dewar Trophy by the Royal Automobile Club.

The Dewar Trophy is handed out each year for a “outstanding British technical achievement in the automotive field.” Lotus received the award for developing its Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA) chassis that underlies the upcoming Evora sportscar (pictured above).

What makes the VVA architecture so special isn’t just that it’s a light weight, but that is was created specifically to be used in different variants to be an equally capable and ideal platform for several different low to medium production number models (like the ones Lotus builds). Traditionally, a niche market vehicle requires an entirely new platform or the adaptation of an existing platform, two solutions that are either expensive or full of compromises. With the VVA chassis, Lotus has found a middle-road solution that will be the basis for the Evora as well as other future platforms.

“I would like to thank the Dewar Trophy Technical Sub-Committee for the award, and all at Lotus are most honored to receive this accolade,” said Mike Kimberley, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lotus plc. “It is a fantastic achievement for Lotus to win such a prestigious and recognized award for our Versatile Vehicle Architecture technology which is used in our stunning new Lotus Evora sportscar. This award is for everyone at Lotus; those who created the VVA technology, those who delivered the Evora engineering program and those who are building our car. With incredible hard work and dedication at Lotus, using this technology our excellent staff have delivered the Lotus Evora in 27 months from a clean sheet to the first production car driving off the line, a great achievement.”

“The automotive industry is changing fast, and technology needs to be robust, faster to market and more cost and mass effective than ever before,” continues Kimberly, “and Lotus will be there at the forefront of this exciting period for the future of personal transport.”

Official release after the jump:

Last July, Tex O’Reilly was clocked driving 173 mph in a 50 mph zone in his Lotus Elise – an offense that would normally have landed the father of three in jail.

Lotus has just released a long list of details on the upcoming Evora mid-engine 2+2 sportscar, with all the standard equipment and option packs available. This list is technically for Euro-spec models, however, the release clearly states, (and Lotus Cars USA PR Boss Kevin Smith confirmed) that the U.S.-spec model will be very close.

The very first of the 2009 Lotus Exige S 260 models has just rolled off the assembly line in the U.K. and it features a custom Kawasaki Green paint job. The celebrity owner of the car chose the particular color after looking over three shades of lime green that Kawasaki has used over the years. Lotus was able to match the exact color because its paint supplier, Dupont, is the same company that supplies Kawasaki.

According to a report in the UK’s CAR magazine, Kia has entered into a partnership with Lotus that will see the British light-weight sportscar maker develop the suspension for all future Kia models – starting with the Soul. The only problem is, this special suspension setup with be specifically for the UK – or so CAR’s sources tell them.

The fact that Kia’s are priced so low in the marketplace does, however, make UK specific suspension setups seem improbable. The other side of the coin could be that Kia sells so few vehicles in the UK that having specific suspension setups on each one of them would not be a big issue (or investment).

According to the CAR report, the new suspension would be less for zipping around corners and more for softening the blow of Britain’s poorly-kept streets. The new setup would have greater compression and rebound with revised bumpstops to ensure the car used less of the full suspension range available.

There is no word from Kia on if the UK will serve as a test case to attract more performance oriented buyers – after all, the company is targeting a particular segment of the population (cough, Scion owners, cough) with vehicles like the Soul.

[Source: CAR]

Full Kia Soul details after the jump:

In an interview with the Financial Times, Lotus CEO Michael Kimberly said that Lotus is working on a Hybrid and that the vehicle could be ready as early as March. And March just so happens to be when the Geneva Auto Show is… and Lotus never passes up an opportunity to unveil something in Geneva.

Blipping the throttle on a 3-2 downshift as I chased the six-car train of Lotus Elise SC’s ahead of me, we blasted towards another of the countless switchback turns found in the mountains surrounding Pala, California. Had we been stuck in rush hour traffic in Los Angeles, surrounded by transport trucks and SUVs, I would no doubt have been lamenting the Elise’s cramped interior and lack of a GPS navigation system, but with fresh mountain air and miles of twisting and undulated roads ahead, I was grinning from ear to ear and loving every minute of this 8000 rpm corner carving thrill ride.

For 2009 Lotus will once again improve the already perfect Exige by adding more power and by further reducing the sportscar’s already anemic curb weight.

Lotus has managed to squeeze an additional 17hp out of the supercharged 1.8-liter Toyota powerplant for a total of 257 ponies at 8000 rpm. Torque is rated at 174 ft-lbs at 6000 rpm.

More importantly, the Exige will drop another 50 lbs thank to the extensive use of carbon fiber. In total it will weight just 2,020 lbs thanks to a carbon fiber front splitter, rear spoiler, roof, engine cover, side air intake ducts, sill covers and even the top of the dash.

Part of the 50-lb weight savings is also due to the use of several other lighter parts including a lightweight “motorsports” battery, lighter 12-spoke forged alloy wheels, a revised rear engine subframe, a lightweight flywheel, alloy piping for the supercharger and intercooler and a composite panel that replaces the rear window.

Unveiled at the 2008 LA Auto Show, the 2009 Exige 260 will retail for $74,995 – a small price to pay for one of the most amazing driving experiences possible.

Official press release after the jump:

Welcome to the AutoGuide.com News Blog, your comprehensive source for breaking automotive news. Our staff of writers and contributors will keep you updated on all aspects of the auto industry, from vehicle unveilings, to concept cars, to news from auto shows, the aftermarket and the world of motorsports.