New cars from Lotus are few and far between. So the announcement of the Lotus Evora is creating a lot of excitement among those who like purebred sports machines. Excitement that has been created by the fact this is the first road-going car to be introduced by the English marque for almost 14 years.

The latest Lotus in a long line of racing and sports machines, Evora is a mid-engined machine that's to be sold as either a pure two-seater or as a two-plus-two (2+2) with a small back seat. Mid-engined cars with four seats are a rarity and Lotus has done a shoehorn job by inserting a pair of occasional seats just in front of the engine. When the extra seats aren’t installed the area is taken up by added luggage stowage space.

Though the Evora may look like a Lotus Elise/Exige at first glance, particularly around the front end with its huge air outlets, it's quite a bit bigger than those tiny machines. Not that it's big in absolute terms, it's still only 4.3 metres long and 1.2 metres tall.

Power for the latest Lotus comes from an engine that's already familiar to many Australians. A 3.5-litre, V6, twin-cam engine produced by Toyota and installed to the Aurion, Kluger and some RAV4s in this country.

Naturally the engine has received considerably reworking by Lotus engineers to suit its application to their latest sports car. This results in a maximum power output of 206 kilowatts and peak torque of 342 Nm. The emphasis on the Lotus version of the V6 is on responsiveness and willingness to rev. But we are told there will be good torque at everyday engine speeds as well.

Transmission from the mid-rear engine to the back wheels is via a six-speed manual gearbox. Note that a close-ratio six-speed manual for racing use is on the options list. An automatic transmission (heaven forbid!) is reported to be under development for the Evora.

The new Lotus Evora is about to be launched in Britain and is scheduled for Australia in the third quarter of this year. So great has been the anticipation for the car among sports car drivers in Australia that the importer has announced details of pricing and specifications. The Evora 2+0 will have a recommended retail price of $149,990 and the Evora 2+2 has an rrp of $156,990; statutory and delivery charges have to be added to these prices, contact your local dealer for details. Information on dealers can be found at www.lotuscars.com.au/ and dealers can take advance orders for the cars.

The extra price of the Evora 2+2 over the Evora 2+0 includes not only the rear seats, but also a quality Alpine audio system, cruise control and a reversing camera, as well as a few other detailed improvements. While you are talking to them you may also care to discuss a variety of option packs and accessories. Because, unlike previous Lotus cars that were basic to the point of being Spartan, the latest Lotus is to be offered with numerous nick nacks.

These prices bring the new Lotus Evora into a similar bracket to cars like the high-performance versions of the Porsche Cayman and Boxster, both of which have been significantly revised in recent months. As well as the all-new hotrod Nissan GT-R.