THE most powerful production car in the world has been developed by Lotus and will be on sale next year with a £1.7 million price tag.

Only 130 examples of the all-electric Evija are to be built at the company's Hethel headquarters in Norfolk and the car is the first completely new Lotus to be conceived since the company was acquired by Chinese auto group Geely.

With a target power output of 2,000ps - twice that of the likes of a Bugatti Veyron - the all-wheel-drive Evija is said to be capable of 0 to 60 acceleration in less than three seconds with a top speed in excess of 200mph.

It uses an electric power pack developed by Williams Advanced Engineering which gives the Evija a range of some 250 miles on a single charge.

Lotus says the system is the lightest, most energy dense, electric power package ever fitted to a road car and with a target weight of 1,680kg the Evija will be the lightest pure electric hypercar ever to go into series production.

The Evija has a 2,000kW lithium-ion battery with the ability to accept an 800kW charge.

Although charging units capable of delivering this are not yet commercially available, Lotus says that when they are it will be possible to fully replenish the battery in just nine minutes.

Using existing charging technology - such as a 350kW unit which is currently the most powerful available - the Evija's charge time will be 12 minutes to 80 per cent and 18 minutes to 100 per cent.

Phil Popham, chief executive of Lotus Cars, said: "The Lotus Evija is a car like no other. It will re-establish our brand in the hearts and minds of sports car fans and on the global automotive stage. It will also pave the way for further visionary models.

"This is another amazing moment in the history of our company. The Evija is a true Lotus in every sense - it has been developed with an unwavering passion to push boundaries, to explore new ways of thinking and to apply ground-breaking technologies."

The battery has more power than eight Formula E racing cars and has enough electricity to boil 1,600 kettles.

The Evija - the name means the first in existence - has been styled with a Venturi tunnel through each rear quarter.

Russell Carr, Lotus design director, said: "We studied how Le Mans race cars use air flow creatively to go over, under and around the vehicle, but also through it. This concept of ‘porosity' is key to the Evija and has enabled us to create a timeless design with exceptional amounts of downforce."

He said the design language of the Evija will evolve and reappear on future high-performance Lotus cars and the hypercar will act as a halo for the rest of the current Lotus range - the Elise, Exige and Evora.

The Evija is also the first production road car in the world to feature laser lights for both main and dipped beams which have been developed by Osram while the cockpit is fully connected with an onboard modem that allows ‘cloud-based' communication which can be accessed via an app.

The car is built on a one-piece motorsport-inspired carbon fibre monocoque chassis and has a low ride height of 105mm.

Constructed from multiple carbon plies, the manufacturing process is identical to that of an F1 chassis, and ensures the lightest, stiffest, safest and most technically advanced Lotus road car platform ever built. The total weight of the monocoque tub is just 129kg.

Lotus says a £250,000 deposit secures a production slot and Mr Popham added that with Geely's support Lotus plans to create a range of new cars ‘which are true to the Lotus name and DNA.'

Geely is now one of the fastest growing auto brands in the world and also owns Volvo, Proton and Coventry-based black cab maker, the London Electric Vehicle Company.