WATCH: Lotus Emeya Hyper GT Slides In The Snow Ahead Of Production Start

Lotus is getting ready to start the production of the Emeya, its four-door hyper grand tourer. The automaker has finished the final stages of testing, which saw the EV endure extreme temperatures near the Arctic Circle.

According to the British marque, Lotus engineers completed their validation work in Ivalo, Finland, where temperatures reached as low as -13 ºF. And when that wasn't enough, the smaller sedan brother of the Eletre SUV went inside a local automotive «freezer» for a test where temperatures plummeted as low as -40 ºF.

Lotus says that the Emeya went through three years' worth of rigorous testing and development across 15 countries and two continents, covering various conditions like the UK's unforgiving B-roads, the fast-flowing German autobahn, technical Alpine passes, and the remote areas of Inner Mongolia.

The Emeya was also subjected to high temperatures of up to 104 ºF. Beyond the public roads, the 905-horsepower hyper GT tackled the Nurburgring and the high-speed Nardo loop in Italy.

«Emeya is the ultimate all-electric grand tourer, designed and engineered to deliver the optimum driving experience for our customers 365 days a year and in all conditions,» said Emeya regional vehicle line director Sylvain Verstraeten. «We're incredibly excited for customers to be able to experience Emeya for themselves.»

The various tests allowed Lotus to fine-tune its chassis (including the electronically controlled air suspension), tires (specifically the bespoke winter rubber), and driver assistance functions. They also helped to evaluate the car's thermal management and the usability of the batteries, including charging and discharging.

In its most potent version, the Emeya can sprint from 0-62 mph in under 2.8 seconds, and top speed is above 155 mph, but that doesn't matter in these tests. Lotus claims that the car can add 93 miles of range in five minutes when connected to a 350 kW DC charger, with a charge from 10-80% taking an estimated 18 minutes. The extreme conditions should affect these figures, but we have yet to know by how much.

With production to begin soon, deliveries will begin later this year. Additional in-market tests in the Middle East, the