Lotus Elise

The Lotus Elise is an open sports car, renowned for its lightweight design and race-capable handling. Conceived in early 1994, and introduced in September of 1995, the Lotus Elise was named after then Lotus Car company Chairman Romano Artioli's granddaughter, Elise. The car has a hand finished composite carbon body shell atop its innovative aluminum extrusion frame that provides a rigid platform for the suspension, while keeping weight and production costs to a minimum.

Although high-tech, it represented affordable cost of ownership for sportscar lovers on a budget who still wanted performance and looks.

The original Elise, called the Series 1 was augmented by a faster edition called the 111S, named after the Lotus type-number of the Elise - M111. The 111S was introduced in early 1999 and contained the VVC engine, rather than the standard Rover 1.8 K-series unit.

In 2000, the 340R limited edition model, based on a Series 1 Elise was introduced. This roofless car was a special edition, limited to only 340 cars being built.

Also in 2000, Lotus introduced the Exige - a hardtop version of the Elise with the 177bhp engine from the 340R.

Announced on October 9th 2000, the Series 2 Elise was a redesigned Series 1 using a slightly modified version of the Series 1 chassis and the same K-series engine with a brand new Lotus-developed ECU. The design of the body paid homage to the still-born M250 project and was the first Lotus to be designed on computer. The Series 2 Elise is built on the same production line created for the Vauxhall VX200/Opel Speedster in a new facility at Hethel. Both cars share many parts including the chassis although they have totally different drivetrains and powerplants.

Slated for a launch in March/April 2004, the Series 2 Exige, based on the Series 2 Elise will come with a Toyota engine, rather than the ageing Rover K-series engine used since 1995 in the Elise.

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