Lotus Elise | |
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Overview | |
Manufacturer | Lotus Cars |
Production | 1996–2021 35,124 produced[1] |
Assembly | Hethel, Norfolk, England, UK Shah Alam, Malaysia (Lotus Cars Malaysia; Series 1, 1997–2000)[2][3][4] |
Body and chassis | |
Class | Sports car (S) |
Body style | 2-door 2-Seat Targa Top roadster |
Layout | Transverse mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive |
Platform | Lotus small car platform |
Chronology | |
Predecessor | Lotus Elan[5] |
Successor | Lotus Emira Lotus Theory 1 |
The Lotus Elise is a sports car conceived in early 1994 and released in September 1996 by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars. A two-seater roadster with a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, the Elise has a fibreglass body shell atop its bonded extruded aluminium chassis that provides a rigid platform for the suspension, while keeping weight and production costs to a minimum. The Elise was named after Elisa Artioli, the granddaughter of Romano Artioli who was chairman of Lotus and Bugatti at the time of the car's launch.[6]
Production of the Elise, Exige and Evora ended in 2021. It was replaced by the Lotus Emira.[7][8][1]