Lotus Cars is a British manufacturer of sports

Sports car

A sports car is a small, usually two seat, two door automobile designed for high speed driving and maneuverability....

 and racing car

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

s based at the former site of RAF Hethel

RAF Hethel

RAF Hethel is a former World War II airfield used by the US during the Second World War in Norfolk, England situated located 7 miles south west of Norwich.-USAAF use:...

, a World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 airfield in Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

. The company designs and builds race and production automobiles of light weight and fine handling

Car handling

Automobile handling and vehicle handling are descriptions of the way wheeled vehicles perform transverse to their direction of motion, particularly during cornering and swerving. It also includes their stability when moving at rest. Handling and braking are the major components of a vehicle's...

 characteristics. It also owns Lotus Engineering, which provides engineering consultancy services and has facilities in the United Kingdom, United States, Malaysia and China.

Lotus is owned by Proton, which acquired it following the bankruptcy of former owner Romano Artioli

Romano Artioli

Romano Artioli is an Italian entrepreneur and one-time owner of Bugatti and Lotus automobile makers.Artioli was born in Moglia of the Province of Mantua, and raised in Bolzano where he in the 1980s ran one of the largest Ferrari dealerships in the world, selling in northern Italy and southern...

 in 1994.

History

The company was formed as Lotus Engineering Ltd. by engineer Colin Chapman

Colin Chapman

Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman CBE was an influential British designer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars....

, a graduate of University College, London, in 1952. The first factory was in old stables behind the Railway Hotel in Hornsey

Hornsey

Hornsey is a district in London Borough of Haringey in north London in England. Whilst Hornsey was formerly the name of a parish and later a municipal borough of Middlesex, today, the name refers only to the London district. It is an inner-suburban area located north of Charing Cross.-Locale:The ...

, North London. Team Lotus

Team Lotus

Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport series including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar and sports car racing...

, which was split off from Lotus Engineering in 1954, was active and competitive in Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 racing from 1958 to 1994. The Lotus Group of Companies was formed in 1959. This was made up of Lotus Cars Limited and Lotus Components Limited, which focused on road cars and customer competition car production, respectively. Lotus Components Limited became Lotus Racing Limited in 1971 but the newly renamed entity ceased operation in the same year.

The company moved to a purpose built factory at Cheshunt in 1959 and since 1966 the company has occupied a modern factory and road test facility at Hethel, near Wymondham

Wymondham

Wymondham is a historic market town and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It lies 9.5 miles to the south west of the city of Norwich, on the A11 road to Thetford and London.- Before The Great Fire :...

. This site is the former RAF Hethel

RAF Hethel

RAF Hethel is a former World War II airfield used by the US during the Second World War in Norfolk, England situated located 7 miles south west of Norwich.-USAAF use:...

 base and the test track uses sections of the old runway.

By 1982 the company was experiencing severe financial difficulties and Chapman sought additional capital from outside sources. The crisis resulted principally from the fact that only a handful of Lotus cars were sold each year in the world's largest market, the US. These problems were solved by a young law professor and investment banking consultant, Joe Bianco, who was able to capitalize a new and separate United States sales company for Lotus. By creating an unprecedented tax-incentived mechanism (wherein each investor received a specially-personalized Lotus Turbo Esprit) the new American company, Lotus Performance Cars Inc. (LPCI,) was able to provide fresh capital to the British manufacturer. Former Ferrari North America general manager John Spiech was brought in to run LPCI, which imported the remarkable Giugiaro-designed Turbo Esprit for the first time. US sales quickly jumped into triple digits annually. This transaction was generally regarded as having saved Lotus from bankruptcy. LPCI was subsequently sold along with Group Lotus PLC to General Motors.

Chapman died of a heart attack in 1982 at the age of 54, having begun life an innkeeper's son and ended a multi-millionaire industrialist in post-war Britain. The car maker built tens of thousands of successful racing and road cars and won the Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 World Championship

World championship

A world championship is the top achievement for any sport or contest. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best nation, team, individual in the world in a particular field. Certain sports do not have a world championship, instead...

 seven times. At the time of his death he was linked with the DeLorean scandal over the use of government subsidies for the production of the DeLorean DMC-12 for which Lotus had designed the chassis

Chassis

A chassis consists of an internal framework that supports a man-made object. It is analogous to an animal's skeleton. An example of a chassis is the underpart of a motor vehicle, consisting of the frame with the wheels and machinery.- Vehicles :In the case of vehicles, the term chassis means the...

.

In 1986, the company was bought by General Motors. On 27 August 1993, GM sold the company, for £30 million, to A.C.B.N. Holdings S.A. of Luxembourg, a company controlled by Italian businessman Romano Artioli

Romano Artioli

Romano Artioli is an Italian entrepreneur and one-time owner of Bugatti and Lotus automobile makers.Artioli was born in Moglia of the Province of Mantua, and raised in Bolzano where he in the 1980s ran one of the largest Ferrari dealerships in the world, selling in northern Italy and southern...

, who also owned Bugatti Automobili SpA. In 1996, a majority share in Lotus was sold to Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd (Proton

Proton (company)

Proton is a Malaysian automobile manufacturer headquartered in Subang Jaya and Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia, with a manufacturing plant in Tanjung Malim, Perak. Founded in 1983, it was Malaysia's only carmaker until the establishment of its competitor and arch-rival, Perodua, in 1993...

), a Malaysian car company listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange

Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange

The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange dates back to 1930 when the Singapore Stockbrokers' Association was set up as a formal organisation dealing in securities in Malaya...

.

The company also acts as an engineering consultancy, providing engineering development—particularly of suspension

Suspension (vehicle)

Suspension is the term given to the system of springs, shock absorbers and linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels. Suspension systems serve a dual purpose — contributing to the car's roadholding/handling and braking for good active safety and driving pleasure, and keeping vehicle occupants...

—for other car manufacturers. The lesser known Powertrain department is responsible for the design and development of the 4-cylinder Ecotec

Ecotec

Ecotec is a General Motors trademark that refers to a series of emissions technologies that were implemented throughout a range of GM engines...

 engine found in many of GM's Vauxhall

Vauxhall Motors

Vauxhall Motors is a British automotive company owned by General Motors and headquartered in Luton. It was founded in 1857 as a pump and marine engine manufacturer, began manufacturing cars in 1903 and was acquired by GM in 1925. It has been the second-largest selling car brand in the UK for...

, Opel

Opel

Adam Opel AG, generally shortened to Opel, is a German automobile company founded by Adam Opel in 1862. Opel has been building automobiles since 1899, and became an Aktiengesellschaft in 1929...

, Saab

Saab Automobile

Saab Automobile AB, better known as Saab , is a Swedish car manufacturer owned by Dutch automobile manufacturer Swedish Automobile NV, formerly Spyker Cars NV. It is the exclusive automobile Royal Warrant holder as appointed by the King of Sweden...

, Chevrolet

Chevrolet

Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...

 and Saturn cars. Today, the current Lotus Elise

Lotus Elise

The 1996 Lotus Elise weighed . Because of its relatively low weight, it was able to accelerate 0- in 5.8 seconds despite its relatively low power output of...

 and Exige

Lotus Exige

The Lotus Exige is a two-door, two-seat sports car made by Lotus Cars. It is essentially a coupé version of the Lotus Elise, a mid-engined roadster in production since 1996....

 models use the 1.8L VVTL-i I4 from Toyota's late Celica GT-S and the Matrix XRS

Toyota Matrix

The Toyota Matrix, sometimes officially referred to as the Toyota Corolla Matrix, is a compact hatchback manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation in Canada, to be sold in the United States, Canada, and Mexico...

.

The company is organised as Group Lotus plc, which is divided into Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering.

Michael Kimberley took over as Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Company and its Group from May 2006. He currently chairs the Executive Committee of Lotus Group International Limited ("LGIL") established in February 2006, with Syed Zainal Abidin (Managing Director of Proton Holdings Berhad) and Badrul Feisal (non-executive director of Proton Holdings Berhad). LGIL is the holding company of Lotus Group Plc.

Kimberley retired as CEO on 17 July 2009 and was replaced as CEO by Dany T Bahar

Dany Bahar

Dany Taner Bahar is the Chief Executive Officer of Group Lotus Plc having joined in September 2009. Prior to joining Lotus, Bahar was employed at Ferrari S.p.A..-Personal life:...

 on 1 October 2009. Bahar was formerly Senior Vice President, Commercial & Brand for Ferrari SpA where he was responsible for worldwide road car sales and after sales business, overall road car and F1 marketing activities, licensing, and merchandising business.

The four letters in the middle of the logo stand for the initials of company founder Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman.

Formula One

The company encouraged its customers to race its cars, and entered Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 through its sister company Team Lotus

Team Lotus

Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport series including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar and sports car racing...

 in 1958. A Lotus Formula One car driven by Stirling Moss

Stirling Moss

Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss, OBE FIE is a former racing driver from England...

 won the marque's first Grand Prix in 1960 at Monaco

1960 Monaco Grand Prix

The 1960 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monaco on May 29, 1960.- Classification :- Notes :*Pole position: Stirling Moss - 1:36.3*Fastest Lap: Bruce McLaren - 1:36.2*First win for a Lotus in a World Championship Formula One race...

 in a Lotus 18

Lotus 18

The Lotus 18 was a race car designed by Colin Chapman for use by Lotus in Formula Junior, Formula Two, and Formula One. It was the first mid-engined car built by Lotus and was a marked improvement over Chapman's early and only moderately successful front-engined formula cars, the 12 and 16. It was...

 entered by privateer Rob Walker

Rob Walker Racing Team

Rob Walker Racing Team was a privateer team in Formula One during the 1950s and 1960s. Founded by Johnnie Walker heir Rob Walker in 1953, the team became F1's most successful privateer in history, being the first and last entrant to win a Formula One Grand Prix, without ever building their own...

. Major success came in 1963 with the Lotus 25

Lotus 25

The Lotus 25 was a racing car designed by Colin Chapman for the 1962 Formula One season. It was a revolutionary design, the first fully stressed monocoque chassis to appear in F1...

, which — with Jim Clark

Jim Clark

James "Jim" Clark, Jr OBE was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965....

 driving — won Lotus its first F1 World Constructors Championship. Clark's untimely death — he crashed a Formula Two

Formula Two

Formula Two, abbreviated to F2, is a type of open wheel formula racing. It was replaced by Formula 3000 in 1985, but the FIA announced in 2008 that Formula Two would return for 2009 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship...

 Lotus 48

Lotus 48

The Lotus 48 was a Formula 2 car designed by Colin Chapman, based on a 1600 cc Ford FVA engine that was run around 1967 to 1970 on Formula Two. The 48 is unfortunately notable for being the car in which Jim Clark was killed. Apart from that, it was campaigned fairly successfully in F2, taking...

 in April 1968 after his rear tyre failed in a turn in Hockenheim — was a severe blow to the team and to Formula One. He was the dominant driver in the dominant car and remains an inseparable part of Lotus' early years. That year's championship was won by Clark's teammate, Graham Hill

Graham Hill

Norman Graham Hill was a British racing driver and two-time Formula One World Champion. He is the only driver to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport — the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Indianapolis 500 and Formula One World Championship.Graham Hill and his son Damon are the only father and son pair both to...

.

Lotus is credited with making the mid-engined layout popular for IndyCar

IndyCar Series

The IZOD IndyCar Series is the premier level of American open wheel racing. The current championship, founded by Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George, began in 1996 as a competitor to CART known as the Indy Racing League . Citing CART's increasing reliance on expensive machinery and...

s, developing the first monocoque

Monocoque

Monocoque is a construction technique that supports structural load by using an object's external skin, as opposed to using an internal frame or truss that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin or coachwork...

 Formula One chassis, and the integration of the engine and transaxle as chassis components. Lotus was also among the pioneers in Formula One in adding wings and shaping the undersurface of the car to create downforce

Downforce

Downforce is a downwards thrust created by the aerodynamic characteristics of a car. The purpose of downforce is to allow a car to travel faster through a corner by increasing the vertical force on the tires, thus creating more grip....

, as well as the first to move radiators to the sides in the car to aid in aerodynamic performance, and inventing active suspension.

Even after Chapman's death, until the late 1980s, Lotus continued to be a major player in Formula One. Ayrton Senna

Ayrton Senna

Ayrton Senna da Silva was a Brazilian racing driver. A three-time Formula One world champion, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time...

 drove for the team from 1985 to 1987, winning twice in each year and achieving 17 pole positions. However, by the company's last Formula One race in 1994, the cars were no longer competitive. Lotus won a total of 79 Grand Prix races. During his lifetime Chapman saw Lotus beat Ferrari as the first team to achieve 50 Grand Prix victories, despite Ferrari having won their first nine years sooner.

Formula One Constructors' Championships (Drivers' Championship winner for Lotus)

• 1963 (Jim Clark
  Jim Clark
  James "Jim" Clark, Jr OBE was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965....
  
  )
• 1965 (Jim Clark
  Jim Clark
  James "Jim" Clark, Jr OBE was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965....
  
  )
• 1968 (Graham Hill
  Graham Hill
  Norman Graham Hill was a British racing driver and two-time Formula One World Champion. He is the only driver to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport — the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Indianapolis 500 and Formula One World Championship.Graham Hill and his son Damon are the only father and son pair both to...
  
  )
• 1970 (Jochen Rindt
  Jochen Rindt
  Karl Jochen Rindt was a German racing driver who represented Austria during his career. He is the only driver to posthumously win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship , after being killed in practice for the Italian Grand Prix...
  
  )
• 1972 (Emerson Fittipaldi
  Emerson Fittipaldi
  Emerson Fittipaldi |São Paulo]], Brazil) is a Brazilian automobile racing driver who throughout a long and successful career won the Indianapolis 500 twice and championships in both Formula One and CART.-Early and personal life:...
  
  )
• 1973
• 1978 (Mario Andretti
  Mario Andretti
  Mario Gabriele Andretti is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR...
  
  )

Team Lotus established Classic Team Lotus in 1992, as the Works historic motorsport activity. Classic Team Lotus continues to maintain Lotus F1 cars and run them in the FIA Historic Formula One Championship

Historic Formula One Championship

The Historic Formula One Championship, previously known as the Thoroughbred Grand Prix Championship, is a championship for Formula One cars from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s which is sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, motor sport's world governing body...

 and it preserves the Team Lotus archive and Works Collection of cars, under the management of Colin Chapman

Colin Chapman

Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman CBE was an influential British designer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars....

’s son, Clive.

Team Lotus' participation in Formula One ended at the end of the 1994 season

1994 Formula One season

The 1994 Formula One season was the 45th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1994 FIA Formula One World Championship which commenced on March 27, 1994, and ended on November 13 after sixteen races. The season is remembered as one of the most tragic and controversial seasons in...

.

The Lotus name returned to Formula One for the 2010 season

2010 Formula One season

The 2010 Formula One season was the 61st Formula One season of World Championship motor racing competition. Red Bull Racing won its maiden Constructors' Championship with a one-two finish in Brazil, while Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel won the Drivers' Championship after winning the final race...

, when a new Malaysian team called Lotus Racing, using the Lotus name on licence from Group Lotus, was awarded an entry. The new team was unrelated to the previous incarnation of Team Lotus when it was first founded, although it was funded by a Malaysian Consortium including Proton (the owner of Lotus Cars). After a dispute between the two parties (Lotus Racing and Proton), Group Lotus, with agreement from their parent company Proton, terminated the licence for future seasons as a result of what it called "flagrant and persistent breaches of the licence by the team". Lotus Racing then announced that they had acquired Team Lotus Ventures Ltd, the company led by David Hunt since 1994, during which Team Lotus had stopped competing in Formula One, and with it full ownership of the rights of the Team Lotus brand and heritage. The team confirmed that they would be known as Team Lotus from 2011 onwards.

In December 2010 Group Lotus (Proton) announced the creation of "Lotus Renault GP", the successor to the Renault F1

Renault F1

Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking...

 team, that is contesting the 2011 season

2011 Formula One season

The 2011 Formula One season was the 62nd FIA Formula One season. The original calendar consisted of twenty rounds, including the inaugural running of the Indian Grand Prix before the cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Pirelli returned to the sport as tyre supplier for all teams, taking over...

 having purchased a title sponsorship deal with the team with the option to buy shares in the future. The team's cars will continue to be called "Renaults", up against the Team Lotus cars which will be known as "Lotus".

Group Lotus is currently also involved in several other categories of motorsport. It sponsors the ART

ART Grand Prix

Lotus ART is a French motor racing team that competes in formula single-seaters in Europe. It was founded as ART Grand Prix in 1991.-Creation:...

 team in the GP2

GP2 Series

The GP2 Series, GP2 for short, is a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Ecclestone also has the rights to the name GP1...

 and GP3 Series

GP3 Series

The GP3 Series, or GP3 for short, is a single seater motor racing series launched in 2010 as a feeder series for the GP2 Series, introduced by GP2 organiser Bruno Michel. It was initially thought that the GP3 series would merge with the International Formula Master series...

, and the KV team in the IndyCar Series

IndyCar Series

The IZOD IndyCar Series is the premier level of American open wheel racing. The current championship, founded by Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George, began in 1996 as a competitor to CART known as the Indy Racing League . Citing CART's increasing reliance on expensive machinery and...

. In 2011

2011 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 79th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 11–12 June 2011 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, and organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest...

, Lotus also returned to the 24 Hours of Le Mans

24 Hours of Le Mans

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...

 with a semi-works effort run by Jetalliance Racing

Jetalliance Racing

Jetalliance Racing is an Austrian racing team which currently competes in the FIA GT Championship. Founded by Lucas Lichtner-Hoyer, former CEO of Jetalliance airlines, in 2006 under the name Race Alliance Motorsport, the team has run two privateer Aston Martin DBR9s in FIA GT as well as making...

, which fielded two Lotus Evora

Lotus Evora

The Lotus Evora is a sports car produced by British car manufacturer Lotus. The car, which was developed under the project name Project Eagle, was launched as the Evora on 22 July 2008 at the British International Motor Show.- Development :...

s.
In 2012 they will partner with Engine Developments LTD/John Judd to build a 2.2 Liter Twin Turbocharged V-6 Engine to be used in the Izod Indycar Series.

Lotus car models

Current Lotus models include:

• Lotus Elise
  Lotus Elise
  The 1996 Lotus Elise weighed . Because of its relatively low weight, it was able to accelerate 0- in 5.8 seconds despite its relatively low power output of...
  
  : The Elise started in 1996 and weighed 725 kg (1,598 lb). The current model starts at 901 kg (1,986 lb) and incorporates some engineering innovations, such as an aluminium extrusion frame and a composite body shell. The Elise has also spawned several racing variants, including a limited series called the 340R
  Lotus 340R
  The Lotus 340R is a limited edition sports car manufactured by Lotus Cars in 2000 at their Hethel factory.-Overview:The 340R is a special edition of the Lotus Elise. Just 340 were built, and all were sold before they were manufactured. It uses a custom built bodyshell with no roof or doors. All...
  
  , which has an open-body design echoing the old Seven. The Elise was introduced into the U.S., with a Toyota engine
  Toyota ZZ engine
  The Toyota ZZ engine family is a straight-4 piston engine series. The ZZ series uses an aluminum engine block and aluminum DOHC 4-valve cylinder heads, a first for Toyota. The camshafts are chain-driven. The two 1.8 L members of the family, the 1ZZ and 2ZZ, use different bore and stroke...
  
  , in order to pass strict U.S. emissions laws. The 1ZZ & 2ZZ Toyota engines used have a Lotus ECU with their own fuel mapping. The supercharged Lotus SC and limited edition Jim Clark Type 25 Elise editions add a new performance dimension to the Elise range. 0–60 mph acceleration is in 4.3 seconds and 0–100 km/h in 4.6 seconds.

• Lotus Exige
  Lotus Exige
  The Lotus Exige is a two-door, two-seat sports car made by Lotus Cars. It is essentially a coupé version of the Lotus Elise, a mid-engined roadster in production since 1996....
  
  : A version of the Elise with a redesigned body to provide additional downforce (100 lb at 100 mph). Additionally, the following Elise Sport Pack and Hardtop options are standard on the Exige. The car is street legal and the base 2006 model was available in the USA for $50,990. Lotus updated the Exige with the supercharged Exige S in 2007.

• Lotus Exige S: An Exige with a supercharged engine providing 220 hp. The non-S Exige and Elise have 190 hp.

• Lotus Evora
  Lotus Evora
  The Lotus Evora is a sports car produced by British car manufacturer Lotus. The car, which was developed under the project name Project Eagle, was launched as the Evora on 22 July 2008 at the British International Motor Show.- Development :...
  
   Launched 22 July 2008. Code named Project Eagle during development. A 2+2 sports car with a mid mounted, transverse 3.5 litre V6 engine. Lotus will provide the Evora S Model (2011) as rapid response vehicles to the Rome and Milan Carabinieri to replace the previous Lamborghini Gallardos. See Lotus webpage

• Lotus 2-Eleven
  Lotus 2-Eleven
  The Lotus 2-Eleven is a car produced by British car manufacturer Lotus. It is based on the Lotus Exige S, and thus has the same supercharged 2ZZ-GE engine. Weighing and with , the 2-Eleven can sprint from 0-60 in 3.8 seconds and has a top speed of...
  
   Weighing just 670 kg (1,477.1 lb) and with 252 bhp the Lotus 2-Eleven can sprint from 0–60 in 3.8 seconds and has a top speed of 155 mi/h. Intended as a track day car it costs £39,995 but for an additional £1,100 Lotus will make the car fully road legal.
• Lotus T125 Exos Track-only Formula 1 inspired car. 3.5l Cosworth V8, 640 bhp; 25 will be built at $1 million each. To run in the 'Exos Experience by Lotus', a club, initiated and operated by Lotus Motorsport, in which a limited number of owner drivers can refine their driving skills and challenge themselves with expert one-to-one advice from former Grand Prix drivers and trainers.

Previous

• Lotus Mark I (1948): Austin 7 based car
• Lotus Mark II (1949–1950): Ford-powered trials car
• Lotus Mark III (1951): 750 cc formula car
• Lotus Mark IV (1952): Trials car
• Lotus Mark V (1952 2): 750 cc formula car—never built
• Lotus Mark VI (1953–1955): The first "production" racer—about 100 built
• Lotus Seven
  Lotus Seven
  The Lotus Seven is a small, simple, lightweight two-seater open-top sports car produced by Lotus Cars between 1957 and 1972....
  
   (1957–1970): Classic open sports car, a minimalist machine designed to manoeuvre a racing circuit and nothing else. The rights to the Seven were sold in 1973 to Caterham Cars
  Caterham Cars
  Caterham Cars is a manufacturer of specialist lightweight sports cars based in Caterham, Surrey, England and part of the British motor industry. Their only current model, the Caterham 7 , is a direct evolution of the Series 3 Lotus Seven designed by Colin Chapman and originally launched in 1968. A...
  
  , who continue to produce it today. Updated versions of this 1957 design are also produced by other speciality firms, including Westfield Sportscars and Donkervoort
  Donkervoort
  Donkervoort Automobielen BV is a manufacturer of authentic hand-built and ultra light weight sports cars based in Lelystad in The Netherlands. This car brand was founded in 1978 by Joop Donkervoort....
  
  . Originally the number seven was applied to a Riley-powered Formula 2 car, but the vehicle was never completed in its original form, finally emerging instead as the Clairmonte Special, a two-seat sports car powered by a Lea-Francis engine.
• Lotus Mark VIII (1954): sports racer
• Lotus Mark IX (1955): sports racer, based on Eight
• Lotus Mark X (1955): sports racer, a more powerful Eight
• Lotus Eleven
  Lotus Eleven
  The Lotus Eleven was a racing car built in various versions by Lotus from 1956 until 1958. The later versions built in 1958 are sometimes referred to as Lotus 13, although this was not an official designation...
  
   (1956–1957): sports racer
• Lotus 12
  Lotus 12
  The Lotus 12 was an unsuccessful Formula Two and Formula One racing car.Colin Chapman's first foray into single-seater racing, the 12 appeared in 1957. It featured a number of important innovations Chapman would use on later models. To better use the power of the Coventry Climax engine, it was...
  
   (1956–1957): Formula Two
  Formula Two
  Formula Two, abbreviated to F2, is a type of open wheel formula racing. It was replaced by Formula 3000 in 1985, but the FIA announced in 2008 that Formula Two would return for 2009 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship...
  
   and Formula One
  Formula One
  Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
  
   racecar
• Lotus 13: Designation not used
• Lotus 14
  Lotus Elite
  Not to be confused with the Lotus Elise.The Lotus Elite name was used for two vehicles from Lotus Cars.-1957:The first Elite or Lotus Type 14 was an ultra-light two-seater coupé, produced from 1958 to 1963....
  
   (1957–1963): First production street car—the Elite
• Lotus 15 (1958): Sports racer—successor to the Eleven
• Lotus 16
  Lotus 16
  The Lotus 16 was the second single-seat racing car designed by Colin Chapman, and was built by his Lotus Cars manufacturing company for the Team Lotus racing squad. The Lotus 16 was constructed to compete in both the Formula One and Formula Two categories, and was the first Lotus car to be...
  
   (1958–1959): F1/F2 car based on the Twelve
• Lotus 17
  Lotus 17
  The Lotus 17 was a sports car racing model built by Lotus Cars in 1959. Designed by Len Terry, it was built in response to the Lola Mk1 which was dominant against the previous Lotus model, the 11...
  
   (1959): Sports racer update of the 15—not successful
• Lotus 18
  Lotus 18
  The Lotus 18 was a race car designed by Colin Chapman for use by Lotus in Formula Junior, Formula Two, and Formula One. It was the first mid-engined car built by Lotus and was a marked improvement over Chapman's early and only moderately successful front-engined formula cars, the 12 and 16. It was...
  
   (1960–1961): First mid-engined Lotus single seater—Formula Junior/F2/F1
• Lotus 19
  Lotus 19
  The Lotus 19 or Monte Carlo was a mid-engine sports-racing car designed by Colin Chapman of Lotus and built from 1960 until 1963. The 19 was a widened version of the successful Formula One 18.-The Lotus 19:...
  
   (1960–1962): Mid-engined sports racer—"Monte Carlo"
• Lotus 20
  Lotus 20
  Lotus 20 was a Formula Junior car built by Lotus for the 1962 season as a successor to the Lotus 18.The chassis was a spaceframe, clothed in fibreglass bodywork. It had front double wishbone suspension, but the rear had a lower wishbone with the driveshaft being fixed length and therefore used as...
  
   (1961): Formula Junior
• Lotus 21
  Lotus 21
  The Lotus 21 was a Formula One racing car designed by Colin Chapman. It was a mid-engined design using a tubular spaceframe structure skinned with fibreglass panels, of a more advanced build than seen in the Lotus 18...
  
   (1961): Formula One
• Lotus 22
  Lotus 22
  The Lotus 22 was a racing car built by Lotus cars in 1962, and a total of 77 cars were built. It was developed from the 1962 Lotus 20, with the major differences that it had disk brakes all round, had a top link to the rear suspension, and had a dry sump engine that was canted over to lower the...
  
   (1962–1965): Formula Junior/F3
• Lotus 23
  Lotus 23
  The Lotus 23 was designed by Colin Chapman as a small-displacement sports racing car. Nominally a two-seater , it was a purpose-built for racing with a driver alone. The 23 used a wider version of the Lotus 20 space frame, with the same suspension, clothed in a fibreglass body...
  
   (1962–1966): Small displacement mid-engined sports racer
• Lotus 24
  Lotus 24
  The Lotus 24 was a Formula One racing car designed by Team Lotus for the 1962 Formula One season. Having devised the monocoque Lotus 25 for use by the works team, Colin Chapman decided to build a 'conventional' back-up spaceframe design which he would also sell to privateers...
  
   (1962): Formula One
• Lotus 25
  Lotus 25
  The Lotus 25 was a racing car designed by Colin Chapman for the 1962 Formula One season. It was a revolutionary design, the first fully stressed monocoque chassis to appear in F1...
  
   (1962–1964): Formula One World Champion
• Lotus 26 (1962–1971): Production street sports car—the original Elan.
• Lotus 27
  Lotus 27
  Lotus 27 was a Formula Junior version of the Lotus 25 Formula One car for the 1963 Formula Junior season. All aluminum monocoque with steel bulkheads...
  
   (1963): Formula Junior
• Lotus 28
  Lotus Cortina
  The Lotus-Cortina is a high-performance car, which was produced in the United Kingdom from 1963 to 1970 by the Ford in collaboration with Lotus Cars. The original version, which was based on the Ford Cortina Mark 1, was promoted by Ford as the "Consul Cortina developed by Lotus", with "Consul"...
  
   (1963–1966): Lotus version of the Ford Cortina street/racer
• Lotus 29 (1963): Indy car—Ford stock block
• Lotus 30
  Lotus 30
  The Lotus 30 was a racing automobile, Colin Chapman's first and only attempt at a Group Seven / Can Am racing machine, and was first built in 1964, designed by Colin Chapman and Martin Wade. It was most notable for its curvaceous fibreglass body work and "pickle fork" backbone chassis design first...
  
   (1964): Large displacement sports racer (Ford V8)
• Lotus 31
  Lotus 31
  The Lotus 31 was a racing car produced by Lotus for the new 1-litre Formula 3 introduced in 1964, replacing the expensive Formula Junior. The chassis was a multi-tubular spaceframe, of similar design to the 1962 Lotus 22 Formula Junior. A 997 cc Ford Cosworth 109E with Single Choke Weber or SU...
  
   (1964–1966): Formula Three space frame racer
• Lotus 32
  Lotus 32
  The Lotus 32 was a Formula 2 racing car built by Team Lotus in 1964. It was developed from the Lotus 27 Formula Junior model. 12 cars were produced, but only 4 competed in the Ron Harris Team Lotus entrants . Jim Clark drove the Lotus 32 to win the 1964 Formula 2 Championship...
  
   (1964–1965): Monocoque F2 and Tasman Cup racer
• Lotus 33
  Lotus 33
  The Lotus 33 designed by Colin Chapman, was a Formula One car built by Team Lotus. Its development was based on the earlier Lotus 25 model, taking the monocoque chassis design to new development heights. The 33 was again powered by the 1500 cc Climax engine. The 33 was almost identical to the 25,...
  
   (1964–1965): Formula One World Champion
• Lotus 34
  Lotus 34
  The Lotus 34 was a British racing car built by Team Lotus for the 1964 Indianapolis 500.The Type 34 was Lotus' second Champ Car. Based on the earlier Lotus 29, it was a very similar car which differed principally in featuring a four-cam 4195 cc DOHC Ford V8 with Hilborn fuel injection, producing...
  
   (1964): Indy car—DOHC Ford
• Lotus 35 (1965): F2/F3/FB
• Lotus 36
  Lotus Elan
  Lotus Elan is the name of two convertible cars and one fixed head coupé produced by Lotus Cars. The original Type 26, 26R Racing version , 36R Racing version , 36 Fixed Head Coupe, 45 Drop Head Coupe, and the "Type 50" +2 Coupe, circa 1962 to 1975, are commonly known as the '60s Elans...
  
   (1965–1968): Fixed Head Coupe version of the original Elan, so called perhaps to distinguish it from the Type 26 Elan which could be fitted with a removable hard top)
• Lotus 38
  Lotus 38
  The Lotus 38 was the first mid-engined car to win the Indianapolis 500, in 1965, driven by the great Jim Clark. It was run by Lotus at Indianapolis from 1965 to 1967; a total of 8 were built, most for use by Lotus, but several were sold for use by other drivers, including A. J...
  
   (1965): Indy winning mid-engined car
• Lotus 39
  Lotus 39
  The Lotus 39 was a single seat racing car produced by Team Lotus. It was originally intended for use in Formula One, to be powered by the Coventry Climax 1.5 litre flat-16 engine...
  
   (1965–1966): Tasman Cup formula car
• Lotus 40 (1965): Improved(?) version of the 30
• Lotus 41
  Lotus 41
  The Lotus 41 was a Lotus Formula 3 and Formula 2 racing car which ran between 1966 - 1968.John Joyce, Bowin Cars founder, was the Lotus chief designer and was assisted by Dave Baldwin. They started with a clean sheet of paper. The chassis was a welded tubular steel space frame...
  
   (1965–1968): Formula Three, Formula Two, Formula B
• Lotus 42 (1967): Indy car—raced with Ford V8
• Lotus 43
  Lotus 43
  The Lotus 43 was a Formula One racing car designed by Colin Chapman for the 1966 season. It was partially based on the Lotus 38 Indycar, due to Chapman's experience at Indy with larger engine capacity and tyre/suspension setup. The car was designed in this way in response to new regulations which...
  
   (1966): Formula One
• Lotus 44 (1967): Formula Two
• Lotus 45
  Lotus Elan
  Lotus Elan is the name of two convertible cars and one fixed head coupé produced by Lotus Cars. The original Type 26, 26R Racing version , 36R Racing version , 36 Fixed Head Coupe, 45 Drop Head Coupe, and the "Type 50" +2 Coupe, circa 1962 to 1975, are commonly known as the '60s Elans...
  
   (1966–1974): Convertible (Drop Head Coupe), a version of the original Elan with a revised body style, most notable for its permanent side window frames.
• Lotus 46 (1966–1968): Original Renault-engined Europa
  Lotus Europa
  The Lotus Europa was a two door mid-engined GT coupé built by Lotus Cars from 1966 to 1975. In 2006 Lotus began production of a totally new, Lotus Elise-derived design, a mid-engined GT coupé named Europa S....
  
  
• Lotus 47
  Lotus Europa
  The Lotus Europa was a two door mid-engined GT coupé built by Lotus Cars from 1966 to 1975. In 2006 Lotus began production of a totally new, Lotus Elise-derived design, a mid-engined GT coupé named Europa S....
  
   (1966–1970): Racing version of Europa
• Lotus 48
  Lotus 48
  The Lotus 48 was a Formula 2 car designed by Colin Chapman, based on a 1600 cc Ford FVA engine that was run around 1967 to 1970 on Formula Two. The 48 is unfortunately notable for being the car in which Jim Clark was killed. Apart from that, it was campaigned fairly successfully in F2, taking...
  
   (1967): Formula Two
• Lotus 49
  Lotus 49
  The Lotus 49 was a Formula One racing car designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe for the 1967 F1 season. It was designed around the Cosworth DFV engine that would power most of the Formula One grid through the 1970s and was the first successful Formula One car to feature the engine as a...
  
   (1967–1969): Formula One World Champion
• Lotus 50
  Lotus Elan
  Lotus Elan is the name of two convertible cars and one fixed head coupé produced by Lotus Cars. The original Type 26, 26R Racing version , 36R Racing version , 36 Fixed Head Coupe, 45 Drop Head Coupe, and the "Type 50" +2 Coupe, circa 1962 to 1975, are commonly known as the '60s Elans...
  
   (1967–1974): Four-seat "Elan +2" production car
• Lotus 51 (1967–1969): Formula Ford
• Lotus 52 (1968): Prototype "Europa" twincam
• Lotus 53 (1968): Small displacement sports racer—never built
• Lotus 54
  Lotus Europa
  The Lotus Europa was a two door mid-engined GT coupé built by Lotus Cars from 1966 to 1975. In 2006 Lotus began production of a totally new, Lotus Elise-derived design, a mid-engined GT coupé named Europa S....
  
   (1968–1970): Series 2 "Europa" production car.
• Lotus 55 (1968): F3
• Lotus 56
  Lotus 56
  The Lotus 56 was a racing car, designed by Maurice Philippe as Team Lotus' 1968 entry in the Indianapolis 500, replacing the successful Lotus 38. The Lotus 56 was not based on the STP-Paxton Turbocar that almost won in 1967, but was an entirely new and more advanced design...
  
   (1968–1971): Indy turbine wedge/F1 turbine (56B)
• Lotus 57 (1968): F2 design study
• Lotus 58 (1968): F1 design study
• Lotus 59 (1969–1970): F2/F3/Formula Ford
• Lotus 60
  Lotus Seven
  The Lotus Seven is a small, simple, lightweight two-seater open-top sports car produced by Lotus Cars between 1957 and 1972....
  
   (1970–1973): Greatly modified version of the Seven—AKA Seven S4
• Lotus 61 (1969): Formula Ford wedge
• Lotus 62
  Lotus 62
  The Lotus Type 62 race car was a development of the successful Type 47 and intended to race in the Appendix J Group 6 Prototype Class. The car was designed by Martin Waide at Lotus Components and had a space frame chassis, and featured the new Lotus 2.0 litre LV240 DOHC engine The Lotus Type 62...
  
   (1969): prototype Europa racer
• Lotus 63
  Lotus 63
  The Lotus 63 was an experimental Formula One car, designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe for the 1969 season. Chapman's reasoning behind the car was that the 3 litre engines introduced in 1966 would be better served by building a car that could take full advantage of its power while...
  
   (1969): 4-wheel drive F1
• Lotus 64 (1969): 4-wheel drive Indy cars—did not compete
• Lotus 65 (1969–1971): "Federalized" Europa S2
• Lotus 66: designation not used
• Lotus 67 (1970): Proposed Tasman Cup car—never built
• Lotus 68 (1969): F5000 prototype
• Lotus 69 (1970): F2/F3/Formula Ford
• Lotus 70
  Lotus 70
  The Lotus 70 was a race car designed by Lotus for the Formula 5000 races....
  
   (1970): F5000/Formula A
• Lotus 71: Undisclosed design study
• Lotus 72
  Lotus 72
  The Lotus 72 was a Formula One car designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe of Lotus for the 1970 Formula One season.- Development :The 72 was yet another innovative design by Chapman featuring inboard brakes, side mounted radiators in sidepods, as opposed to the nose mounted radiators which...
  
   (1970–1972): Formula One World Champion
• Lotus 73 (1972–1973): F3
• Lotus 74
  Lotus Europa
  The Lotus Europa was a two door mid-engined GT coupé built by Lotus Cars from 1966 to 1975. In 2006 Lotus began production of a totally new, Lotus Elise-derived design, a mid-engined GT coupé named Europa S....
  
   (1971–1975): Europa Twin Cam production cars
• Lotus 75
  Lotus Elite
  Not to be confused with the Lotus Elise.The Lotus Elite name was used for two vehicles from Lotus Cars.-1957:The first Elite or Lotus Type 14 was an ultra-light two-seater coupé, produced from 1958 to 1963....
  
   (1974–1982): Luxury 4 seat GT—"Elite II"
• Lotus 76
  Lotus 76
  The Lotus 76 was a Formula One car designed by Colin Chapman, Tony Rudd and Ralph Bellamy for the 1974 Formula One season. The car was intended to be a more advanced version of the Lotus 72, powered by the Ford Cosworth DFV and featuring modified aerodynamics, a lighter chassis, longer wheelbase...
  
   (1975–1982): Fastback version of Elite II—"Éclat S1"—also 1974 F1
• Lotus 77
  Lotus 77
  The Lotus 77 was a Formula One racing car designed by Colin Chapman, Geoff Aldridge and Martin Ogilvie for the 1976 Formula One season. The car was a stop-gap means to an end for Lotus, who were fighting back after the failure of the Lotus 76 and the obsolescence of the Lotus 72 in 1975.The Lotus...
  
   (1976): F1
• Lotus 78
  Lotus 78
  The Lotus 78 'wing car' was a Formula One racing car used in the and seasons. It was designed by Peter Wright, Colin Chapman, Martin Ogilvie and Tony Rudd, and was the car that started the ground effect revolution in Formula One.-Concept:...
  
   (1977–1978): F1 ground effects car
• Lotus 79
  Lotus 79
  The Lotus 79 was a Formula One car designed in late 1977 by Colin Chapman, Geoff Aldridge, Martin Ogilvie, Tony Rudd and Peter Wright of Lotus. It is considered by many to be one of the most significant and respected racing car designs of all time....
  
   (1978–1979): Formula One World Champion—also street GT "Esprit" (1975–1980)
• Lotus 80
  Lotus 80
  The Lotus 80 was a Formula One car used by Team Lotus in . The car, designed by Colin Chapman, Martin Ogilvie, Peter Wright and Tony Rudd was an attempt to take ground effect as far as possible....
  
   (1979): F1
• Lotus 81
  Lotus 81
  The Lotus 81 was a Formula One racing car built by Colin Chapman's Lotus team for the 1980 Formula One season. Unlike many of its illustrious Lotus forbears the 81 was not a terribly innovative or competitive car, coming as it did at a time when Chapman's interest in his racing activities was...
  
   (1980–1981): F1—designation also used for Sunbeam Talbot rally car
• Lotus 82 (1982–1987): Turbo Esprit street GT car
• Lotus 83
  Lotus Elite
  Not to be confused with the Lotus Elise.The Lotus Elite name was used for two vehicles from Lotus Cars.-1957:The first Elite or Lotus Type 14 was an ultra-light two-seater coupé, produced from 1958 to 1963....
  
   (1980): Elite series 2
• Lotus 84
  Lotus Eclat
  The Type 76 and Type 84 Lotus Eclat, built from 1974 to 1982, was a front engine rear drive coupe. It was based on the Lotus Elite but had a fastback body style which offered more practicality with storage in the boot ....
  
   (1980–1982): Éclat series 2
• Lotus 85 (1980–1987): Esprit series 3
• Lotus 86
  Lotus 86
  The Lotus 86 was a Formula One racing car built by Team Lotus. The car was tested during the 1980 season and served as a prototype for the revolutionary Lotus 88....
  
   (1980–1983): F1 dual chassis—never raced
• Lotus 87
  Lotus 87
  The Lotus 87 was a Formula One racing car used by Team Lotus in the second part of the 1981 Formula One season and in the first race of the 1982 season.-Formula One World Championship results:...
  
   (1980–1982): F1
• Lotus 88
  Lotus 88
  The Lotus 88 was an innovative ground effect Formula One car designed by Colin Chapman, Peter Wright, Tony Rudd and Martin Ogilvie of Lotus in an effort to maximise the downforce produced by ground effects cars.-History:...
  
   (1981): F1 dual chassis car—banned
• Lotus 89
  Lotus Excel
  The Type 89 Lotus Excel, built from 1982 to 1992, is a front-engined, rear-wheel drive sports car designed and built by Lotus. It was based on the design of the earlier Lotus Eclat, which itself was based on the earlier Lotus Elite II....
  
   (1982–1992): Lotus Excel
  Lotus Excel
  The Type 89 Lotus Excel, built from 1982 to 1992, is a front-engined, rear-wheel drive sports car designed and built by Lotus. It was based on the design of the earlier Lotus Eclat, which itself was based on the earlier Lotus Elite II....
  
   GT—re-engineered Éclat
• Lotus 90: Unreleased Elan/Toyota
• Lotus 91
  Lotus 91
  The Lotus 91 was a car used by the English team Lotus in the 1982 Formula One season, designed by Colin Chapman, Martin Ogilvie and Tony Rudd. After several uncompetitive seasons with experimental or mediocre cars, Colin Chapman went back to basics and designed the graceful Lotus 91, based in part...
  
   (1982): F1
• Lotus 92
  Lotus 92
  The Lotus 92 was a Formula One racing car designed by Team Lotus founder Colin Chapman along with Martin Ogilvie and was used by Lotus in the first part of the 1983 Formula One season....
  
   (1983): F1
• Lotus 93T
  Lotus 93T
  The Lotus 93T was a Formula One car with which the Team Lotus participated the first part of the F1 championship in 1983. It was the first Lotus car to use the Renault Gordini EF1 turbo engine and was the last F1 car designed by team founder Colin Chapman...
  
   (1983): F1 Turbo
• Lotus 94T
  Lotus 94T
  The Lotus 94T was a Formula One racing car used by Team Lotus in the second part of the 1983 Formula One season. The car was powered by the Renault Gordini EF1 V6 turbo engine, and ran on Pirelli tyres...
  
   (1983): F1 Turbo
• Lotus 95T
  Lotus 95T
  The Lotus 95T was an F1 car designed by Gérard Ducarouge for Team Lotus' use in the 1984 Formula One season. It was Lotus' first newly designed chassis since the Lotus 88. The car was powered by a Renault turbo V6 engine with twin Garrett turbochargers. It was a development of the previous Lotus...
  
   (1984): F1 Turbo
• Lotus 96T
  Lotus 96T
  The Lotus type 96T was Team Lotus's last Indycar.The project was the brainchild of former Formula 2 team owner Roy Winkelmann. During the 1960s Winklemann had proved successful running Brabhams and scoring successes with Jochen Rindt...
  
   (1984): Indy car project—abandoned
• Lotus 97T
  Lotus 97T
  The Lotus 97T was a Formula One racing car designed by Gérard Ducarouge and built by Team Lotus. A development of the Lotus 95T of 1984, it was designed for the 1985 Formula One season by French engineer Gérard Ducarouge and powered by a 1500cc Renault turbocharged engine. Sponsorship came from...
  
   (1985–1986): F1 Turbo
• Lotus 98T
  Lotus 98T
  The Lotus 98T was a development of the Lotus 97T of 1985. Of the four chassis built three were assigned to Ayrton Senna, now in his second year with Team Lotus, and one to team mate Johnny Dumfries....
  
   (1986–1987): F1 Turbo
• Lotus 99T
  Lotus 99T
  The Lotus 99T was a Formula One car designed by Gérard Ducarouge for Lotus for use in the 1987 Formula One season. After Renault pulled out of F1 at the end of 1986, Lotus signed a deal with Honda for use of their hugely powerful turbocharged 1500cc engine. As part of the deal, Lotus agreed to sign...
  
   (1987): F1 Turbo—last Lotus F1 winner
• Lotus 100T
  Lotus 100T
  The Lotus 100T was a Formula One car designed by Gérard Ducarouge and Martin Ogilvie for Team Lotus, used during the 1988 Formula One season. The 100T was an update of the previous Lotus 99T model; the car technically was virtually unchanged, except for a redesigned nose section and rear bodywork...
  
   (1988): F1 Turbo
• Lotus Elan (Type M100) (1989–1995): Front-drive convertible Elan.
• Lotus 101
  Lotus 101
  The Lotus 101 was Team Lotus’s entry for the 1989 Formula One season. Gérard Ducarouge’s departure during 1988 had necessitated the former Williams aerodynamicist Frank Dernie to be appointed as Technical Director in November 1988. Despite his appointment the majority of the work for the 101 had...
  
   (1989): F1
• Lotus 102
  Lotus 102
  The Lotus 102 was a Formula One racing car designed by Lotus for use in the 1990 Formula One season. The 102 was an evolution of the Lotus 101 and would eventually go on to compete in 37 races spanning three seasons from until ....
  
   (1990–1991): F1
• Lotus 103 (1990): F1—not produced
• Lotus 104
  Lotus Carlton
  The Lotus Carlton was a Vauxhall Carlton saloon upgraded by Lotus Cars to be a 177 mph sports sedan with acceleration to equal contemporary supercars. Like all Lotus vehicles, it was given a type designation — Type 104 in this case...
  
   (1990–1992): Lotus Carlton: tuned version of the standard Vauxhall saloon.
• Lotus 105 (1990): Racing X180R IMSA Supercars Drivers Champ Doc Bundy
• Lotus 106 (1991): X180R roadgoing homologation special
• Lotus 107
  Lotus 107
  The Lotus 107 was a Formula One car used by Team Lotus. Designed for the 1992 Formula One season, it brought in a final, frustratingly limited and short-lived period of competitiveness for the legendary Team Lotus in Formula One...
  
   (1992–1994): F1
• Lotus 108
  Lotus 108
  The Lotus Type 108 is an Olympic individual pursuit bicycle. The revolutionary frame is an advanced aerofoil cross-section using a carbon composite monocoque....
  
   (1992): a bicycle
  Bicycle
  A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
  
   ridden by Chris Boardman
  Chris Boardman
  Christopher "Chris" Boardman MBE is a former English racing cyclist who won an individual pursuit gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics and broke the world hour record three times, as well as winning three stages and wearing the yellow jersey on three separate occasions at the Tour de France...
  
   to win a gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics
  Cycling at the 1992 Summer Olympics
  Final results for the Cycling competition at the 1992 Summer Olympics. There were two categories of events – road cycling and track cycling...
  
  , also known as the "LotusSport Pursuit Bicycle".
• Lotus 109
  Lotus 109
  The Lotus 109 was a Formula One car used by Team Lotus in the latter part of the 1994 Formula One season. It was designed by Chris Murphy who based the car on his Lotus 107 model...
  
   (1994): F1—Last Lotus F1 car.
• Lotus 110: Production version of type 108 bicycle
• Lotus 111: The Lotus Elise
• Lotus 112
  Lotus 112
  -Conception:The Lotus 112 was Team Lotus' planned entry to the 1995 Grand Prix season. It was a stillborn project conceived by chief designer Chris Murphy throughout their final Formula One campaign in 1994. Originally, type 112 was to be the designation for the model that became the Lotus Elise...
  
  : Final partial F1 design, got as far as the monocoque buck
• Lotus 113: Number not allocated
• Lotus 114 (1996): Lotus Esprit GT1
• Lotus 115
  Lotus Elise GT1
  The Lotus Elise GT1 was a race car developed for grand tourer-style sports car racing starting in 1997.-Development:...
  
   (1997–1998): Lotus GT Race Car, AKA Lotus Elise GT1
• Lotus 116
  Vauxhall VX220
  The Opel Speedster/Vauxhall VX220 is a British-built mid engined, targa-topped, 2-seater sports car introduced in the summer of 2000.It was built in both right-hand drive and left-hand drive versions at the Lotus Cars plant in Hethel, Norfolk, England. It was sold as the Vauxhall VX220 in the UK,...
  
  : The Vauxhall VX220 / Opel Speedster, a collaboration with GM
• Lotus 117
  Lotus Elise
  The 1996 Lotus Elise weighed . Because of its relatively low weight, it was able to accelerate 0- in 5.8 seconds despite its relatively low power output of...
  
  : Lotus Elise Mk2
• Lotus 118: Lotus M250. Two-seater concept car. Unveiled in Autumn of 1999 as a mid-range sports car, project was cancelled in 2001.
• Lotus 119
  Lotus 119
  Lotus 119 was a box car built by Lotus Cars to compete at the Soapbox Challenge that took place at the 2002 Goodwood Festival of Speed. It is believed to be the fastest box car built capable of 200 mph on a 45 degree slope. Several types were built, with the 119c at present being the fastest....
  
  : Soapbox derby car Light vehicle out of carbon and aluminium, brakes discs, without engine, built for the race of the festival of speed of Goodwood
• Lotus 120
  Lotus Elise
  The 1996 Lotus Elise weighed . Because of its relatively low weight, it was able to accelerate 0- in 5.8 seconds despite its relatively low power output of...
  
   (1998): Elise V6 code named M120—was never produced
• Lotus 121
  Lotus Europa S
  Lotus Europa S is a GT-type two-seat sports car, designed to complement the successful Lotus Elise and its derivative, the Exige. The Europa S is the continuation of the Europa line of the 1960s and 1970s....
  
   (2006): Europa S
• Lotus 122: Lotus Evora
  Lotus Evora
  The Lotus Evora is a sports car produced by British car manufacturer Lotus. The car, which was developed under the project name Project Eagle, was launched as the Evora on 22 July 2008 at the British International Motor Show.- Development :...
  
  
• Lotus 123: Lotus 2-Eleven
• Lotus 124: Evora Race Car
• Lotus 125: Exos—Ultimate track Car
• Lotus Excel
  Lotus Excel
  The Type 89 Lotus Excel, built from 1982 to 1992, is a front-engined, rear-wheel drive sports car designed and built by Lotus. It was based on the design of the earlier Lotus Eclat, which itself was based on the earlier Lotus Elite II....
  
   (1985–1992): Updated Eclat with Toyota running gear. 2,159 Excels were made.
• Lotus Eclat
  Lotus Eclat
  The Type 76 and Type 84 Lotus Eclat, built from 1974 to 1982, was a front engine rear drive coupe. It was based on the Lotus Elite but had a fastback body style which offered more practicality with storage in the boot ....
  
   (1975–1982): Fastback version of the Elite. The rear roof line of the Elite was sloped down into a sporty fastback.
• Lotus Elite
  Lotus Elite
  Not to be confused with the Lotus Elise.The Lotus Elite name was used for two vehicles from Lotus Cars.-1957:The first Elite or Lotus Type 14 was an ultra-light two-seater coupé, produced from 1958 to 1963....
  
  : Describes two cars, one an ultra-light two-seater coupé produced from 1957 to 1962, one an angular 3-door hatch with a back bone chassis produced from 1974 to 1982.
• Lotus Europa
  Lotus Europa
  The Lotus Europa was a two door mid-engined GT coupé built by Lotus Cars from 1966 to 1975. In 2006 Lotus began production of a totally new, Lotus Elise-derived design, a mid-engined GT coupé named Europa S....
  
   (1966–1975): mid-engine sports car.
• Lotus Esprit: A mid-engined sports car, launched in the early 1970s. It was styled by Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro
  Giorgetto Giugiaro
  Giorgetto Giugiaro is an Italian automobile designer responsible equally for a stable of supercars and several of the most popular everyday vehicles driven today...
  
  . The Esprit started with a light, 4-cylinder design, which went through several iterations of turbo-charging and electronic upgrades, before finally being replaced by a highly advanced V8. The last Lotus Esprit rolled off the production line on 20 February 2004, after 28 years in production. A total of 10,675 Esprits were built since production began in 1976.
• Lotus M250 (2000): Concept car that never reached production
• Lotus Europa S
  Lotus Europa S
  Lotus Europa S is a GT-type two-seat sports car, designed to complement the successful Lotus Elise and its derivative, the Exige. The Europa S is the continuation of the Europa line of the 1960s and 1970s....
  
  : The Grand Tourer
  Grand tourer
  A grand tourer is a high-performance luxury automobile designed for long-distance driving. The most common format is a two-door coupé with either a two-seat or a 2+2 arrangement....
  
   (GT)-inspired two-seater is claimed to offer a more upmarket sportscar experience, although it is based on the same chassis as the Elise and Exige, limiting accommodation and practicality. Power comes from a Lotus-tuned variant of the turbocharged four-cylinder engine which powers the VX220. The Europa has been criticised in the motoring press for being expensive and for lacking equipment and practicality compared to rivals like the Porsche Cayman
  Porsche Cayman
  The Porsche Cayman is a mid-engined, rear wheel drive 2-seat sports car produced by Porsche AG of Germany. First launched in the 2006 model year, the Cayman is a coupé derived from Porsche's second generation Boxster convertible. Like the Boxster, most Caymans were assembled in Finland for Porsche...
  
  .

Announcements of future cars

At the 2010 Paris Motorshow, Lotus announced five new models to be introduced over the next five years:

• New Lotus Esprit. Due to be released in 2013, the Esprit will be powered by a 4.8 litre Lotus Performance V8 pressure charged engine delivering up to 620 PS, capable of 0–100 km/h in approximately 3.4 seconds.
• New Lotus Elan. This was set for release during the second half of 2017, to feature a 4.0 litre V6 pressure charged engine capable of delivering up to 450 PS with a weight of 1295 kg (2,855 lb). Lotus later cancelled the car.
• New Lotus Elite. A 2+2 GT with a front-mid positioned 5.0 litre V8 engine delivering up to 620 PS, capable of 0–100 km/h in approximately 3.7 seconds. Set for release in spring 2014.
• New Lotus Elise. The replacement for the Lotus Elise
  Lotus Elise
  The 1996 Lotus Elise weighed . Because of its relatively low weight, it was able to accelerate 0- in 5.8 seconds despite its relatively low power output of...
  
   is due in 2015 with a 2.0 litre inline 4 pressure charged engine delivering up to 320 PS, the Elise 2015 is stated to be capable of 0–100 km/h in under 4.5 seconds.
• New Lotus Eterne. A four door, four seater sports GT. With a 5.0 litre pressure charged V8. Designed as a competitor to the Porsche Panamera
  Porsche Panamera
  The Porsche Panamera is a four-door a coupe. It is front-engined with rear-wheel drive, with four-wheel drive versions also available....
  
   and the Aston Martin Rapide
  Aston Martin Rapide
  The Aston Martin Rapide is a four-door, high-performance sport saloon, which British luxury marque Aston Martin introduced in early 2010. It was first presented as a concept car at the North American International Auto Show in 2006. The Rapide name is a reference to the Lagonda Rapide, a saloon car...
  
  .

Lotus also showed an unnamed city car concept using its 1.2L range-extender engine.
In 2011 Lotus revealed this as the Lotus Ethos, a plug-in hybrid car based on the EMAS

Proton EMAS

Proton EMAS is a family of concept cars designed by Italdesign Giugiaro and developed by Proton. The EMAS debuted at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show as a plug-in hybrid vehicle....

 concept from its parent company Proton, and likely to be primarily built by Proton in Malaysia.

Lotus engines

• Lotus-Ford Twin Cam
  Lotus-Ford Twin Cam
  The Lotus-Ford Twin Cam is a 1558 cc engine developed for the 1962 Lotus Elan and also used in a variety of other vehicles up until mid 1970s.-Design:...
  
  
• Lotus 900 series
  • Lotus 907
    Lotus 907
    The Lotus 907 was an engine designed and manufactured for automotive applications by Lotus Cars. It was an original design, dual overhead cam, 16 valve all alloy powerplant. It displaced 1973 cc and developed approximately with dual sidedraft Dell'Orto carburetors...
    
    
  • Lotus 910
  • Lotus 911
  • Lotus 912
  • Lotus 918 V8
• Range Extender Engine. This all aluminium, monoblock, 1200 cc, three cylinder, 47 horsepower, four-stroke engine is specifically designed to directly drive an alternator for electricity generation for series-hybrid cars. The engine is small and light at 56 kg (123 lb), having three cylinders and no detachable cylinder head. The cylinder head and engine block are all one casting to reduce size, weight and production costs. As the engine does not turn belt driven ancillaries such as alternator, power-steering pump or an air conditioning compressor, the block requires no strong points to accommodate such ancillaries, resulting in a simple and light block. The engine has a reduced parts count for lightness and cheaper production.
• On the 18th August 2011 Lotus fired up an all new in-house designed V8 destined for the new era range of cars. At 170 kg (375 lb) and just 612 mm (24.1 in) long, the unit will be dry sump lubricated to save depth and will feature a 180o flat plane crank. The engine is being utilised as a stressed component, a technique pioneered by Colin Chapman in F1, specifically with the 1967 Type 49. It is expected to be used in the Le Mans LMP2 car in 2012. Expected performance is likely to be in excess of 590 PS and with a 9,200 rpm redline.

Lotus Engineering

Lotus Engineering Limited, is an offshoot of Lotus Cars, which provides engineering consultancy third party companies primarily in the automotive industry. As well as Hethel

Hethel

Hethel is a small village in Norfolk, England, near the historic market town of Wymondham, and approximately 10 miles south of the city of Norwich....

 in the United Kingdom Lotus has engineering centres in Ann Arbor, USA, Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...

, Malaysia and Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

, China. In 2000, Lotus Engineering, Inc. was established with an office in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Engineering demonstrators

• Lotus Eco Elise is an engineering demonstrator of its classic sports car that incorporates solar panels into a roof made from hemp
  Hemp
  Hemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...
  
  , while also employing natural materials in the body and interior of the car.
• Lotus Exige 265E Bio-fuel
• Lotus Exige 270E Tri-fuel
• Lotus Evora 414E Hybrid. Shown at the 2010 Geneva Motor show
• Lotus Concept City Car
  Lotus CityCar
  The Lotus Ethos is a fully plug-in hybrid concept car that was unveiled at the 2010 Paris Motor Show as the "Lotus CityCar". The vehicle was developed by Lotus Engineering, a separate division from Lotus Cars...
  
  . Shown at the 2010 Paris motor show.

APX and VVA

The APX (also known as the "Aluminium Performance Crossover") is an aluminium

Aluminium

Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....

 concept vehicle revealed at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show built on Lotus Engineering's Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA).

Whereas the VVA technology will be used in the creation of a new mid-engined sportscar for Lotus cars, the APX is in fact a high performance 7 seat MPV with four-wheel drive and a front mounted V6 engine from Lotus Engineering's Powertrain division. The engine was designed and developed to be available as a 2.2 litre N/A and 3.0 litre supercharged. A number of prototypes of both engines exist in full working order in a number of mule cars

Development mule

A development mule or a test mule in the automotive industry is a vehicle equipped with experimental or prototype components for testing. Automakers evaluate aspects of vehicles before a full pre-production car is built to find problems. Mule cars are drivable, often years ahead of actual production...

.

Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA) is an effort by the Lotus car manufacturing company to reduce the investment needed for producing unique, niche-market cars by sharing a number of common components.

Cars produced using VVA:

• Lotus APX
  Lotus APX
  The Lotus APX is a concept car created by the British automobile marque, Lotus. It was first introduced at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show. It is the first complete vehicle built on the new Versatile Vehicle Architecture...
  
  

Projects undertaken by Lotus Engineering

Examples of work undertaken by Lotus Engineering include:

• Lotus Talbot Sunbeam—Talbot's hot-hatch rally car of the early '80s.
• DeLorean DMC-12. Changes to the original concept led to considerable schedule pressures. The car was deemed to require almost complete re-engineering, which was turned over to engineer Colin Chapman
  Colin Chapman
  Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman CBE was an influential British designer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars....
  
  , founder of Lotus. Lotus replaced most of the unproven material and manufacturing techniques with those then employed by Lotus in the Lotus Esprit.
• Vauxhall Lotus Carlton (also Opel Lotus Omega, internal name Lotus Type 104) – At the time (early 1990s) this was the fastest saloon car available, with a top speed of over 175 mph (280 km/h).
• The 1991 Dodge Spirit R/T with a version of the 2.2 L K-car engine with a 16-valve DOHC head designed by Lotus with over 220 hp.
• Vauxhall VX220
  Vauxhall VX220
  The Opel Speedster/Vauxhall VX220 is a British-built mid engined, targa-topped, 2-seater sports car introduced in the summer of 2000.It was built in both right-hand drive and left-hand drive versions at the Lotus Cars plant in Hethel, Norfolk, England. It was sold as the Vauxhall VX220 in the UK,...
  
   (badged Opel Speedster outside of the UK) – Lotus produced and based upon the same aluminium chassis design as the Lotus Elise
  Lotus Elise
  The 1996 Lotus Elise weighed . Because of its relatively low weight, it was able to accelerate 0- in 5.8 seconds despite its relatively low power output of...
  
  . Production of these models ended in 2005.
• Lotus styled and assisted with the engineering of the Tesla Roadster
  Tesla Roadster
  The Tesla Roadster is a battery electric vehicle sports car produced by the electric car firm Tesla Motors in California. The Roadster was the first highway-capable all-electric vehicle in serial production available in the United States. Since 2008 Tesla has sold 2,024 Roadsters in 30 countries...
  
  , an electric sports car based on the Elise, as well as licensing some technologies to Tesla Motors
  Tesla Motors
  Tesla Motors, Inc. is a Silicon Valley-based company that designs, manufactures and sells electric cars and electric vehicle powertrain components. It was the only automaker building and selling a zero-emission sports car, the Tesla Roadster, in serial production...
  
   and constructing the Roadster at their plant in Hethel
  Hethel
  Hethel is a small village in Norfolk, England, near the historic market town of Wymondham, and approximately 10 miles south of the city of Norwich....
  
  .
• The Aston Martin DB9
  Aston Martin DB9
  -DB9 Volante:The Aston Martin DB9 Volante is the convertible version of the DB9 coupe. It is built by hand in limited numbers and has enhanced styling. It is powered by the same 6.0 litre, DOHC 48 valve V12 as the DB9 and is completed with 470 bhp and a top speed of 186 mph...
  
   chassis was developed with the help of Lotus Engineering.
• Lotus was responsible for most of the design, development, and testing, of the LT5 DOHC V8 powerplant for the Chevrolet Corvette C4 ZR-1.
• Lotus designed, developed and tested the GM Ecotec engine and its variants.
• Lotus was responsible for various aspects of the Sinclair C5
  Sinclair C5
  The Sinclair Research C5 is a battery electric vehicle invented by Sir Clive Sinclair and launched by Sinclair Research in the United Kingdom on 10 January 1985. The vehicle is a battery-assisted tricycle steered by a handlebar beneath the driver's knees. Powered operation is possible making it...
  
   electric tricycle.
• Lotus was responsible for the suspension calibration of the Toyota MR2
  Toyota MR2
  The Toyota MR2 is a two-seat, mid-engined, rear wheel drive sports car produced by Central Motors, a part of Toyota, from 1984 until July 2007 when production stopped in Japan...
  
   Mk. I, the Toyota Supra
  Toyota Supra
  The Toyota Supra is a sports car/grand tourer that was produced by Toyota Motor Company from 1979 to 2002. The styling of the Toyota Supra was derived from the Toyota Celica, but it was both longer and wider. Starting in mid-1986, the Supra became its own model and was no longer based on the Celica...
  
   Mk. II and Mk. III, the Isuzu Piazza, the Isuzu Impulse
  Isuzu Impulse
  The Isuzu Piazza is a small sporty 3-door liftback coupé that was manufactured by Isuzu from 1981 to 1992 in two generations...
  
   as well as newer Proton models.
• Lotus was responsible for the development of the Campro engine
  Campro engine
  The Campro engine is the first automotive engine ever developed together with Lotus by the Malaysian carmaker, Proton. The name Campro is short for Cam Profiling. This engine powers the Proton Gen-2, Proton Satria Neo, Proton Waja Campro, Proton Persona, Proton Saga and Proton Exora...
  
   together with Proton, as well as its variable valve timing
  Variable valve timing
  In internal combustion engines, variable valve timing , also known as Variable valve actuation , is a generalized term used to describe any mechanism or method that can alter the shape or timing of a valve lift event within an internal combustion engine...
  
   system, the Cam Profile Switching (CPS). Currently available in the 1.6-litre and 1.3-litre variants, the Campro engine now powers most of Proton's newer models.
• Lotus has worked on the suspension of the Mahindra Scorpio
  Mahindra Scorpio
  The Mahindra Scorpio is a SUV manufactured by Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, the flagship company of the Mahindra Group. It was the first SUV from the company built for the global market...
  
   to make it more stable at high speeds.
• Lotus produced the revised Chassis of the Isuzu Piazza
• The Dodge EV
  Dodge EV
  The Dodge EV development vehicle, also called Dodge Circuit EV sports car, was a two-passenger, rear-wheel-drive, all-electric sports car shown to the public at the 2009 North American International Auto Show....
  
   concept electric vehicle from Chrysler
  Chrysler
  Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
  
   is based on a Lotus Europa S
  Lotus Europa S
  Lotus Europa S is a GT-type two-seat sports car, designed to complement the successful Lotus Elise and its derivative, the Exige. The Europa S is the continuation of the Europa line of the 1960s and 1970s....
  
  .
• Lotus has worked on the suspension and handling of the Nissan GT-R
  Nissan GT-R
  The Nissan GT-R is a sports car produced by Nissan released in Japan on December 6, 2007, the United States on July 4, 2008, and the rest of the world in March 2009.-History:...
  
  
• The Hennessey Venom GT
  Hennessey Venom GT
  The Hennessey Venom GT is a sports car manufactured by Hennessey Performance Engineering. It was revealed on March 29, 2010.-Engineering:The Venom GT is based on a highly modified Lotus Exige chassis. The Venom GT is powered by General Motors' LS9 supercharged V8 that can be found in the Chevrolet...
  
   is to be based on the Lotus Exige
  Lotus Exige
  The Lotus Exige is a two-door, two-seat sports car made by Lotus Cars. It is essentially a coupé version of the Lotus Elise, a mid-engined roadster in production since 1996....
  
  .
• 2010: Limo-Green project with Jaguar Cars. Lotus provided the Range Extender engine for a prototype XJ series
  Jaguar XJ
  Jaguar XJ is the designation that has been used for a series of luxury saloon cars sold under the British Jaguar marque. The first XJ was launched in 1968 and the designation has been used for successive Jaguar flagship models since then. The original model was the last Jaguar saloon to have had...
  
  -hybrid car. The car returned 58 mpg (imperial) running off the range extender alone.

Electric vehicles

Lotus Engineering has established a group dedicated to hybrid and electric vehicles.

Lotus plans to enter the electric vehicle race, CEO Michael Kimberley told the Financial Times . "Don’t be surprised to see an electric Lotus shortly,” he said, adding that a concept version could debut as early as March 2009, at Geneva Motor Show. Lotus is now front and center in the electric-car arena.

Lotus did not reveal details about the car or the engine but discloses that it will go for 300 to 400 miles (643.7 km) and it will really live up to the expectations of being one of the best electric cars in the world.

Lotus joined Jaguar Cars, MIRA Ltd and Caparo

Caparo

Caparo is a British-based company founded by Lord Paul, with business interests predominantly in the manufacture of steel, automotive and general engineering products, materials testing services, hotels, film distribution, and private equity investment....

 on a luxury hybrid executive sedan

Hybrid electric vehicle

A hybrid electric vehicle is a type of hybrid vehicle and electric vehicle which combines a conventional internal combustion engine propulsion system with an electric propulsion system. The presence of the electric powertrain is intended to achieve either better fuel economy than a conventional...

 project called "Limo-Green"--funded by the UK Government Technology Strategy Board. The vehicle will be a series plug-in hybrid.

Tesla Motors

Tesla Motors

Tesla Motors, Inc. is a Silicon Valley-based company that designs, manufactures and sells electric cars and electric vehicle powertrain components. It was the only automaker building and selling a zero-emission sports car, the Tesla Roadster, in serial production...

, a likely rival for Lotus if its plans go through, has also turned to contractors for parts of the all-electric Roadster

Tesla Roadster

The Tesla Roadster is a battery electric vehicle sports car produced by the electric car firm Tesla Motors in California. The Roadster was the first highway-capable all-electric vehicle in serial production available in the United States. Since 2008 Tesla has sold 2,024 Roadsters in 30 countries...

. Of note however, is the fact that Tesla currently obtains the chassis for their Roadster from Lotus as do Dodge for their EV because of the heavy weight of the batteries in an EV and Lotus's widely known low weight and sharp handling characteristics. While only 10% of the parts of the Tesla Roadster are shared with the Lotus Elise, Lotus is responsible for approximately 40% of the overall content of the car.

Queen's Award for Enterprise

Lotus Cars were awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise for contribution to International Trade, one of 85 companies receiving the recognition in that category in 2002. Lotus cars wore the badge of the award for a number of years.

See also

• Colin Chapman
  Colin Chapman
  Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman CBE was an influential British designer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars....
  
  
• RAF Hethel
  RAF Hethel
  RAF Hethel is a former World War II airfield used by the US during the Second World War in Norfolk, England situated located 7 miles south west of Norwich.-USAAF use:...
  
  
• Proton Holdings Berhad

Further reading

• Gérard ('Jabby') Crombac, Colin Chapman: The Man and His Cars (Patrick Stephens, Wellingborough, 1986)
• Mike Lawrence, Colin Chapman: The Wayward Genius (Breedon Books, Derby, 2002)
• Ian H. Smith, The Story of Lotus: 1947–1960 Birth of a Legend (republished Motor Racing Publications, Chiswick, 1972)
• Doug Nye, The Story of Lotus: 1961–1971 Growth of a Legend (Motor Racing Publications, Chiswick, 1972)
• Robin Read, Colin Chapman's Lotus: The early years, the Elite and the origins of the Elan (Haynes, Sparkford, 1989)
• Anthony Pritchard, Lotus: All The Cars (Aston Publications, Bourne End, 1990)
• Doug Nye, Theme Lotus: 1956–1986 (Motor Racing Publications, Croydon, 1986)
• William Taylor The Lotus Book (Coterie Press, Luton, 1998, 1999, 2005)
• William Taylor The Lotus Book Collectibles (Coterie Press, Luton, 2000)
• Peter Ross, Lotus – The Early Years 1951–54 (Coterie Press, Luton, 2004)
• Rémy Solnon, Lotus Esprit – le grand tourisme à l'anglaise (Editions Les Presses Littéraires, 2007)
• Andrew Ferguson, Team Lotus: The Indianapolis Years (Haynes Publishing 1996) no longer available

External links

• Lotus Cars Official Site
• Lotus Renault GP Official Site